I think they want to start play before the recording punch in so the artist has a moment to hear the music before beginning the retake and so they know were in the song they are.

I too would love it if move to marker x was a possibility in the options to program a button on a controller in act.

Move to previous and next is a pain for what I want to use it for. If they can make it move to previous or next why can't they easily make it go to marker A through Z. Also an option to come in early by an offset of so many beats / seconds prior to the marker would also solve problems mentioned here and possibly a set of marker presets that we can drop in for various purposes maybe a set for doing overdubs and another for replaying a project that is being remixed using techniques for playing sections of music with various snapshots in a remix fashion similar to how the matrix is being used.

Think of all the creative uses you can always remix music after it is recorded the snap shot is a powerful tool for recording various shifting sounds and if we can compose using snapshots by shifting from one part of the project to the next then we can get very creative in production and plan it out ahead of time like we do with templates to save time.

Howdy bitflipper!!! I used to live in Portland, now down Texas way!!! Haven't traded notes for a while... just wanted to say AMEN to your post!
 
 
bitflipper


I've always gotten around the navigation issue by keeping the Marker View onscreen. Single-click on an entry to jump to that marker. Couldn't be quicker or easier, unless maybe you could assign keyboard shortcuts to each marker (like maybe the numeric keypad).

My biggest gripe is the arbitrary re-assignment of keyboard shortcuts in each new SONAR version. Sure, you can re-bind them but it's a pain. What's the first thing you do when you're organizing a project? Insert markers as it's playing by pressing F11 at critical points. In X2, F11 opens full-screen mode, whatever that means. If I put it back to Insert Marker, I then have to find a suitable replacement for the new function that doesn't conflict with some other existing or changed shortcut. 

I do try to keep it all in perspective, though. We no longer have to wait while the tape rewinds and then scrub to the punch-in point. We no longer have to take copious notes so the session can be set up again the next day. No patch bays to reconfigure, no dials to dial in. No razor-blades. No demagnetizers. Unlimited bounces, pristine signal-to-noise ratios. And the godsend that is Un-Do. All in all, I am very happy with the digital world.

bitflipper


 I do try to keep it all in perspective, though. We no longer have to wait while the tape rewinds and then scrub to the punch-in point. We no longer have to take copious notes so the session can be set up again the next day. No patch bays to reconfigure, no dials to dial in. No razor-blades. No demagnetizers. Unlimited bounces, pristine signal-to-noise ratios. And the godsend that is Un-Do. All in all, I am very happy with the digital world.

As usual Bit, you're perspective is perfect. I came across a box the other day that had a demagnetizer, tape head cleaning supplies and splicing tape. I smiled nostalgically, remembered what they were used for and quickly closed the box back up! There is always room for improvement with Sonar but I would kick and scream all the way back to the world of tape!

mike_mccue


I'd like to have a time line that started before "0" so that when a musician says "let's go to measure 12" both of us can agree that measure 12 is measure 12 without me having to translate with simple arithmetic.

I figure if I can do the simple arithmetic in my head all day long then maybe Cakewalk could figure out how write me a tasty "macro" that just did it automatically on my big bad Intel chip so that I could concentrate on other things, like tweaking my inflection when I say "that was great.... let's do it one more time".

Wouldn't that be nice?


best regards,
mike

+1.. i hate it when an 8 bar loop is 7 bars long...lol
 
and for a logical rationale, iirc my understanding of those movie types is that its more than just a minor irritation for soundtrack work..

Was also gonna ask if you have tried the "Pitch Shift" plug instead of your speed adjust probs.

I never thought about keeping the marker's window in multidock. Also, I changed the move to next/previous markers to the left/right arrows. Along with "G" and those arrows, I move around fairly quickly.

For the OP - I like your Locate suggestions!

Thanks guys for your thoughts. I just wanted to add a couple of other things that I remembered would really make basic recording easier, too.

Un-solo all

and record-safe all

and unmute all. 

On single buttons on your keyboard. 

Seriously, don't you hate ALWAYS having to mouse to do the same thing a 100 times a day?

Having dedicated buttons to do the essentials- really helps you seamlessly run a recording session quickly and effortlessly. That's all I'm asking for- one button Locate (not go-to-now of selection), Locate-and-Auto-Play, Locate-and-Auto-Play-then-Record at-Record-Start point, without having to hit Stop.

