Helpful ReplyFriday's Tip of the Week #167: Behold! Dual Mono Becomes Stereo!

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Piotr
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Re: Friday's Tip of the Week #159: The Matrix View Sampler You Can Trigger with MIDI Track 2017/09/03 20:49:21 (permalink)
Many thanks, Craig, you are keeping us educated in Sonar :) Good to know all possibilities before decision how to deal with problem :)

Regards,
Piotr
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Anderton
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Re: Friday's Tip of the Week #159: The Matrix View Sampler You Can Trigger with MIDI Track 2017/09/05 15:12:47 (permalink)
JohnEgan
Anderton
Yes, and like all audio stretching, it works best when speeding up. 

Totally awesome tip, I just did whole song with DSP method, I never realized it was that easy to audition audio songs at different BPMs.

 
Glad it worked well for you! For more information on auditioning audio at different tempos, check out "How to Change the Tempo of an Entire Project" on page 282 of The Big Book of SONAR Tips. This describes how to apply Fit to Time with stretching to process all the audio files in a project (the Groove Clips and MIDI Clips adjust automatically).
 

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!
cboshuizen
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/05 20:44:42 (permalink)
It took me two years to find that MIDI FX still worked on simple instrument tracks, because it is buried several tabs deep in the side bar. IMHO there should be two FX boxes on these tracks, so it is obvious you can have midi and audio fx on the one track. 
 
I think this might be one of the reasons why MIDI FX is underutilized. 

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Anderton
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/05 23:10:05 (permalink)
That's a good idea, and might indeed explain why more people aren't savvy about MIDI FX. But because the simple instrument track is essentially an audio track, I don't know if it would be possible to include a non-audio FX rack along with the audio FX rack. 

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!
Anderton
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/08 19:21:13 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby thedukewestern 2017/09/12 16:47:03
Week 162: Here’s Your “Harmonic Tremolo”
 
Some of the older, Fender “brown” amps used a variation on the standard, amplitude-oriented tremolo which the company called a “harmonic tremolo.” This splits the signal into high and low bands, and then an LFO amplitude-modulates them out of phase so that the while the highs get louder, the lows get softer and vice-versa. The sound is considerably different from a standard tremolo, and many players feel the sound is “sweeter.”
 
SONAR doesn’t include a harmonic tremolo, but it’s easy to build one! So let’s warm up our virtual soldering irons, and make an FX Chain. The following shows the recommended default positions for the knobs and buttons.
 

 
Insert three FX into an FX rack, in this order: TH3, Sonitus Modulator, and Channel Tools. Set the TH3’s Splitter controls as shown below (the Mixer defaults to the settings we want)
 

 
Next up – the Sonitus Modulator settings.
 

 
And finally, Channel Tools.
 

 
Now, we already have a pretty cool sound…but let’s make an FX Chain to bring the strategic controls out to where we can mess with them. So, right-click in the FX Rack, and choose “Convert FX Rack to FX Chain.” Double-click on the FX Chain to open its interface, and let’s add some knobs and buttons that turn this into an over-achieving Harmonic Tremolo. Here are the four controls:
 
Tremolo Rate. Assign to Sonitus Modulator - Rate. Start = 2%, End = 75%.
Tremolo Depth. Assign to Sonitus Modulator - Mix. Start = 30%, End = 100%.
Xover Freq. This sets the split point between the high and low frequencies. Assign to TH3 – Splitter X-OVER FREQ. Start = 35%, End = 65%.
Width. Assign to Channel Tools – Angle L. Start = 0%, End = 100%. Also assign toChannel Tools – Angle R. Start = 100%, End = 0%. The center position gives the traditional Harmonic Tremolo effect; rotating increases the width, with opposite settings flipping the high and low channels.
 
