AnsweredMastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Cart?

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robert_e_bone
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/05/26 02:36:31 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/05/28 04:23:27
I would concur with Craig's post above - I am a keyboard player, who plays some guitar and sings backup vocals at church.  
 
I almost always am focused on dealing with MIDI, and only marginally do I go into anything fancy on the resulting audio - some levels, EQ, reverb, delay, compression - all standard stuff.
 
There are GIANT swaths of Sonar that I just never ever deal with, comping, take lanes, screen sets, and I likely will never end up dealing with any of those areas, despite having worked with Sonar since it was in DOS form.
 
Whenever I DO see something come along that looks beneficial to MY needs, it is at THAT point that I will invest the time needed to work with that piece of things.
 
My advice is to always review any new features that come along, because any given month may well bring something to benefit YOUR ways of doing things, and make sure you have reviewed all of the features that are already there - not from so much a stand point of learning all of those features - just making sure you know what those features bring to the table - in case any of them might help you with what you are doing and how you are working.
 
Here is an off the top of the head analogy - you enroll in a college, and are taking music courses there - the school offers degree programs in astrophysics, and biology.  Would you feel a need to take any of those courses just because the school featured them?  Nope - you would take the courses needed for you to get the training in music.  And even with the music courses - I wouldn't take a bunch of classes in singing, if I played the clarinet.
 
Bob Bone
 

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#31
bokchoyboy
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/05/26 04:07:49 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/05/28 04:23:30
Anderton
 
 
I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.


 
I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!



#32
kennywtelejazz
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/05/26 21:27:41 (permalink)
Cactus Music
I most certainly have always just learned features when the need arises. Sonar has soooo many features and then to make matters worse they keep adding more! 
 

 

 
Cactus Music
 
I'm basically lazy when it comes to digging in real deep and always pick the path of least resistance to getting a song finished. I'm not sure if I'm doing my songs a disservice by not using all those wonderful plug ins. It seems every time I get the urge to try something new the music suffers because I don't really know how to make that particular plug in do anything. So I end up using the same old plug ins that I understand. I don't even use Pro Channel because everytime I tried it I could not even hear anything happening?? What's with that little EQ ? it doesn't work for me and I know that's gotta be 100% pilot error. But I know someday I'll figure it out and stop having to put the EQ in the effect bins. 
I even figured out the step sequencer the other day because I had to make a drum loop and I don't have a keyboard on hand at work. Working in Home Studio has been a good way for me to get work done without worrying about missing out on all those fancy Splat features because they don't exist in Home studio. You can work away happy as a clam oblivious to Pro channel. 




Hi Cactus Music ,
 
Whew , I didn't start out lazy ,  I started ending up getting lazy around the edges because some of the things I felt I have needed to learn are way over my head (in some cases not all )..
Over the past few years I have had many repeat performances of " Song Posters Regret " . This was due to attempting to use plugs I didn't know how to use properly or trying production techs I had no chops with at the time of posting the tune .
I chalk all that up to being just part of my personal learning process .
I've gone back and remixed a few tunes of mine that needed a lot of TLC . A few I chose were done a number of years ago when I didn't have the wisdom to know the difference ...
I was thankful I had made progress along the way and got a few tunes dialed in much better than I had left them .
Much of what I wound up using for plugs and Eq's on the song re-do's  were things I have had the whole time ...
There is a lot that can be said about using what you know and are comfortable with using .
 
What ! SONAR has a step sequencer ? ..just kidding ....
 
I certainly understand how you feel about using Home Studio . When I fist got X3 PE coming from SONAR 6 PE I was totally overloaded and I couldn't get nothing done because I was LOST in a perpetual X3 learning curve Orbit ....
Back then Home Studio wasn't back in circulation at the Cakewalk store so I wound up picking up Music Creator and used it very much like you are using H .S. .
 
nice talking with you ,
 
Kenny
 

                   
Oh Yeah , Life is Good .
The internet is nothing more than a glorified real time cartoon we all star in.
I play a "Gibson " R 8 Les Paul Cherry Sunburst .
The Love of my Life is an American Bulldog Named Duke . I'm currently running Cakewalk By BandLab as my DAW .
 
