Questions on getting used to X2 from 8.3

Cakewalk veteran here from the floppy disc days. I just upgraded from 8.3 to X2 Producer. Here are some things that I am not able to figure out about the "X2" flavor, that I was quite used to in previous versions. I'm hoping that some of you can help me through the cutlure shock. Thanks in advance. (I searched the help file on these things before posting.) I did the $299 download special last Friday; I was a lightning fast old pro (on 8), and now I strangely feel a bit "lost at sea" on Sonar X2, so I'm hoping that some of you folks will help me here.

1: "Go To: Time" seems to have disappeared? You used to be able to click Alt-G+T to "go to" a new time. Alt G+T would bring up a dialog, where you type in a measure number and click Enter, and that would set the "now time" to that measure number. Did this useful functionality vanish, or is there an equivalent in X2?

2: F7/F8 used to take you to the start / stop of a selected region; this useful function has been around forever, yet in X2 they reassigned these classic shortcuts for some reason. What are the current X2 equivalents, or did this also vanish?

3: How to edit midi note velocity & durations in Event View? I do a lot of midi note parameter editing (start time & velocity value) in the Event View, yet in X2, those columns appear to be "view only". Is there a magic trick to get to edit vaues again, or are we relegated to editing midi note start time & velocity value via Piano Role view only? (I sure hope not.)

4: Is there a way to default Piano Roll View to NOT show velocity? EVERY time I open the PR view on a midi track, the first thing I do is to click the Notes menu to turn off velocity, as it clutters the screen (IMHO). If I close the PRV and then reopen it, there they are again. Is there a way to globally set a default to NOT show velocity bars unless I WANT to see them?

5: In Track View, it is unclear to me what "tool mode" I must be in to just click on the timeline to go to a different time. I switch between Smart, Select, etc. tools, and it doesn't move me to the desired new time. (It seems to do nothing at all - ?) In previous versions, ANY click in the time ruler would automatically put the "now time" right there. ?? (I am hobbling by, using the old Ctrl+ Home / End / Page Up / Page Down, for now. Would be nice to use Go to Time again.)

6: Lastly, I worked up a test song (my first in X2) that is 91 measures long. When I play it, after the end, the time bar just keeps on scrolling, forever beyond measure 91, as if I have some "ghost note" out in "measure one million". In any previous version, if I saw this question on the forum, I'd say "check your envelopes and look for an event/node that's at the Cntrl+End time". Well, there are no events past measure 91. Cntrl+End indeed takes me to measure 91. Yet the song doesn't "stop" on end. What is the magic trick preference setting to get it to stop when the song file has ended?

Wow, when I am here, usually I am answering questions, not asking them, so I humbly thank any "Sonar X" veterans who can show me the light this time around. Cheers,
ed97643

here ya go.

Cakewalk veteran here from the floppy disc days. I just upgraded from 8.5.3 to X2 Producer. 

Here are some things that I am not able to figure out about the "X2" flavor, that I was quite used to in previous versions. I'm hoping that some of you can help me through the culture shock. Thanks in advance. (I searched the help file on these things before posting.) 

I did the $299 download special last Friday; I was a lightning fast old pro (on 8), and now I strangely feel a bit "lost at sea" on Sonar X2, so I'm hoping that some of you folks will help me here. 1: "Go To: Time" seems to have disappeared? You used to be able to click Alt-G+T to "go to" a new time. Alt G+T would bring up a dialog, where you type in a measure number and click Enter, and that would set the "now time" to that measure number. Did this useful functionality vanish, or is there an equivalent in X2? 

2: F7/F8 used to take you to the start / stop of a selected region; this useful function has been around forever, yet in X2 they reassigned these classic shortcuts for some reason. What are the current X2 equivalents, or did this also vanish? 

3: How to edit midi note velocity & durations in Event View? I do a lot of midi note parameter editing (start time & velocity value) in the Event View, yet in X2, those columns appear to be "view only". Is there a magic trick to get to edit values again, or are we relegated to editing midi note start time & velocity value via Piano Role view only? (I sure hope not.) 

4: Is there a way to default Piano Roll View to NOT show velocity? EVERY time I open the PR view on a midi track, the first thing I do is to click the Notes menu to turn off velocity, as it clutters the screen (IMHO). If I close the PRV and then reopen it, there they are again. Is there a way to globally set a default to NOT show velocity bars unless I WANT to see them? 

