Playback continues Long After Song Finished

Hopefully this has a simple solution. I have a mix of a song thats about 3:30 long. All of the envelopes and audio tracks and such end at around 3:35. However, when I export the song, I get a couple minutes of silence at the end of the wav. To export, I'm doing "Edit>Select>None" and then going to File>Export.

I've noticed the playback bar/cursor doesn't stop until it reaches 5:25. For some reason Sonar is thinking the end of the song is at 5:25. How do I tell Sonar where the end of the song is? I don't usually have this problem, or if I do, it's b/c I have an extraneous node on an envelope beyond the length of the song. This is not the case this time, however.

Thanks for your help!

You have an event at 5:25. Select all (Cntrl-A), and look in the event list for an event - might be a controller or what not. Or, it might be an envelope node. Ctrl-A then Go To - End, and look at all tracks and busses for an event or node. Delete it, resave, and your new end will be where you want.

Does that last event have a 2 minute duration?
If not, it must be an errant node.
Go to the end of the song (5:25) and scrutinize every track (and bus "swim lane") for something - there's got to be something.
Make sure no tracks are hidden, also.

Was it a template or a project? If its a project it will still reference the tracks that were there before you deleted them. That is they are still on the disk and there may be internal markers within that Sonar project that still reference those files. I believe you need to save the empty project first before you add new stuff to it to prevent this new project from referencing stuff that is no longer there. Remember, that those deletions can be undone unless you save it and open it again. I hope I made this clear.

If you saved it with the new content I don't know what this may do to the previous internal markers. My guess is it is still referencing somewhere in the project internals those files and their length for an undo. I suspect that you will need to export this new project into a different folder and with a new file name. When I say export I mean save it. If this doesn't work it has to be an errant something or other that is at the time of 5:XX still in the file. But this is something I have never encountered myself and I am guessing. I do hope it is helpful.

is there an easy way to add a bit of empty space to your bounce of a mix

Just slip-edit any track to stretch it out if you want to add some silence at the end, or to make sure reverb tails play out fully.

ORIGINAL: bitflipper

is there an easy way to add a bit of empty space to your bounce of a mix

Just slip-edit any track to stretch it out if you want to add some silence at the end, or to make sure reverb tails play out fully.

Thanks for the tip!

ORIGINAL: Kalle Rantaaho

ORIGINAL: ed97643

Does that last event have a 2 minute duration?
If not, it must be an errant node.
Go to the end of the song (5:25) and scrutinize every track (and bus "swim lane") for something - there's got to be something.
Make sure no tracks are hidden, also.

This is one of the eternal bugs that don't exist in SONAR.
I've tried all the tricks mentioned here, and still some projects never stop playback automatically. The fun thing is that sometimes a project stops at the end, and after some editing it suddenly doesn't. I haven't been able to find any clues. One thing though: When I export the project it always stops at the right place (I export without selecting anything in the track pane).

In the OP's case the playback stops at about five minutes. I have stopped some of my about 100-bar songs after 200 empty bars.

Ha! Interesting. Unfortunately, unlike your situations, mine bounces all the way to 5:25 as well.

Oh well, I suppose.

I've been lobbying for years for user-settable start-of-song and end-of-song markers. This would not only avoid run-on playback issues but also be a convenience, e.g. set the start-of-song marker beyond the count-in.

As it is, SONAR's end-of-song marker is an internal construct that users have no direct control over. It is automatically calculated based on events and clip durations, and must be re-calculated every time you make a change to the project. That's why this problem often disappears after making some changes.

Note that a MIDI or audio clip has an effective endpoint that's not dependent on the data in it. That's why you can slip-edit: the clip beginning and ending points are information separate from what's actually in the clip.

One way a song can get extended beyond the "real" end is to delete events from a MIDI clip without resizing the clip itself using a slip-edit. For example, you had recorded a 7-minute click track prior to recording a 5-minute song. If the click track then became the basis for a drum track, you might have started by deleting all MIDI events at the 5-minute mark. However, the clip still extends to the original length so the song plays 2 minutes longer than desired.