Assign the four buttons as follows:
 
Sine/Peak. This controls whether the LFO waveform is a sine wave or peak wave). Assign to Sonitus Modulator - LFO. Start = 25%, End = 45%.
Normal/Harmonic. Normal is a standard tremolo sound, but you’ll probably want to keep Harmonic enabled. Assign to Sonitus Modulator - Phase. Start = 0%, End = 100%.
Norm/Band changes the filters to be more highpass/lowpass or bandpass. Assign to TH3 – Splitter Mode. Start = 50%, End = 100%.
Mono Weird. With the Width set more or less to mono, this adds a sort of “underwater” effect. Assign to Channel Tools – Invert Left. Start = 0%, End = 100%.
 
Don’t forget to save the FX Chain! Right-click on the UI and choose "Save FX Chain Preset." 

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!
subtlearts
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/08 20:23:34 (permalink)
That's a cool sounding little box and an easy enough project, I think I may just take you up on that!
 

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Brando
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/09 03:27:37 (permalink)
Thanks Craig. Great tip.

Brando
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RSMCGUITAR
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/12 01:18:16 (permalink)
I'm liking the sound of this one. Thanks!
I get a real kick out of making these.
JohnEgan
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/12 12:09:36 (permalink)
Anderton
Week 162: Here’s Your “Harmonic Tremolo”

Excellent, and thanks got an old recording I just was revisiting, and needed to tweak tremolo on (another Twilight Zone moment, LOL).
Where do you get that textured background color?
 
Cheers 

John Egan
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thedukewestern
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/12 16:47:28 (permalink)
Thats really cool - and it does sound great thanks craig!!
 

Be the first one who thinks that you can
 
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Anderton
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/12 17:05:21 (permalink)
JohnEgan
Where do you get that textured background color?



I have a whole bunch of backgrounds for the Anderton Collection FX Chains and also the CA-X amps. I did most of them, but Michael McDivitt at Gibson ran off a bunch of the metallic ones in Photoshop one day after work.

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!
Anderton
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/15 22:59:19 (permalink)
Week 163: How to Be a SONAR Power User
 
No, I’m not going to trot out the old joke…
 
Q: What’s a “power user”?
A: Someone who reads the manual!
 
…because a program like SONAR is so deep, you may need to use only 20% of what it can do - and you don’t really need to read about the rest. But, you do want to be a power user in the aspects that matter the most to you. And you certainly want to know the program basics and what options are available, so you can choose which options are most important to you. Here’s what I recommend.
 
1. Click on every drop-down menu in every view, and look at every item in the menu. If you don’t know what something does, click on Help, and use the search or index function to find the topic.
 
What got me thinking about this was a long-time user who was unhappy that deleting a clip also deleted automation…but it doesn’t have to, if you know that “Select Track Envelopes with Clips” is under the Track View Options menu. And if you want to know whether notes are lining up with the grid, you can place the Vertical Grid Lines in front of clips instead of behind them (you’ll find this under the View menu).
 
Or maybe you’ll see a View option like “Fit MIDI Content” but have no idea what that is. Choose Help > Documentation, type Fit MIDI Content into the search box, filter the results for your SONAR version (if you're using the online help)...and raise your SONAR IQ.
 
Ever check out the drop-down menu for a Row in the Step Sequencer? There are all kinds of useful options in there. And if you dig down deep enough in a step sequencer row’s drop-down menu, you’ll find the delightful Step Play Probability—just the thing to make repetitive percussion parts far more interesting.
 
Even better, note that many of these menu items are eligible for key bindings.
 
2. Right-click to call up context menus, and look at every item on the menu. You never know what kind of context menu options will show up. For example, did you ever check out the split options that are available when you click on a clip and choose “Split”? It’s a pretty comprehensive dialog box. Or if you don’t know where a Clip came from, you can right-click on it and choose “Associated Audio Files.”
 
Sometimes you’ll also find duplicated functions. For example, if you want to access the row options in the Step Sequencer, you don’t have to select a row, go to the Row drop-down menu, select another row, go to the Row drop-down menu, etc. Just right-click on a Row, and all the Row options are at your fingertips.
 
3. Go through Preferences to know what every preference does. Preferences are key to SONAR working properly, so make sure you know what all the options represent. If you don’t know what something does, well, there’s a Help button. Extra sub-tip: Often you’ll see a question in the forum from someone asking what to do when experiencing audio dropouts. My answer: When the toast notification pops up that says there’s been an audio dropout, click on its Help button and go through the recommended solutions until you find the one(s) that works. When I experienced dropout problems at one point, that’s what I did…problem solved.
 
