Feature Suggestion: Better timeline/tempo tools!
Hey guys,
This one might take a fair amount of work, but it would really be a game-changer for me:
I do music for picture, and it's sometimes necessary for me to make subtle and/or complex adjustments to tempos to hit a sync point. In Sonar's current implementation, this is kinda tough to do - or at least tougher than it could be. I understand I can use things like fit improvisation or set beat at now. Those are good for doing rough work or making a tempo map for song played wild. But when I need to do detailed work with tempos, I end up using Digital Performer.
DP's tempo tools are incredibly good, and I'd be thrilled if Sonar had something like them. There is a free demo of DP for windows now, and I'd recommend giving it a spin to see what I'm talking about. Not because I suggest you switch to it - it has good and bad like any DAW - but because this is one thing they've really nailed to the wall.
For instance, in DP I can just grab a beat on the timeline and move it to where I want it to go. Depending on the options I select when I do it, it then sets the tempo for the rest of the cue after that point, or shifts everything after it while maintaining the same tempo (great for adding a ritard without mucking up the rest of the song), or moves that one beat and compensates for it by changing the tempos on either side while leaving every other beat in the same place. This is a boon either when picture changes, or when I want to do a takedown and prepare a written score.
Another great thing DP has is a tool that will calculate the exact tempos needed to hit markers with a certain margin of error. Pretty great.
Generally speaking, I prefer the environment and workflow of Sonar over DP, so if X4 had DP's timeline features, and the kinks get ironed out of the new video engine, it'd be a done deal for me and I could do all my work in Sonar. Thanks for considering, and for continuing to make Sonar a great program!