Another common reason for run-on songs is a rogue event out there past the end of the song. This can happen in the above scenario by simply adding an automation envelope. SONAR automatically places nodes at the beginning and end of the song, and it's that node at the end that tells you where SONAR thinks the song ends. Sometimes, deleting that end node does not resize the song window as it should, which is the bug Kalle Rantaaho is referring to.

The first step is to determine where SONAR "thinks" the song ends. Press Ctl-End, which moves the Now marker to the end of the song, or at least where SONAR thinks that should be.

Scroll down through every track, following the vertical Now marker down and look for any automation nodes. Don't forget the buses, too. Delete any nodes you find. This alone may fix your problem. If it doesn't, do a slip-edit on the latest (in time) clip, drawing it longer or shorter - that should trigger a recalculation of the song end.

Also check for any MIDI clips that extend beyond the end of the song. There might be a CC event in there that isn't visible except in the PRV.

Bitflipper, informative post.

I tried deleting all the midi tracks, as well as trying that slip edit trick. The end is still 5:25.

I also tried saving the project to a new location (telling sonar to copy the audio tracks to the new audio folder). That also didn't help.

Considering both of these things, it seems the only option (other than a Sonar glitch) is a stray node. However, I am positive I am not seeing any nodes at 5:25. I only see dotted line envelopes with no nodes. Perhaps there is an envelope that I accidentally hid? Is there a "show all hidden envelopes" command/option?

Thanks

Is there a "show all hidden envelopes" command/option?

Not that I know of. You have to check each track individually, AFAIK.

OK, so you can't find the mystery event. Now you have to get out the shotgun. Open your project, select the first track, press W and then CTL-End. Then press Del to delete the track (don't worry, it's nondestructive until you save the project). Repeat until Ctl-End takes you to the real end of the song. At that point you know exactly which track has a problem.

Re-open the project and examine that track very closely. If there are absolutely no samples or nodes (or MIDI events if it's a MIDI track) at the place where Ctl-End takes you, then you'll have to rebuild the track. Luckily, this is easy: just bounce to another track and delete the original. Your song should now end at the proper place.

Why don't you just delete everything after your new rendition of a previous project. Per sa- the original was 5.25 so the template is 5.25. The new audio is 3.31 and Sonar see's it as added audio-whatever files or info. Stop the cursor at 3.32 or where ever and select from here and delete the rest and save it as the original file.

I have had projects do this. I discovered that most the time it was caused by a plugin. In my case it was jamstix...if jamstix does not have an end bar in its song editor it keeps the playback going indefinitely. Once an end bar is added to the jamstix then playback stops where it is supposed to.

You may not be using JS but it is worth checking out the plugs int he project to see if they are causing it.

Delete everything after 3:31? Well, I would, but there is no audio or anything beyond 3:31. There's nothing to delete, as best as I can tell. regardless, I have tried to use the mouse to select anything beyond this point that might be invisible, and then I hit delete.

Did you mean something different?

Actually I was referring to using the Edit dropdown Menu- select-and it's different choices. Select the track first, select from here with the now marker, the remainder of the track should show being selected to the end. Then delete the selected portion and then Save it.
I now see you are still dealing with multiple tracks so you'd have to repeat the process on each track. It might be easier to mix it down to a final track first, then do the same process. Either way it should change the original template you used once you save it. Since you've already deleted the original audio and midi it should save the hassle of searching for whatever process is hanging on until 5.25

some projects never stop playback automatically. The fun thing is that sometimes a project stops at the end, and after some editing it suddenly doesn't. I haven't been able to find any clues. One thing though: When I export the project it always stops at the right place (I export without selecting anything in the track pane.

exactly tha same situation here! but when i export the project stays in it's original lenght.

?