4. Key bindings speed up your workflow. Analyze the way you work, then translate some of your common motions into keyboard shortcuts. For example, I often change gain with vocal phrases, and sometimes use normalization. So, I made keyboard shortcuts to bring up the menus for Gain changes and Normalization. I can whip through a vocal file to even out levels so fast it would make your head spin—and I don’t need to add much compression afterward, either.
 
5. Try out options you haven’t tried to find out what they do. Let’s take “Fit MIDI Content” as an example. At first, I thought it didn’t work because I was expecting the PRV and inline PRV to zoom in or out as appropriate to fit all the notes within the PRV. But after playing around, I realized it fits MIDI content by zooming vertically. This turned out to be real useful for seeing if keyswitches in Kontakt (that can be a much lower pitch than the part itself) were present for the notes being played.
 
Trying things is also a great way to learn things you didn’t expect to learn. I’m always surprised at the forum posts that ask questions like “What happens if I do this?” Just “try this” and find out—you’ll probably learn other tricks in the process.
 
6. Save a pretty complex project with different data types as a “Test Project” (or use the Demo projects now included with SONAR if you’re in a hurry). That way you can try things and check out new features without worrying that you’re going to mess up a real project.
 
7. Read the Tech+Music eZine. It tells what’s in the latest update. So does the documentation, but the descriptions in Tech+Music sometimes go into more detail, and include real-world examples of how to use a feature.
 
I already know what some of you are saying…”but I don’t want to spend time learning a software program, I just want to be able to push buttons and have everything be epic.” But it doesn’t work that way. Just as learning a musical instrument requires practice, so does learning a DAW. Fortunately, you’ll find that spending just a couple of minutes learning some new feature when you have SONAR open will yield rich dividends after a fairly short period of time. Besides, the more you know, the more fluid you’ll become with the program…and often, 5 minutes spent learning will save you hours in the long run.

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!
RSMCGUITAR
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/15 23:04:07 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby FCCfirstclass 2017/09/16 12:18:31
This is great advice. I would extend it to any computer program you want to be a 'power user' in.
JohnEgan
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/16 04:12:14 (permalink)
Good Day
I guess I'd consider myself one of the 20%'s (or less), and have only stuck my toe in Sonar's water,
Cheers

John Egan
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ljb500
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/16 07:15:46 (permalink)
Im a beginner at sonar but sometimes I find stuff out completely by accident, pressing the wrong key by mistake, for example holding down the shift key instead of the ctrl key and vice versa.
JohnEgan
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/16 12:20:21 (permalink)
ljb500
I find stuff out completely by accident,

LOL, same, probably for a lot of us, and the more I learn the more I realize how much I dont know.
 
Cheers

John Egan
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AllanH
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/16 13:11:55 (permalink)
Anderton
Week 163: How to Be a SONAR Power User
[...]

What a great post. I continue to "find" things that Sonar can do. Even though I've had Sonar/Cakewalk for 20 years the product evolves at a rapid pace and features get refined and added all the time.
I would add:
 
8. Visit the helpful Sonar user forums, and make sure to locate the "search" function.
 
9. Read and study all the weekly tips that our resident expert Mr. Anderton writes.
 
Slightly off topic - I do feel that the user manual somehow has gone stale and no longer accurately reflects the product. Not only is it (apparently) only updated annually, but it often just describes the features button-by-button without a context. The eZine has been far better at setting the context for new features before explaining how each item works. I would make it a priority to update the PDF manual monthly.
 

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TheMaartian
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/16 17:00:32 (permalink)
AllanH
... 
8. Visit the helpful Sonar user forums, and make sure to locate the "search" function.
... 

Terrific idea. I would suggest that one use Google to do the search. This forum's search capabilities are on the opposite end of SONAR's capabilities. To use Google (assuming it's your default search engine), type the following in your browser's address bar:
 
site:forum.cakewalk.com "what you're searching for"
 
your search term(s) without the quotes.
 
