Sonar help - Studioplayer

[Studioplayer]

Hey guys. I'm finding moving to Sonar pretty good so far. Some nice features. Multi tracking, plugs etc. but I'm having a problem understanding a couple of things. The biggest issue I'm having is how it cuts and pastes. It never seems to cut accurately. It leaves space and doesn't cut at the exact time marker. Even when I have 'Snap to Audio Zero Crossing'. Does it do that to prevent pops and clicks when lining up a new track? Does it not do 'Quick Fades'. I'm used to working in AcidPro and it cuts exactly and automatically creates 'Quick Fades'. Works really well.

The way it works in 'Sonar' so far is really strange to the point I can see difficulties lining up tracks properly. Pretty important I would think. I don't really want spaces between my edits.  If I try to push them tight it's very difficult and does that mean I have to make all my own 'quick fades' manually to insure smooth transistions without any pops or clicks?

It also leaves space when I do a punch in 'multiple layers' recording. Again I don't see why it wouldn't go exactly to the marker. (See example 5)

Help!!! 

Example 1 - Cut & snap at the 65:01 mark
Example 2 - Zoom in and I see it didn't cut exactly
Example 3 - I pasted (dragged & drop) a cut from the drums to the first track.
Example 4 - Zoom in and there is space?
Example 5 - Punch in/punch out.

Don't get it. 

Acid Pro example of a 'Quick Fade'. No matter how close you zoom in, the 2 tracks touch each other tightly and it cuts EXACTLY where you want it too. Creates an automatic quick fade to prevent pops. Works great!!

Not diggin' Sonars. I would like to use Sonar more but if it doesn't cut and line up properly this could be a real pain.

Dave

[Billy]

Dave,

Right click on the audio clip you want to split (for example measure 5 now time) from the option menu choose split (you can choose any time but by default it will have the now time). You'll find that it has cut specifically at that time...no space. Hope that helps?

[NickT]

ok...Are you snapping to measure, time or sample.

I set my grid to measure/notes and click on the track where I want to split. then I hit the "s" and it splits. I will do that at bot ends. then I click on the clip and ctrl c. Then move ny cursor to the paste spot and ctrl v.

On the punch - Check out Options | Global | Editing. If you've selected Blend Old and New, there's a check box for automatic cross-fades on overlapping clips.

You can do auto crossfade.

Slip edits wil lauto crossfade too if it is set.

I haven't seen these problems Dave. So I have to think it is a snap setting.

Then again, I don't zoom in like that if I don't have a pop and things sound in time. 

This may be one of those things where I was better off not knowing.

Nick

[Studioplayer]

That works.  Thanks Aidan. That partially helps me. I usually just like to hit 'S' since I'm use to keyboard commands but it's not accurate doing it that way. Sonar doesn't always hit right on the money when you put your cursor to a specfic spot for some reason. I do have snap aggressive on. It's bit longer to have to right click but I can live with that for accuracy.

So does that mean I need to make my own 'quick fades' to make sure I don't get any pops or clicks or does 'bounce to clip' work for preventing that? 

Also why would I get space when looping a punch in/punch out. Love that feature to get many layers but it loops just short of the loop marker. Unless... I need to make sure the loop markers are accurately in place? I never zoomed in to see if they are. I just assume that when I drag my loop points in to place & I have my snap set to whole note it would just put it properly there.  I think they're in place accurately.

Dave

[Studioplayer]

ok...Are you snapping to measure, time or sample.

I set my grid to measure/notes and click on the track where I want to split. then I hit the "s" and it splits. I will do that at bot ends. then I click on the clip and ctrl c. Then move ny cursor to the paste spot and ctrl v.

On the punch - Check out Options | Global | Editing. If you've selected Blend Old and New, there's a check box for automatic cross-fades on overlapping clips.

You can do auto crossfade.

Slip edits wil lauto crossfade too if it is set.

I haven't seen these problems Dave. So I have to think it is a snap setting.

Then again, I don't zoom in like that if I don't have a pop and things sound in time. 

This may be one of those things where I was better off not knowing.

Nick

By measure Nick. I do exactlly that, " set my grid to measure/notes and click on the track where I want to split. then I hit the "s" and it splits. I will do that at bot ends. then I click on the clip and ctrl c. Then move ny cursor to the paste spot and ctrl v."  Sometimes it's not audible but there are spaces when you zoom in as close as possible. I'll check some of your suggestions and see if I'm off on my settings or something. It's the last thing I need to get down before I can record. Just have to make sure everything will line up properly.

