Helpful ReplyAny way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback?

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Calkwalker
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2013/01/23 15:21:49 (permalink)

Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback?

If I have a project that consists of several linear clips, is there any way to automate playback so that the clips are traversed in an order that is different from the order in which they occur?
 
I'm thinking about a "clip go to" or "clip call" construct, such as one might use in a procedural programming language, to "call" the clips in a random-access sequence, as if they were program subroutines.
 
I'm looking for a quick and easy way to do this that doesn't involve dragging the clips around, so that many different playback sequences could be easily explored.
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WDI
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/23 15:31:26 (permalink) ☄ Helpful
Don't have it but matrix view is probably what you want. Look into matrix view. 

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Calkwalker
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/25 16:03:35 (permalink)
I've been exploring the Matrix View.  It looks like an interesting tool for experimenting with different arrangements and mixes, etc., but I have found no way to trigger the cells in a Matrix row to play sequentially.
 
To clarify, I have loaded several clips into consecutive cells on one Matrix row.  I want them to play serially at the push of a button.  It is easy to copy these cells to other rows, in different orders, to hear them play in different orders.  That is well supported.
 
However, it seems that the Matrix will only support a cell-based or column-based trigger.  I find no way to tell it to sequentially play all the populated cells in a row, i.e., from left to right.
 
I could rearrange the populated cells vertically in one column, but then they'll play simultaneously, not consecutively...
 
Any advise appreciated.
 
post edited by Calkwalker - 2013/01/25 17:05:26
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daveny5
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/25 21:30:24 (permalink)
Do you have X1 or X2? They revamped the matrix view in X2. 

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FastBikerBoy
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/26 03:13:34 (permalink)
Calkwalker


I've been exploring the Matrix View.  It looks like an interesting tool for experimenting with different arrangements and mixes, etc., but I have found no way to trigger the cells in a Matrix row to play sequentially.
 
To clarify, I have loaded several clips into consecutive cells on one Matrix row.  I want them to play serially at the push of a button.  It is easy to copy these cells to other rows, in different orders, to hear them play in different orders.  That is well supported.
 
However, it seems that the Matrix will only support a cell-based or column-based trigger.  I find no way to tell it to sequentially play all the populated cells in a row, i.e., from left to right.
 
I could rearrange the populated cells vertically in one column, but then they'll play simultaneously, not consecutively...
 
Any advise appreciated.
 
AFAIK there is no way of triggering like that from within the matrix. You could of course put them in the track view and play them back (or record a performance of you triggering them) and then trigger other cells in the matrix but an automatic sequential playback from the matrix itself isn't possible.


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Calkwalker
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/26 03:47:35 (permalink)
FastBikerBoy

AFAIK there is no way of triggering like that from within the matrix. You could of course put them in the track view and play them back (or record a performance of you triggering them) and then trigger other cells in the matrix but an automatic sequential playback from the matrix itself isn't possible.
Thanks for the feedback.
 
FYI, each of these clips is the beginning and ending of a candidate tune (they're rather short clips) that I want to arrange into a program, which means listening to them in lots of different orders to decide on the best sequence.  As you may know, a program with 10 tunes has over 3.6 million (10 factoral) potential tune orders.
 
It's kind of funny, but I have an old minidisc deck that is great for this - it allows the user to input track numbers as a play list - it's quick and easy to program.  I thought that this task would be child's play on a DAW like SONAR.  That would have allowed me to sell my old deck on eBay (if there's still a market), but it looks like it may still be the easiest way to quickly audition a bunch of different tune orders.
 
p.s. I'm still on X1, so I'll take another look at Matrix View when I upgrade to X2.

 
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thebiglongy
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/26 04:36:40 (permalink)
Ableton would probably be better for this sort of thing?

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wr
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/26 05:15:03 (permalink)
You can trigger Matrix cells via MIDI.  You can use the MIDI Learn function to assign a MIDI note value to a cell, and then put together a MIDI track to play the cells in any order you want.  At least that's what it looks like to me - I haven't actually tested it out. 
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/26 06:36:31 (permalink)
Calkwalker


FastBikerBoy

AFAIK there is no way of triggering like that from within the matrix. You could of course put them in the track view and play them back (or record a performance of you triggering them) and then trigger other cells in the matrix but an automatic sequential playback from the matrix itself isn't possible.
Thanks for the feedback.
 
FYI, each of these clips is the beginning and ending of a candidate tune (they're rather short clips) that I want to arrange into a program, which means listening to them in lots of different orders to decide on the best sequence.  As you may know, a program with 10 tunes has over 3.6 million (10 factoral) potential tune orders.
 
