Add the ability to set preferences as global or per project

Voted.
I too feel it would be more useful if below settings (amongst others) were set globally.
(Any changes made during a project are of course saved within the project.)
 
*Metronome: Count in / use audio or midi / beat subdivision
*Meters: RMS + Peak,  dB range, hold peak
*Recording:  Multitrack grouping
 
Does anyone know of a way to make these settings global and stay as I set them  (apart from using a template).
Maybe some entries in any of the .ini files??

Voted.
 
Even ASIO buffer settings should be optionally project dependent as you need it high for projects in the final mix stages and low in those where you are e.g. scratch tracking with amp sims ...
 
Simple solution (for the user at least, not the programmer): instead of a single [APPLY] button have 2: [APPLY to project] and [APPLY globally] ...

This is such a simple but great idea. It's so hard to remember which settings are global and which are project and I'm always getting tripped up. Doesn't really seem intuitive either. Why not just make EVERY setting (unless it's unfeasible) global w/ a per project option.

More I think about this more I'm wondering how it's going to be in practice. I look at say how MS Word stores config in documents as an example.

If I'm exchanging documents with another user, that user does not want to inherit my workflow and preferences they want to use their own.

I do agree it's time for a shakeup in preferences, there seems to be some functionality that appears to be in the wrong place and could be moved..

Another thing that could make life easier is to be able to import/export preferences and have multi user profiles to accomodate.

usually, "global" settings are for the application itself (sonar e.g., VST folder location), while "per-project" settings are for the project/document (sonar e.g., snap settings); if there is overlap, the project settings override the global setting

Doktor Avalanche
Only way I can see this happen is hierarchical.
Global settings are set in preferences.
When a project or template is created those settings are inherited.


Then these settings can be overriden by the user and saved in project or template for next time.

Of course some settings you would not want to store that in a project, your audio interface settings for instance. Projects need to be portable across environments.

BobF
My take is the opposite with regard to interfaces.  I have several devices with interfaces.  It would be great to have the interface options stored per project so the correct device is opened as I move between or revisit projects.
 
I really hate to invoke "the other DAW example" here, but the portable install option this other DAW has is a HUGE plus in this area.  Install as many copies on the same machine as you have devices, each configured accordingly.
 
I don't see Sonar ever having a portable install option, but per project audio hardware setting would REALLY REALLY nice AFAIC.

Are you saying it's implemented in other DAWs? What would happen if you emailed your friend with a different setup. Would he get prompted every time to select an audio interface, ASIO buffers etc? How would portability be addressed?

If there are different global profiles for the application and hardware that can be imported/exported into a seperate file (say .cwh) then it would be easy to use (flip between profiles) and portable (flip between them in Sonar).

BTW you can more or less do this now by writing a batch file and replacing AUD.INI and other files.You could also get it to replace registry settings (not for the faint hearted!).

Doktor Avalanche

Doktor Avalanche
Only way I can see this happen is hierarchical.
Global settings are set in preferences.
When a project or template is created those settings are inherited.


Then these settings can be overriden by the user and saved in project or template for next time.

Of course some settings you would not want to store that in a project, your audio interface settings for instance. Projects need to be portable across environments.

BobF
My take is the opposite with regard to interfaces.  I have several devices with interfaces.  It would be great to have the interface options stored per project so the correct device is opened as I move between or revisit projects.
 
I really hate to invoke "the other DAW example" here, but the portable install option this other DAW has is a HUGE plus in this area.  Install as many copies on the same machine as you have devices, each configured accordingly.
 
I don't see Sonar ever having a portable install option, but per project audio hardware setting would REALLY REALLY nice AFAIC.

Are you saying it's implemented in other DAWs? What would happen if you emailed your friend with a different setup. Would he get prompted every time to select an audio interface, ASIO buffers etc? How would portability be addressed?

If there are different global profiles for the application and hardware that can be imported/exported into a seperate file (say .cwh) then it would be easy to use (flip between profiles) and portable (flip between them in Sonar).

BTW you can more or less do this now by writing a batch file and replacing AUD.INI and other files.You could also get it to replace registry settings (not for the faint hearted!).

1.  Sending project files is the low % case for me.  I exchange tracks during collaborations.  If I were to send a project, then the other user could fiddle with hardware differences the way I have to EVERY TIME I switch back/forth between these projects.  That saves me from the headache in 99.9% of the cases.
 
2.  I have zero desire to write batch files to use my DAW of choice.
 
3.  What I'm saying about other DAW is that this is less problematic because of the portable installs they support.  I have a separate install/shortcut for each hardware device I frequently use.
 
Please don't pretend I don't think thru what I suggest or request.

Doktor Avalanche
1. Yes but you need to consider other users in the design. Sharing projects is not uncommon. People don't like to 'fiddle' on the whole.
2. Totally understandable.
3. If you have separate shortcut (in windows) isn't that profile based? You click for a hardware profile. It's not 'per project?'. How does it work?

1.  I agree that everything done in preferences should be optional
3.  My profile is the only one I'm concerned with ... It's not per project, it's per configuration.
 
The specific hardware I'm talking about is:
a) My main interface, a US-16x08
b) BOSS GT-001
c) Yammy THR10
d) Zoom R24
 
And there will be others ...
 
So I have 4 different portable installs of the other DAW.  Each of these is configured to use one of the above.  It's much better than switching hardware with Sonar, but does have the downside that you have to remember which version goes with which project.
 
It's not as complicated as it sounds, but it's not as easy as per project interface settings.  It would be sooooo cool to have a template for each of these to start a project with.  And per project interface configuration would eliminate the need to remember which is which.
 
 

@Bob so the other DAW does do it per hardware profile and not per project.

Anyway I'm all for hardware profiles and even user profiles but not stored in projects, does not make sense to me. I can't think of a single app that stores hardware and device info in it's documents. It's abstracted for good reason.

Would be totally up for a revamp of preferences though, there are lots of improvements that can be made.