Feature Request..."Input Assignment Freeze"
One thing that I find to be "unfortunate" is that you can't make changes to a project template for a device that you're not connected to without losing the channel mappings. For instance... Let's say you're recording multi-track from a 32 input live board with a built in interface that is only available to you when the board is out of the truck and at the venue. Wouldn't it be nice to add time saving bits to your project template so you can save time when you're at the venue...and later on in the studio when you find yourself adding the same plugs and stuff to the same channels. However...you can't because of the time crunch when you're "at the show"...
and...if you try to change the template when you're not connected...you lose all your channel mappings...which is a PITA when dealing with 32 channels.
I'm thinking that the simplest and most straightforward solution would be to have an option in SONAR to "lock" the input mappings. The way it appears to work now is that SONAR "helps you out" by automatically remapping all the inputs to inputs that actually exist. (To me...this is kinda pointless on a live recording where...once it's recorded...you aren't (typically) inputting/recording anything else. All that's left is the mixdown. Even if you
are going to add overdubs or extra parts...that typically happens in the studio where time is on your side...so you can afford to remap inputs by hand.)
So...once the mixdown is done and you're happy with all the plugs and settings and stuff...you
should be able to strip out all the audio and other events and save it as a template...but now the inputs don't match up.
I
suppose that, once you have the template fully tweaked (post mixdown), you can
then take it back to the board and reassign the inputs...but that's time consuming and (more importantly) error prone if your track and input numbers aren't strictly consecutive. That falls down when you want to have a stereo track for the keys and another stereo track for the toms...and the wireless mikes are on another page.
See also...
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Feature-RequestInput-Assignment-Freeze-m3190411.aspx