For example:
 
site:forum.cakewalk.com Kontakt output name problems

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mudgel
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/17 12:17:31 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby Zargg 2017/09/17 19:06:49
Often when someone has a "How do you do such and such, I'll spend the time trying to find no out and see if I can beat the first correct responder.

It's a great exercise for learning how to use help and I'm not talking about searching the forum but the Online Helps files.

Mike V. (MUDGEL)

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JohnEgan
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/17 13:00:57 (permalink)
mudgel
It's a great exercise for learning how to use help and I'm not talking about searching the forum but the Online Helps files.



Me as well, more so to answer question for myself, LOL, often its a matter of even knowing what question to ask, or how to ask it. Often by simply writing down a question, by the time Ive written it out Ive realized how to answer it myself. Similarly nothing better than trying to teach someone new to DAW recording to find out what you yourself know and more so dont know.
 
Cheers 

John Egan
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listen
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/17 23:22:17 (permalink)
We all don't know how much we don't know until we begin to know - thanks Anderton - Great Post!!!

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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/18 00:07:29 (permalink)
Anderton
Week 122: Clean Up Your Console View



Yea ... but want to have a totally different set of tracks in TV that in Console?
Yes I do and need to.

I often have only midi showing in TV and almost never have anything other than audio in Console.
I do, however, often use 6 to 8 locked Screensets on larger projects and TV and Console are rarely the same tracks.
Why?
It's so easy to type a D to bounce between the midi and the audio for 1 or 2 instances of Omnisphere.
Or CTRL+SHFT+Arrow Left or Right to get to the same midi tracks in PRV.


Locked Screensets - Nothing but what I need in Console but different in TV is my standard.
Set 1 is always everything in TV and CV but from set 2 and up I get into specific instrumets/sections
and can just type a screenset number or a D to get to what I want.
I never have that box checked on track manager. It most always cuts my options in half.

Steve Karl
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Anderton
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/18 20:35:44 (permalink)
Great tip, Steve! I guess this means I can skip one 
 
And while I'm here, a tip for newbies: When a lot of people on the forums experience a problem, their default is to think it must be SONAR. But at least in my experience, pilot error is the primary suspect.
 
At the usual risk of public embarrassment, here's my latest. I wanted to play a song for someone but there was no sound coming out of SONAR. Previous playbacks had been fine. So of course, I went to the forum and posted the thread "SONAR BUG FEST!!! CAN'T EVEN PLAY BACK AUDIO!!!!!!! SWITCHING TO REAPER!!!
 
Well actually no I didn't, but to make a long story short, the song didn't have a fade out. The last time I'd played it, I made a couple edits, and faded out the end. I then saved the file to preserve the edits. Of course, by doing so I also saved the project in its faded-out state where no audio could get through.
 
Pretty genius, eh? Took me about 15 minutes to figure that out. 
 
 

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!
twelvetone
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/20 19:40:42 (permalink)
When I do this I dredge up obscure bugs and incorrect/outdated documentation.
Find a reliable workflow that works for you and stick to it.
You're either making music or you're beta-testing.
Anderton
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/22 17:01:11 (permalink)
Week 164: The Case for Bass Multiband Compression
 
Normally you don’t want to compress the daylights out of everything, but I feel bass is an exception, particularly if you’re miking it. Mics, speakers, and rooms tend to have really uneven responses in the bass range—and all those anomalies add up. Compression can help even out the response to give a smoother, rounder sound.
 
A lot of engineers will use an LA-2A type compressor (e.g., the ProChannel U-type compressor or CA-2A), but I prefer using the Sonitus Multiband compression because it serves simultaneously as a compressor, EQ, and limiter. Typically, I’ll apply a lot of compression to the lowest band (crossover below 200 Hz or so), very light compression to the low-mid bands (as well as reduce their levels in the overall mix), and medium compression to the high-mid band (from about 1.2kHz to 6kHz). I usually turn down everything above 6 kHz or so (there’s not a lot happening up there with bass), but sometimes will set a ratio below 1.0 so that the highest band turns into an expander. This can help bring down hiss if the very highest band is in play.
 