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#33
kennywtelejazz
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/05/29 22:33:40 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby chuckebaby 2017/05/30 00:11:48
Anderton
timidi
It seems that anymore, the music is a bi-product of experimenting, learning and fixing stuff. 
Not the other way around.



That's up to the user, not the company making a product. 
 
There was an update to Ableton Live that was huge, I think it was maybe Ableton 4. Gerhard Behles asked how I liked the new features. I told him that frankly, they were great but I didn't need them for what I do, so I learned only a few of them. I thought he would be offended but instead, he got a big smile and said "That's perfect, we give you the possibilities, you use what you need."
 
As to the OP, I recommend learning something when you need it to accomplish a specific musical or technical goal. Otherwise, just keep doing what you need to do.
 
The paradox is that the monthly update cuts the learning curve into 12 pieces compared to a big yearly update. Because it's less stuff to learn, people feel obliged to learn it. Don't. Use what you need when you need it...and know that it's there for when you do.
 
I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.




Since I thought this post was deserving of a best answer , it needs to go TTT at least once
You have given some very sound advice based on your decades of proven experience .
Yes , I need to put the cart back behind the horse and just do what I have to do ...
I'm looking forward to the re-launched eZine ...I thought it was a very good resource for keeping my finger on the SONAR pulse .
 
thank you ,
 
Kenny

                   
Oh Yeah , Life is Good .
The internet is nothing more than a glorified real time cartoon we all star in.
I play a "Gibson " R 8 Les Paul Cherry Sunburst .
The Love of my Life is an American Bulldog Named Duke . I'm currently running Cakewalk By BandLab as my DAW .
 
https://soundcloud.com/guitarist-kenny-wilson
 
https://www.youtube.com/user/Kennywtelejazz/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=1
 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=427899



#34
patm300e
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/05/30 15:31:21 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:24:40
bokchoyboy
Anderton
 I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.

I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!



+1 here

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#35
kennywtelejazz
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/02 03:13:06 (permalink)
robert_e_bone
I would concur with Craig's post above - I am a keyboard player, who plays some guitar and sings backup vocals at church.  
 
I almost always am focused on dealing with MIDI, and only marginally do I go into anything fancy on the resulting audio - some levels, EQ, reverb, delay, compression - all standard stuff.
 
There are GIANT swaths of Sonar that I just never ever deal with, comping, take lanes, screen sets, and I likely will never end up dealing with any of those areas, despite having worked with Sonar since it was in DOS form.
 
Whenever I DO see something come along that looks beneficial to MY needs, it is at THAT point that I will invest the time needed to work with that piece of things.
 
My advice is to always review any new features that come along, because any given month may well bring something to benefit YOUR ways of doing things, and make sure you have reviewed all of the features that are already there - not from so much a stand point of learning all of those features - just making sure you know what those features bring to the table - in case any of them might help you with what you are doing and how you are working.
 
Here is an off the top of the head analogy - you enroll in a college, and are taking music courses there - the school offers degree programs in astrophysics, and biology.  Would you feel a need to take any of those courses just because the school featured them?  Nope - you would take the courses needed for you to get the training in music.  And even with the music courses - I wouldn't take a bunch of classes in singing, if I played the clarinet.
 
Bob Bone
 




Hi Bob ,
 
I had to let a few days go by before I replied to your post . This was not meant to be a snub on any level ..
After looking over this thread a number of times , it seemed that I was doing all the talking and not enough listening .
 
I liked what you had to say a lot I have read your post and words of wisdom many times ...
very good post .
Thank you .
 
bokchoyboy
Anderton
 
 
I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.


 
I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!




+1
 
patm300e
bokchoyboy
Anderton
 I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.

I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!