The other issue and by reading the help file, is I can't control how much input I have coming in without actually having to physically turn up or down my PODx3. I looked up the help and that seems to be the only way. In Acid I can just pull down or push up a slider for my input. Strange to be missing that feature. 

Dave

[NickT]

The other issue and by reading the help file, is I can't control how much input I have coming in without actually having to physically turn up or down my PODx3. I looked up the help and that seems to be the only way. In Acid I can just pull down or push up a slider for my input. Strange to be missing that feature. 

I have always controlled my input volume for recording with the input device. The pod, mic pre, mixer. There is a trim knob on the track at the top of the sonar mixer, but I think that is a post fader.

Nick

[Studioplayer]

Yeah I tried the trim. Doesn't do it. That's too bad. It's nice to be able to make adjustments on screen.

Played around a bit and the only accurate way to cut is as Adian said. Make sure your time is right. It's a few extra steps but that way your sure it will cut on the mark.  To just put your cursor on the clip and hit 'S' isn't always accurate from what I can tell. I have a feeling it's a Cakewalk bug. I'm starting to remember I had the same problem when I use to work in Cakewalk 4. One of the reasons I moved to a different recording plateform way back then. Hard to believe with all the great features that Sonar has it still doesn't have a great cut and paste.    It's a real drag to have to make smooth fades by hand when you can easily write it to automatically do it. I'll play around some more with it tonight.

Dave

[Tacman7]

I redo a vocal or guitar part a bunch of times then chop it up and switch it around until I get something usable.

In Cubase you have all these different ways to snap, like grid, magnetic cursor, events etc. Works good if you have the right snap set.

I have to turn off the snap to set the cursor in the right place then highlight all the tracks I'm working with and cut them all at the same time on the cursor.
Works good if all your tracks are pretty consistent.

[CosmicDolphin]

Yeah I tried the trim. Doesn't do it. That's too bad. It's nice to be able to make adjustments on screen.

  It's a real drag to have to make smooth fades by hand when you can easily write it to automatically do it. I'll play around some more with it tonight.

Dave

I think Nick already covered it but you can have Sonar automatically crossfade any audio clips that overlap....

Its in  :  Global Option - Editing - General          Just check the box for " Crossfade audio clips on overlap "


I also ( like Aidan ) always right click and split my clips by typing in where I want it to start / end ......or I zoom real close so I can see that I  split start or end of the piece of audio.

Also having differnent grid / snap setting will affect the behaviour of cutting and pasting.....If I'm cutting a whole section ( lets pretend I'm cutting the middle 8 bars out of a song ) then I leave it to snap to a whole measure and it works great.  Other than that I usually use the method above.

I suspect Cakewalk is cutting at the 'Now' time or snapping to the nearest grid setting and you don't have it set right ( I take it you have pressed the snap to grid button ? Sorry - gotta ask  )  for how you want to work.  Try right clicking and using the paste command instead so you can see where you're actually pasting the clip to, then you can overide it if it's not where you expected by typing the new time in the box.

As for the punch in/out thing I never use it so I can't help there - Sorry.

Can't say I've ever noticed any bugs in the cut n paste in all my Sonar years...maybe it's just working different to how you expect it to.  I'm sure it's not a bug.

CD

[Studioplayer]

Yeah. I figured out most of it. You have do to as Aidan mentioned. That works. I'm use to hitting the 'S' for splice. I have it crossfading no problem. That's different than a quick fade. I rarely overlap my takes. The quick fade prevents any pops. So far I'm still trying to warm up to Sonar. Not diggin' it 100%. I already lost a whole song that I can't open. Something about an error tring to find the picture file? At the moment I'm find Acid Pro 6 more to my liking. Other than the look. Standard windows gray.  But it opens files faster and I can do things on the fly without any lag. I seem to get more lag with Sonar. I may end up using Acid for recording and Sonar for mixing.

Dave

[CosmicDolphin]

Whatever works best for ya buddy !

I'm still not understanding what a quickfade is ?

I've never used Acid, Sonar is hardwired into my DNA now , there's no escape 

CD