Just essentially functional stuff.

I understand the initial request of this thread.

I think part of the reason many have various suggestions is many do not understand the need to use punch-in.

I have never used punch-in.

When I am working on a specific part, I loop a section, record to a muted track, and play/sing as needed.

And then I comp the proper bits from the multitude of clips.

I know it is easier to work when one has only one option for a part.

But is seems uneccessarily difficult to use punch-in, rather than just recording all takes to a different track.

What am I missing?

j

When I'm recording a specific part, I just engage looping and record as many times as I want - each take gets stored in it's own layer (soon to be lanes in X2)

You can do this for as many inputs your interface can handle.

If I had clients, they would not be waiting around for the machine to loop - the transport moves instantly back to the start of the loop.

evansmalley

Hey fastbikerboy- the MCU sounds great- could you drop a bro a link? But I don't think Sonar HAS the feature of un-solo-all, safe all, as a one button option, does it? I thought you had to click on the "playback status" toolbar buttons. But if so, I wants me some MCU! 

No Sonar doesn't but the MCU does although not one button it is one handed and very quick. M4 and any of the record/mute/solo cancels all of that type. I use thumb and little finger but of course depends on where you position it in relation to your work area. Not only that but navigation is much easier as well. In fact everything is much easier.
 
I can't recommend a decent control surface highly enough. Once you've got one you'll wonder how on earth you ever managed without it. I have the older MCU and XT now superseded by the MCU Pro which has USB connection.
 
http://www.mackie.com/products/mcupro/index.html

seems reasonable enough to me, Bristol! I'm just lobbying for the easier access to the instant command of- Start again! Do Over! 

When I have people recording, they usually just want to DO AGAIN! I messed up and I know it! try it again. Right away!
For sure, if you're doing it yourself, it can make great sense to have the machine just do it over and over automatically- and that's great. I really just started this thread to address things that in a paying commercial studio, on the clock- as a dedicated, live engineer- some little tweaks that would make Sonar better for THAT situation. As part of an Upgrade in the future. Some of those things may seem unnecessary to a solo artist who has time and patience. 

Still I'd bet that if Sonar included a Locate Preroll Point!- and Do it again! with one button, every time- I bet lots of us messing up musicians would use it! Over and over!

But in the by-the-clock-paying studio, an excellent app and an engineer who can SAVE time and patience- and make everything more responsive to the wants of the artist- who's paying for the time- has the advantage. It's just a suggestion.

yah fooman... that's probably the one of the best ways to use what's available- but it's not what I am looking for. Because I usually want Stop to mean Stop. Locate+Auto-Play (as a latch) plus Auto-Record (as a latch) would be much more precise and would do more exactly what I want, at my command. But still, it's a good suggestion- given what's already available. 

But usually, for me, when I press Stop- I just really want to STOP- bad...

Just for the record, I work in a commercial recording studio, I also own another smaller commercial recording studio, and I work as a national traveling audio engineer for Camp Jams. I have on the clock paying clients both private and corporate.

I do multiple punch-ins in drums, guitars, bass, vocals, etc...

SONAR nails it every time. Whether I punch in "on-the-fly" or set up punch points. As soon as I hit STOP, SONAR rewinds instantly back to the NOW TIME, a fraction of a second to hit CTRL+Z, then RECORD, and we are recording another Punch-In take without the client having to wait.

SONAR does this perfectly so I guess I am not quite understanding what it is you cannot do.

I fly around the project instantly with Markers. I programmed my KeyBindings to use the "," and "." keys to Go To Previous Marker and Go To Next Marker. The "," and "." keys also have the "<" and ">" characters on them, but I don't need to hit SHIFT to change markers.

Most every client I have comments on how fast I work. I am punching new takes before they are ready, they ask me to slow down...ha ha ha.

Help me understand your issue and maybe I will understand better. But at the moment, it works just right for me and my paying commercial studio clients.

By the way, I too am about 90% audio only. I record real drums, real guitars from amps, etc... So SONAR works great for real audio as well as MIDI work. To me, it is the best of both worlds. A fantastic recording tool.