+1 here




Same here
 
Actually by now I have glanced it before coming here .....
Yeah   Wow   Love the new format ...loads of great content and articles ...
I'm glad it's back
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny

                   
Oh Yeah , Life is Good .
The internet is nothing more than a glorified real time cartoon we all star in.
I play a "Gibson " R 8 Les Paul Cherry Sunburst .
The Love of my Life is an American Bulldog Named Duke . I'm currently running Cakewalk By BandLab as my DAW .
 
https://soundcloud.com/guitarist-kenny-wilson
 
https://www.youtube.com/user/Kennywtelejazz/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=1
 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=427899



#36
DaveMc
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/02 11:29:02 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:24:27
So glad to hear that others are hitting the same wall I am beating my head against. Here are my thoughts ... I'm brand new to Sonar, and to using any DAW, for that matter. I am finding it extremely difficult to find ANY basic instructions or tutorials that speak to my level of experience. This software program is extremely complex, and it feels like the entire Cakewalk approach to tutorials and introducing their complex platform is geared toward the techno-geek crowd. They seem to assume that the viewing audience already has the same level of technical experience that they have. It's a classic mistake. It's as if I have purchased an expensive helicopter, and whenever I approach the thing, wanting to learn how get it off the ground and to maneuver it, the training pilot grabs my arm and takes me to the engine, and starts to recite all the new features in the guts, speaking as quickly as he can, and at the level of a master aviation mechanic. So very frustrating!! I'm afraid Cakewalk is headed for disaster soon. With all the latest technology available, and with the direction music is headed lately, I envision a huge throng of upcoming artists (read "customers") with their noses pressed against the glass, looking for a DAW that is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to assimilate, while inside the store, the Cakewalk staff are focused on the smaller ecosystem of experienced producers, heads buried in the advanced technical wizardry that most people will never need. Maybe it's a tactical strategy, in their part. But it doesn't bode well for their future, IMHO. Rather, I'd like to hope it's simply the classic mistake of not relating to one's audience, nor being able to view the world from outside one's own base of experience. Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.
#37
michaelhanson
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/02 11:38:49 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:24:17
bapu
Zargg
Hi. I am also in the "learn as I need to" category.
If I need to do something I don't know how, I come here and check.
I usually find what I need when searching here.
If not, I read the manual, and learn something new that way.
All the best.


+1
 
My 64+ year old pea brain doesn't hold as much as it used to.
 
Sometimes I have to go back and re-learn something I used anywhere from 6 months to years ago but just can't "remember" how I did it. By that I mean the one-off things that are not part of my "normal" work flow.
 
So ala carte is my style.
 
I still don't use templates (but I do understand their power). I blame that on having so many VSTi programs that I'm never sure what I'm going to use when I start a project.
 
A Forum Monkeys song is different than a BBZ song is different than a solo project song. And within just those three categories each song is usually different than the last.
 




This is me....pea brain and all.   I used to use Templates quite a bit.  Lately, I seem to build up a song track by track and use what ever tools seem to fit the track.  Because I do a lot of collaboration with others, I'm often working from the Project folders they have set up.  
 
I have a consistent work flow and I set up the PC pretty much the same for each song.  I also only seem to be interested in learning new things, as I need them, based on the song I am working on.  If I don't use the newly learned technique often, I forget how to do it pretty quickly afterwards.  

Mike

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https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/scandalous-grace/id1180730765
 
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#38
telecharge
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/02 12:39:51 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/02 12:51:50
DaveMc
Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.



Sorry to hear you're frustrated. I wouldn't argue that Cakewalk could use more user-friendly resources for those just starting out. But might it be more productive to tell them how they could better serve you instead of what they're doing wrong?
 
Have you already tried the online documentation? There are tutorials there, but perhaps they're not basic enough.
 
Here's another resource that might be helpful?
https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2016000041/BEGINNING-YOUR-FIRST-DAW-SONAR-FAQ
 
Maybe you prefer videos, books, or courses, but whatever the case, I would let Cakewalk know what you want.
#39
Zargg
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/02 14:09:43 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:24:05
DaveMc
Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.




There is also https://www.cakewalk.com/CakeTV/SONAR-University
 

Ken Nilsen
Zargg
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#40
kennywtelejazz
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/05 03:33:50 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby abacab 2017/06/05 03:41:46
DaveMc
So glad to hear that others are hitting the same wall I am beating my head against.
 
