Slicing up a beat in even sub-divisions with SONAR?

Have you tried the Loop Construction view? I have not used that often, but it allows for slicing up a clip.

The absolute easiest way is to use Propellerhead Software's ReCycle, which can cut natively at 1/16th note intervals, and then you can export each slice for re-importing into SONAR. You can fool Recycle into thinking the tempo is such that you can slice at 1/8th note intervals.
 
But, although SONAR doesn't have an automated way to do this there's a really sneaky method that's pretty fast if you're using loops, or if you're not, using clips that fit 2 - 4 - 8 - 16 bars. It actually might be faster than doing it in ReCycle, and you have your choice of rhythmic values.
 
But first, to make this as fast as possible, go Preferences > Customization > Editing. Under Clips, for "Selection After Single Split," choose "Both Portions." This really speeds things up because when you split the clip in step 5 below, you won't have to re-select the clip to do the next split. You'll see what I mean when you do this.
 
1. Set the tempo to the clip's native tempo if it's not a Groove Clip.
2. Open the loop in the loop construction window and if necessary, check "Loop On/Off" to turn on Looping.
3. Set the Slice Value drop-down menu to 1/8 Note and Threshold all the way left to 0%. There is now a slice on exactly every 1/8th note.
4. In the Track view, select the clip, place the Now time at the beginning of the clip, then hit Tab to step through the slices. Each time you hit a slice, type "s" to split the clip. Alt+Tab steps backwards through the slices.
 
This may sound complicated in theory; in practice, once you've added the transient markers in the loop construction window, the actual tab/split process for a clip takes only a few seconds and it's precise.
 
There are variations on this theme and it sounds like I should do a "long form" version for "Friday's Tip of the Week," but this should hold you over until then.

JoseC.
Craig, but then you need to bounce each slice to a new clip if you want to drag it to the browser, or to a Battery cell, to create a new sample, don't you?

 
No, you don't. If you want to use them outside the project, export using the Multiple Clip Export feature introduced in Ipswich (but also see second answer below). I don't have Battery on my laptop here at Gibson, but you can drag clips directly from SONAR to a pad in Session Drummer's Mixer page without needing to bounce first...wouldn't be surprised if you can do the same thing in Battery.
 

Which leads me to a question: is there any way of selecting a number of clips and bouncing them individually in a single go without gluing them together again?

Yes. Exporting the clips to a folder in the browser removes the Groove Clip metadata so they become standard WAV files. Then you can drag them back into your project as individual clips. I created a folder called "Scratchpad" on the desktop, made it a custom location in the Browser, export to that, then bring back in to the project. Sounds more complicated than it is.

Glad to help! And FWIW the Clip Export feature was a GREAT addition to Ipswich. A little under the radar, perhaps, but extremely useful if you do beats.

Although I use Geist for sequencing mostly nowadays, I did an import and tried out Sonar's inline piano roll. Haven't done that for a while. Was impressed. Still Geist is a killer app, version 2 coming out next year probably, Sonar should take a load of lessons from this and Melodyne.

I agree... but my copy of Geist cost about $70 from memory on a sale..

Anderton

JoseC.
Craig, but then you need to bounce each slice to a new clip if you want to drag it to the browser, or to a Battery cell, to create a new sample, don't you?

 
No, you don't. If you want to use them outside the project, export using the Multiple Clip Export feature introduced in Ipswich (but also see second answer below). I don't have Battery on my laptop here at Gibson, but you can drag clips directly from SONAR to a pad in Session Drummer's Mixer page without needing to bounce first...wouldn't be surprised if you can do the same thing in Battery.
 

Which leads me to a question: is there any way of selecting a number of clips and bouncing them individually in a single go without gluing them together again?

Yes. Exporting the clips to a folder in the browser removes the Groove Clip metadata so they become standard WAV files. Then you can drag them back into your project as individual clips. I created a folder called "Scratchpad" on the desktop, made it a custom location in the Browser, export to that, then bring back in to the project. Sounds more complicated than it is.

Thanks, Craig, I hadn't noticed the Multiple Clip Export, since I am still using X3 :( Not for too long anyway, but I am moving shortly, and I am delaying the upgrade until I get a new desktop for the new studio in a couple of months.
 
Anyway, even in X3 you can drag wave files directly from the Track View to a Battery cell, but if you drag one of the slices of a sliced clip from there what you get is the whole clip again, unless you bounce it first to make the edits permanent. I was thinking more about bouncing all in place at the same time, to drag them them to the sampler from TV but your workflow makes even more sense to me, since I use Sonar's browser instead Battery's own browser for samples, anyway.