CAL scripts seem powerful and efficient. What are they?

Cal scripts are a text files with a *.CAL extension that are a basically set of instructions that tell Sonar how to modify MIDI event data that occur in a sequence.  They only modify MIDI event data and cannot manipulate audio data.

If you look in preferences | File | Folder Location and look at the fifth item down, you'll see where Sonar deems your scripts files to be are located. 

They can be written to be quite powerful. For example, I have written one that converts channel aftertouch events to Poly aftertouch events.  You just select the channel aftertouch events and one note event and the script does the rest.

CAL scripts have been available in Sonar for as long as I can remember.  I have used Sonar (or Cakewalk as it was known in the early days) since the mid nineteen nineties and have used CAL scripts since then.

rogeriodec
CAL Script is a language abandoned by Cakewalk for many years.

If was not extended for many years, but it is still there and working. So it is not "abandoned".
 

It is poorly documented and has a sometimes illogical behavior.

Google shows many links, f.e. http://dgcardenas.fpmit.com/cal/
 

The programming structure is complicated and is not user friendly at all.
I've been programming for over 34 years in many languages, but I'm having a hard time learning CAL Scripts.

May be LISP nor something else with (prefix/postfix) Polish notation is not in your list of "many languages"...
Normally programmers can use any language, as musicians normally have no problem to write a song in Dm instead of Am (as long as the music is 12 notes based, computers still have the same ~100 operations as they had 50 years ago).
 
In former times, computer languages was more computer then human oriented. It was important that computers interpret/compile/execute the program fast. That was changed once good programmers become more expensive then computers. As the result, end users benefits from cheap hardware and software but suffer from the quality of both (in terms of execution time and bugs).
 
CAL pro:
1) easy to call in Sonar, can be assigned to some keyboard shortcut
2) can work with several tracks, but there are quite some bugs in this mode
 
CAL cons:
1) offline processing only, it is impossible to tweak parameters in real time listening the result
2) relatively slow execution
 
There are other ways to do MIDI processing, MIDI FX, but pro and cons are reversed. Especially since most MIDI FXes are VST based and can be used as "Synth" only in Sonar (not in MIDI FX bin). But since other DAWs support such plug-ins on tracks, there are plenty of them, including a broad range of scripting languages.
 
There is only one Sonar oriented script based MIDI FX, written by... me Is is Lua based. So far no-one is using it...
 
 

Billy86

S.L.I.P.
An invaluable CAL script is split notes to tracks. Great for separating a midi drum track to having each part of the kit on its own track for processing, and mixing.

That's interesting. Do you know the name of the script in the CAL folder?

Split Note to Tracks.cal
 

azslow3
There is only one Sonar oriented script based MIDI FX, written by... me Is is Lua based. So far no-one is using it...

 
For those of you who might be interested in learning more about this, here's the link to Alexey's documentation :
 
AZ Lua MFX plug-in
 
and the Lua reference manual  :  Lua 5.3 Reference Manual
 
 
 

I would go so far as to save a different version of your song before you use CAL. The ones what come with Sonar usually work, but can have unexpected consequences. The third party ones you can download are very hit or miss. I wouldn't even attempt to use them.