Here are my thoughts ... I'm brand new to Sonar, and to using any DAW, for that matter.
 
I am finding it extremely difficult to find ANY basic instructions or tutorials that speak to my level of experience.
 
This software program is extremely complex
 
Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.



Hello DaveMC ,
 
Lets take a look at some of your quotes to see if we can find something that may be of help to you .
 
OK lets say there is a wall . A quick look at this forum on the surface clearly shows that many of our  users here do encounter sticking points and personal areas of frustration along the way ...To say other wise would be untrue .
 
What I do take into account is many of us here are coming from different areas of ability and familiarity with how to use the program productively in a constructive manner to achieve our personal musical goals in the real world ...
 
So Yes, it may be somewhat true to a degree that many of us do indeed hit the wall .IMHO the really cool thing is we are all not banging our heads on the wall at the same brick ( I will exclude staff view for now )
 
I happen to feel that it is very important to mention that point because most of the help I have gotten ever since I have been a member here was from another forum member ...
Those of us whom have asked for help have quickly found we help each other out a lot around here 
 
Being new to SONAR and using a DAW is actually a wonderful place to be at .
When I was new to it all , a lot of my first steps seemed to be mostly uphill .
Thankfully the scenery has changed a little bit for me over time and I have come to understand that this whole process of learning SONAR or a DAW has been a growth process that has lead me on a pathway to personal empowerment 
Regarding this personal empowerment I do have to mention that I choose not to compare myself or my progress to other folks that use SONAR or other DAW's ...
I'm in my own orbit and I'm trying to learn how to do my own thing .
 
If I was to go there , I know I would only end up giving myself the short end of the stick because going there  would be used as a way to try and figure out where I may be along in my music journey compared to others
Lets face it , I'm no Craig Anderton , Andrew Scheps or any one of those Top Tier Music guys that get to hang out at The Top of The Mountain trading music tips with The Burning Bush .....it's only lil ole me
 
What does it take to get good at learning SONAR ?
I feel that may be different for each and every person here .
 
It is my humble opinion that the process of learning a DAW has taught me things in areas of my life that I had a lot of growing up to do ....
Early on my expectations were unreasonable and I had a real knack for becoming frustrated easily  ... 
In my case I had to learn how to mange my expectations head on and find a way to make lemonade out of the lemons...
 
your quote ,
"This software program is extremely complex " .
Yes I agree w you . This program is extremely complex ..
SONAR has been around for a real long time. There has been a lot of ground breaking features that have been added to SONAR along the way over the course it's development . I think that it is important to mention here that what we have now in SONAR are features and workflows that many of the users have been asking for for years ...
In all fairness I'm keeping the focus on many of the positive features ..not a few things that are longstanding things that need fixing and a little TLC
 
We are on a user based forum so there are a lot of ways to ask for help here where a person doesn't have to feel stupid for having asked 
 
The Techniques sub section of the forum is great for starting threads asking questions about thing such as ....
Audio techs ,  how to edit , how to master , how to gain stage levels, how to do automation read and write, also topics such as how to use compressors , EQ , side chaining ..ect ect ...
 
The Instruments sub forum is great place for asking questions about any of the bundled Cakewalk instruments that are bundled in SONAR  including all the 3 rd party gifts ...
 
The Software sub forum is excellent if you want to find out about how to use other instruments , plugs , and DAW's from non Cakewalk companies and vendors ... 
 
The Computer & Hardware sub forums are great if you are having issues with your computer or any of your peripheral hard ware ...ex...sound card , control surfaces, external HD and hardware ...
 
The Deals sub forum ...hhhmmm stay away from that section of the forum  ....I have tried to warn you
That place is the main reason I'm driving a car that is old enough to be legal to take out on a date 
 
The Main Sonar forum ...of course that is the main forum with the most traffic and there is a lot of help to be gotten there ...
 