If you enable the Limiter under the Common tab, the Multiband compressor will also trap any transients, and you can “push” the individual bands to get a bit more compression without having to adjust the band’s compression parameter itself.
 
Another advantage of using the Multiband compressor is that you can quickly tweak the high and low ends to fit well with the rest of the tracks. I call the following preset "Tuned Thunder." There's heavy compression on the lowest two bands, but in the bottom window that shows gain for each band, note how the two lower bands have their levels brought up. Also, there's lots of attenuation on the higher frequencies. The result is a big, fat, round sound that sort of tunnels through a mix.
 

 
The next screen shot shows settings for extreme articulation when you need the bass to really "pop," and cut through a track. One of the secrets of a great bass sound is a significant treble boost so that the bass can hold its own against other track, because the ear/brain combination will fill in the lower frequencies. The only band that's compressed is Band 3, while the gain on Band 4 emphasizes pick noise and harmonics. To compensate for the extra highs, the low band below 100 Hz gets a little bit of gain. Finally, there's an overall boost of 3.4 dB to kick the signal into limiting from time to time.
 

 
When adjusting the Sonitus Multiband, the Solo and Bypass buttons on individual stages are fantastic for zeroing in on the exact effect you want for each band.
 
But wait! There's more!!
 
a little bit of distortion applied to bass can give a “growl” that helps the bass cut through a mix. The Bass Growl and Bass Rock CA-X bass amps offer built-in growl, but if you’re doing à la carte signal processing, multiband compression will give a more even sound that benefits from a light amount of post-compression distortion.
 
Finally, in case you wonder if you should instead use the L-Phase Multiband, you certainly can but it’s not necessary to take the CPU hit when processing bass. The Sonitus does just fine, and the ability to limit peaks is just one more useful feature.

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!
Zargg
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/22 17:35:14 (permalink)
Thanks, Craig 
Yet another good tip. I can see myself using this technique.
All the best.

Ken Nilsen
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kennywtelejazz
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/22 18:54:37 (permalink)
Nice tip
I've heard when you add a little Growl on The Bass it helps the sound to translate well on lap top speakers ...
It may help the listener fill in the missing low end frequencies  .
 
Kenny
 

                   
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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/22 19:34:33 (permalink)
Great tip & technique Craig.
 
Will be trying this one out tomorrow!

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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/22 19:49:17 (permalink)
Hi Craig, a couple of questions about this tip: Would there be any advantage to using the Sonitus MB on a sampled bass, like Dim Pro's "Dull Bass" or any basic synth patch from a softsynth? I seem to think those patches are pretty well EQd and compressed within the synth. And if so, would the best approach be to bounce the midi track to audio and then insert the Sonitus MB in the FX bin of the audio track? Thanks for the tip(s)!

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Re: SONAR X August: 31 Days of Tips 2017/09/22 22:03:13 (permalink)
mrpippy2
Hi Craig, a couple of questions about this tip: Would there be any advantage to using the Sonitus MB on a sampled bass, like Dim Pro's "Dull Bass" or any basic synth patch from a softsynth? I seem to think those patches are pretty well EQd and compressed within the synth.

 
It depends. For example, the Gibson Bass Expansion Pack I did for Rapture is totally neutral - no EQ or compression on the samples. The main reasons for doing so was to retain the characteristic sound of the basses, and also, to have a "neutral canvas" for processing. I took the same approach with the Midtown Guitar expansion pack. So, these can definitely benefit from processing in the sense that any recorded signal can benefit from relevant processing. However, if the person designing the samples went for a processed, plug-and-play sound, then adding processing might detract from the sound. 
 
And if so, would the best approach be to bounce the midi track to audio and then insert the Sonitus MB in the FX bin of the audio track?



That's what I would do, because I like to convert virtual instruments into audio at some point. But others prefer to trigger the instrument with MIDI all the way through to the mixing process, and just insert the processor in the instrument's audio output. 

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!
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