It's kind of funny, but I have an old minidisc deck that is great for this - it allows the user to input track numbers as a play list - it's quick and easy to program.  I thought that this task would be child's play on a DAW like SONAR.  That would have allowed me to sell my old deck on eBay (if there's still a market), but it looks like it may still be the easiest way to quickly audition a bunch of different tune orders.
 
p.s. I'm still on X1, so I'll take another look at Matrix View when I upgrade to X2.

 


If it's easy triggering then wr's suggestion may be the way to go. If you want more info on the matrix there's the SWA Complete Sonar X2 promo video on my youtube page which is the Matrix chapter, that might be useful.

Although there has been some nice upgrade and bug fixes the basics are still very similar if not identical.
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Calkwalker
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/27 19:43:55 (permalink)
FastBikerBoy

If it's easy triggering then wr's suggestion may be the way to go. If you want more info on the matrix there's the SWA Complete Sonar X2 promo video on my youtube page which is the Matrix chapter, that might be useful.
Thanks for the Matrix video and suggestions.  Your video, the X1 Reference Guide, and other resources all suggest that only an external MIDI instrument/controller can be used to establish a MIDI trigger (which is why they call it "MIDI remote control" I suppose).  I tried creating a MIDI track and an associated instrument track, but when I turn on "MIDI Learn" in the Matrix View, it does not recognize an internally-generated MIDI note (output by the synth plugin to the Master Bus) as a triggering event.
 
My assumption at this point is that the triggering MIDI event must be present on SONAR's input bus in order to be recognized, which is disappointing, because I don't have an external controller.  I don't know if it's possible to route a MIDI instrument output to the input bus to make it look like an external device...

 
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WDI
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/27 21:51:54 (permalink)
Since I'm using an older version of sonar that doesn't have matrix view this is kind of a guess, but I think you should be able to record a matrix performance using the mouse and clicking the cell headers. Also, I don't think you connect a soft synth instrument to the matrix but the other way around meaning the matrix can trigger a soft synth. But since your using audio clips in the matrix you shouldn't even need any soft synth connected to the matrix. 

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stevec
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/27 22:44:32 (permalink)
I'm not sure if this practical, but, I wonder if you could use each clip as a sample in something like Dropzone or Session Drummer and then trigger via MIDI notes.  IOW, you would record each clip sequence you want by ""playing" the samples in the desired order.
 

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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/28 03:27:44 (permalink)
Calkwalker


FastBikerBoy

If it's easy triggering then wr's suggestion may be the way to go. If you want more info on the matrix there's the SWA Complete Sonar X2 promo video on my youtube page which is the Matrix chapter, that might be useful.
Thanks for the Matrix video and suggestions.  Your video, the X1 Reference Guide, and other resources all suggest that only an external MIDI instrument/controller can be used to establish a MIDI trigger (which is why they call it "MIDI remote control" I suppose).  I tried creating a MIDI track and an associated instrument track, but when I turn on "MIDI Learn" in the Matrix View, it does not recognize an internally-generated MIDI note (output by the synth plugin to the Master Bus) as a triggering event.
 
My assumption at this point is that the triggering MIDI event must be present on SONAR's input bus in order to be recognized, which is disappointing, because I don't have an external controller.  I don't know if it's possible to route a MIDI instrument output to the input bus to make it look like an external device...

 


You're correct. Triggering using MIDI learn does require an external device as the trigger. Cells can be also triggered though by clicking on them with the mouse or pressing enter while it is the selected cell. That's the method I'm using in the videos.

SteveC's suggestion would work as well but even then it'll be easier with an external controller/keyboard. As far as I know there's no easy way of routing MIDI instrument output to an input although some synths can be set up to echo their MIDI output but that is unlikely to help triggering cells in the matrix.
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wr
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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/28 08:11:46 (permalink)
Yes, I think SteveC's idea would work.  Cyclone is another choice for that approach.

Or, if you want to stick with Matrix, you could try using a software MIDI controller to trigger the cells, like the one talked about in this old thread.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1739973

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Re:Any way to alter the normal, sequential order of clip playback? 2013/01/28 11:00:28 (permalink)
wr
Or, if you want to stick with Matrix, you could try using a software MIDI controller to trigger the cells, like the one talked about in this old thread.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1739973
I've been looking into controlling stuff from my PC keyboard (with my left hand, while playing my 2 octave midi keyboard with my right) and had found just about nothing until this morning, when I came across chirp virtual midi keyboard controller.
 
Looks just like what I need though I haven't tried it yet.  Here's a short video.  Might be useful to Calkwalker as well.   It's 20$.
 
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