As far as finding a friendlier DAW ?
I'm one of these people that would say hey man go for it . Keep in mind you may be surprised at what you may find out 
In a worst case scenario it could be just like switching seats on The Titanic  .
In a best case scenario you may find something that clicks for you and you may enjoy using it ..
In my case I have a number of DAWs for both PC and Mac...the bulk of them are up there right in the same league as SONAR as SONAR's direct competition ...
FWIW , I have never considered it a waste of time learning how to accomplish workflows in these other DAW's 
A number of them do have great tutorials and u tube support ..so good in fact I have learned a thing or two from them and found my way to having achieved the same workflow in SONAR ...
I had learned something last night using another DAW that I have always wanted to be able to do in SONAR ..
For some odd reason it clicked for me ...I did my little happy dance and said wow this is great ...I'm gonna use this DAW instead of SONAR ...
10 mins later I said to myself hey let me see if I can do this in SONAR ...sure enough not only was I able to do this in SONAR FINALLY ...I was able to do it with much more control and SONAR had much better features ....
 
Now what's the real lesson here ?
I learned something I have always wanted to do for years ...
I had the ability to do it for years using SONAR Yet I just didn't know how to approach cresting the learning curve  until last night ...
 
I hope you have found something useful in all this ,
 
Kenny
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

                   
Oh Yeah , Life is Good .
The internet is nothing more than a glorified real time cartoon we all star in.
I play a "Gibson " R 8 Les Paul Cherry Sunburst .
The Love of my Life is an American Bulldog Named Duke . I'm currently running Cakewalk By BandLab as my DAW .
 
https://soundcloud.com/guitarist-kenny-wilson
 
https://www.youtube.com/user/Kennywtelejazz/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=1
 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=427899



#41
BobF
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/05 12:58:22 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:23:55
For me, capturing feel is the most difficult.  I have a basic, evolving project template that I start with.  This has the house-keeping stuff done - monitoring bus/FX/routing, a drum VSTi, a bass VSTi and audio track for guitar.  All starting tracks and buses have my preferred console emulation set along with QC EQ.  And a reverb bus with my favorite 'verb ready to go.
 
I start out forgetting about everything except capturing enough of the idea, especially the feel so I can get it back again in later sessions.
 
From there it is a la cart all the way.  Like Bob mentioned above, there are parts of SONAR I don't even bother with; Screensets, Lenses, Drum Replacer, live synth recording, mix recall, etc., etc.  When these things are first released I fiddle in a BS project to determine whether or not they are worth a greater time investment (to me).
 
When my muse is absent (more times than not) or I'm doing a mix for somebody else, I create a project to be used strictly for experimentation with features/techniques that seem more interesting than my experience level with them.  These little projects sometimes result in changes to my basic starting template, or end up being a track template or VST preset.
 
The whole idea is to have the capturing of ideas and the LC separated, folding the learnings back into to the capturing process as appropriate.  Doing this makes the most important learnings (to me) for capture available by simply starting a new project from my basic template.  The less global things are there in templates or presets.
 
In my mind it's a lot like winemaking.  You can make perfectly good wine using gravity.  It is a whole lot easier on the back with a vacuum system though
 
 

Bob  --
Angels are crying because truth has died ...
Illegitimi non carborundum
--
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#42
Anderton
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/05 15:23:20 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:23:46
DaveMc
Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.

 
Unfortunately, I don't think you'll find it. I read a bunch of reviews on Amazon about Studio One Artist, the simplest version of Studio One, and it got one- and two-star reviews because people said it was so user-hostile and difficult to figure out. But you'll see the same kind of comments for all computer-based recording programs. It is simply not that easy to learn what is essentially a complete recording studio that would have cost half a million dollars not that long ago. In hardware days, just figuring out the patch bay would make your head explode...it's no easier to get up and running with computers. SONAR did the "Add Track" thing to try to simplify getting started, but that's just one piece of the puzzle. 
 