5: In Track View, it is unclear to me what "tool mode" I must be in to just click on the timeline to go to a different time. I switch between Smart, Select, etc. tools, and it doesn't move me to the desired new time. (It seems to do nothing at all - ?) In previous versions, ANY click in the time ruler would automatically put the "now time" right there. ?? (I am hobbling by, using the old Ctrl+ Home / End / Page Up / Page Down, for now. Would be nice to use Go to Time again.) 

6: Lastly, I worked up a test song (my first in X2) that is 91 measures long. When I play it, after the end, the time bar just keeps on scrolling, forever beyond measure 91, as if I have some "ghost note" out in "measure one million". In any previous version, if I saw this question on the forum, I'd say "check your envelopes and look for an event/node that's at the Cntrl+End time". Well, there are no events past measure 91. Cntrl+End indeed takes me to measure 91. Yet the song doesn't "stop" on end. What is the magic trick preference setting to get it to stop when the song file has ended? 

Wow, when I am here, usually I am answering questions, not asking them, so I humbly thank any "Sonar X" veterans who can show me the light this time around. 
Cheers, ed97643

Welcome to the "X" Side, veteran Sonar user!
 
There is a learning curve with the X series. It would be good to break out the Help file and do some heavy reading there.
There is also a huge Help file PDF on the web site that out does the basic one in X2.
 
In the mean time:
 
1: Just press "G" 

2: "F" #s are now assigned to screensets. Please go to "Preferences/Customization/Keyboard Shortcuts" or "Keyboard Shortcuts" in the Help file to learn more. You can reassign keys also.
 
3: MIDI editing is now done from the Control Bar "EVENT INSPECTOR" at the top of your screen
 
4: In PRV go to View and check Show/Hide Controller Pane, then diminish it to just above disappearing. If it disappears, it will automatically "Hide" and bring back the tails
 
5: With any tool selected you can set the time by clicking in the Time Line bar at the top of the screen. If this is not working for you then something is wrong.
 
6: In the Track View Otions menu, clear the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the Now time marker move to follow the current Now time when you stop playback.
 
or
 
In the Track View Otions menu, select the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the Now time snap back to the Now time marker when you stop playback.
 
PS: Don't forget to install the Quick Fix download.  
 
Steve

ed97643


hi timidi; sorry, not seeing anything other than my original post?

Also (new complaint), X2 is "going nuts" today, in that it is not able to display the PRV. It brings up the keyboard on the left hand side, but it does not display the actual PRV notes ... it is almost like there is a window refresh problem, where (besides the left side keyboard), it just shows whatever was "behind" PRV, in the main window. Yikes.

Note, been using 8.3 on this particular Sonar-only PC for well over a year - no new hardware or software - only change is 8.3 to X2. Not looking promising....

You might be seeing a PRV zoom bug that shows itself from time to time and seemingly at random. The PRV appears fully zoomed out and as a result appears blank. Zooming in fully vertically should fix that.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful information! I will check this out carefully after work later today. 

The only thing that scares me is the midi event inspector replacing the EV editing... I am very used to flying through large series of edits "excel style" by typing new values while using the up/down left/right keys to fly through my events.  I hope the "inspector" won't be a cumbersome slow-down.

Thanks again, everyone!

ed97643


Thanks to everyone for your helpful information! I will check this out carefully after work later today. 

The only thing that scares me is the midi event inspector replacing the EV editing... I am very used to flying through large series of edits "excel style" by typing new values while using the up/down left/right keys to fly through my events.  I hope the "inspector" won't be a cumbersome slow-down.

Thanks again, everyone!

The event inspector is in addition to the Event list not a replacement. The EV list is still there if that's your preferred MO.

  One thing to keep in mind about Both X1 and X2 is it may appear that features are left out from Sonar 8xx. This is not the case.  All the features are there but accessed differently. The only feature that has been removed is the Pattern Brush. Not many people have noticed its gone. However you should find what you get in X2 is far more useful.   

Event List view is still there... check the Views menu.

But the Event Inspector is also very powerful. Check out this video...

* Cakewalk SONAR: Event Inspector Editing
http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/video.asp?ID=7

And more videos here: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/videos.asp

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview