Need advice on Exporting, Importing and generally managing MIDI clips between projects

mudgel
I'm with zargg71. The browser features have evolved over the different versions of Sonar and is getting more an more useful. Drag and drop has had some recent fixes and it now works properly both ways.

You can drag and drop internally from track to browser and vice versa as well as to and from the windows desktop.

Allows you to create a repository of small clips from larger ones ones as well as use existing clips to drop into existing projects. The browser also allows you to audition clips before you commit.

Beepster

John
I would simply save the project that you received as a MIDI file. This will keep everything timed in relation to one another.  You don't want to use MIDI clips unless you don't care about their time line position. The other thing is simply load the resulting MIDI do not import it. This will preserve its BPM. You will want it to be a type 1 MIDI file so all the channels are on their own track. 
 

Thanks, John... but being the dum dumd I am I have no idea what any of that means.
 
If I saved this project as a MIDI file I'm not sure what would happen. The reason I want to avoid it (and start my own new project) is because the original project is HUGE and mapped out to a ton of instruments I do not own. I also only need a few elements out of the whole thing.
 
Usually, when dealing with audio projects that have been sent to me instead of using the CWP or CWB I create my own project and set it up as needed to match the original. Just much more stable that way I find. So perhaps that mindset is tripping me up. I want to treat the MIDI tracks like I would audio (set up the project and import the individual files).
 
Knowaddimean? Of course MIDI is totally different which... well that's why I'm here, hat in hand, again.
 
Perhaps you could elaborate a bit. Everything is helpful really because it gives me ideas to scour around the manual/program for. Once I get my foot in the door I can usually dig down and sort things out.
 
Thanks.

John
When you save the MIDI within a project via save as MIDI it becomes a standard MIDI file that can be loaded back into Sonar as just that. MID is a native file format to Sonar. Most people import MIDI files. That is not the right way simply load them as if they were a regular project.  When you saved the MIDI from the other project it also saved all the data about the MIDI in that project. When you load the MIDI file into Sonar it will preserve all the info about it.  If you import it the BPM is stripped so it can match the project its being loaded into.
 
Make it the base for you new project.  

Considering I'm dealing with multiple tracks and I want those tracks completely separated... how do I deal with that? 
By saving it as MIDI it almost sound like it's going to... well I don't know what it's going to do. Do I just select the tracks I want included in the Save? Then they all appear separately in the new project when I open it?

And you brought up a concern abotu stripping out the BPM... I honestly don't care about that type of thing being removed because I set up the blank project to the correct BPM/Time Sig anyway BUT maybe is the clip doesn't have that data it won't adjust to the new project properly?

Cheeers!

JohnYou save the whole project as a type 1 MIDI file this will strip out all the MIDI tracks and save them in a MIDI file. You don't need to select anything. The time and tempo is preserve when you save as a MIDI file. If you drag it in, its an import and will loose all that data. It will use what ever is in the project its imported to. Use open to load it. 


 
Try it and see. It isn't hard. Nor will it harm anything. Sonar is the only major DAW that can do this. It has kept its MIDI roots in the best ways. Other DAWs can save as a MIDI file but none can open one. They all need to import them in. Sonar is the only one that can open a MIDI file as a native file format.  
 

brundlefly
For the specific task of copying selected MIDI clips from one project to another, preserving start times, and leaving behind unwanted events and track parameters, I would suggest something like this:
 
- Open both projects.
- Create the target MIDI/Instrument tracks in your new project (one for each track you will copy)
- Ctrl+tab to the source project.
- Select the tracks you want by sweeping and/or Ctrl+clicking track numbers.
- Ctrl+A to Select All.
- Edit > Select by filter, uncheck any data types you don't want and OK.
- Ctrl+tab back to the new project.
- Select the first target track, set Now time to 1:01:000, and Ctrl+V to paste.
 

John
This is one of the things that have me stay with Sonar. Here you have been with Sonar since X1 and there are things you haven't explored yet. To me that just says how deep Sonar is. The most likely things that a user is going to need to do are up front easy to get to and easy to understand. While the power and depth is there not far from the surface and quite accessible.  
 
I've been with Sonar from day one of its first release.  I know it well. Still there are a lot of things I know little about. I know they are there but I don't use them much. Because I have learned it over time and tried each new feature as it was released the learning curve was minimal. For those just starting out it has to be a monster of a program. Even those that have been with it a few years it must seem massive to learn fully. To some degree Sonar is deceptive. Especially with the Skylight GUI. It opens up with a fairly clean look that will catch the innocent off guard. I think that is why the forum is so popular at least in part.     
 
I'm not sure any one person knows it completely. Some few know most of it but most only know what they use and very little else. Yet this forum is so full of helpful folks its an amazing place to be.