Don't get me wrong; all recording programs could do a better job of onboarding. But it's like learning an instrument. There's no easy "onboarding" for guitar...in fact your fingers will hurt 
 
I consulted to Sony at one point and they wanted an app note on how to transfer songs from Acid Pro to an MP3 player. They said I could get it done in a hour, it only needed to be three steps. When I sent in the document, Sony was NOT happy because there were 23 steps. "We asked for something simple, why did you do so many steps?" I said tell me which steps I can take out, and I will. They couldn't. As soon as a computer gets involved, matters get complicated.
 
The friendliest platform is something like a TASCAM or Zoom all-in-one "Portastudio"-type recorder, but even though you can get up and running on those fast, you still need to learn recording, mixing, etc. 

The first 3 books in "The Musician's Guide to Home Recording" series are available from Hal Leonard and http://www.reverb.com. Listen to my music on http://www.YouTube.com/thecraiganderton, and visit http://www.craiganderton.com. Thanks!
#43
kitekrazy1
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/05 17:09:46 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:23:39
 I don't think there is really a simple DAW out there other than maybe Acid Music Studio. Mixcraft is quite simple but when you want to use something like Kontakt it's not.   Everytime there's an update for Reaper I can't even comprehend the list.
 
 I rely a lot on 3rd party tutorials.  They are often better than youtube. 

Sonar Platinum, W7 Pro 32GB Ram, Intel i7 4790, AsRock Z97 Pro 4,  NVidia 750ti, AP2496
 
Sonar Platinum, W7 Pro, 16GB Ram, AMD FX 6300, Gigabyte GA 970 -UD3 P, nVidia 9800GT, Guitar Port, Terratec EWX 2496
#44
abacab
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/05 18:04:09 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby kennywtelejazz 2017/06/06 12:23:27
Anderton
DaveMc
Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.

 
Unfortunately, I don't think you'll find it. I read a bunch of reviews on Amazon about Studio One Artist, the simplest version of Studio One, and it got one- and two-star reviews because people said it was so user-hostile and difficult to figure out. But you'll see the same kind of comments for all computer-based recording programs. It is simply not that easy to learn what is essentially a complete recording studio that would have cost half a million dollars not that long ago. In hardware days, just figuring out the patch bay would make your head explode...it's no easier to get up and running with computers. SONAR did the "Add Track" thing to try to simplify getting started, but that's just one piece of the puzzle.




Craig makes a good point here, because most musicians are not engineers.
 
I don't think anybody who is just starting out with recording software is going to find it easy today.
 
I ran across some comments by Pro Tools Expert, Russ Hughes.  He has done some good reviews and videos on various products.  He got to preview AIR Ignite at NAMM before it was released.  http://www.airmusictech.com/product/ignite
 
Russ said: "I remember standing in the Hilton Hotel at NAMM 2012 when I first had the vision of Ignite shared with me. ‘Musicians are not engineers and we need to enable them to make music in a way that makes sense’ was how Ignite was pitched. It wasn’t even called Ignite then, it went through several cringe worthy iterations of a name before its final moniker, but discretion forbids me from outing them.
Of course the vision for Ignite makes sense, trying to make music with the average DAW is becoming more and more challenging, as layer upon layer of technology barriers are added with feature creep."
 
I picked up Ignite for cheap last year, hoping to find a decent scratchpad for musical ideas.  I like the concept!  Some may call it limiting, but I think they removed a lot of the "too many choices" from the product deliberately.   So you can freely focus on arranging and grouping musical ideas as clips, without regard to a project timeline, or having to deal with tracks, busses, etc.  No VST support, but it includes 275 instruments, many taken from Strike, Structure, and Velvet.  You can export audio or MIDI, to take things into a DAW.
 
I wish there had been something like this when I was just starting out ...
 
Demo from Russ:
 


DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ... 
#45
abacab
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Re: Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Ca 2017/06/06 15:10:42 (permalink)
Something that was not shown in the demo video for Ignite was audio recording.  Russ only used the included MIDI instruments, but Ignite does support up to two audio inputs.  So you can connect a guitar, mic, or other external instrument in a mono or stereo mode.  It supports importing of WAV files as well.
 
So you can arrange WAV clips in the same manner as MIDI, or mix and match.  Supports ASIO and WASAPI audio.

DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ... 
#46
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