How to Create Fade at End of Project?

I’m new to this so bear with me:
 
I have a project with 21 tracks.  I want the project to fade out at the end and I have been unable to figure out how to do this.  I have searched the forum; looked at tutorials and read my Sonar X2 Power Book (didn’t get the X3 one.)  I am using Sonar X3e Producer with a Roland Octa-capture.  Computer specs in signature.
 
I have tried to add a stereo bus (read about that in the forum) with all the tracks sending to it.  I then tried write automation to fade out the project but when I export there is no fade.  I have tried various options such as “what you hear” and can’t get the result I’m looking for.
 
I notice that even when the new stereo bus fades all the way to the bottom (-39) the Mix Bus that says OctaCapture 1-2 still plays at normal volume. You can’t automate the Mix Bus right?
 
I guess I could do a fade on each and every track but that seems real labor intensive and I’m not sure I have the skillset to line them all up correctly.
 
I would really like to do all this in Sonar and not spend the money on something like Sony Architect 5 or Sound Forge. 
 
I’m sure I’m just missing an option somewhere.  Please stay on topic with the replies.
 
Thanks,

mrneil2
I have tried to add a stereo bus (read about that in the forum) with all the tracks sending to it.

How are you doing this? By adding a send to each track to the new bus or changing the output of each track to the new bus?
 
SONAR comes with a normal template (the default for new projects) which already has a master bus defined for the project. By default all audio and instrument tracks added to a project using this template is automatically routed to the master bus.

Buses can have volume automation. So if all your tracks feed a master bus, you can just add a volume automation envelope, and fade it any way you want. All your tracks will fade simultaneously if they're all feeding that single master bus.

If you used the normal template, what you want would be already setup. The problem with the method you choose is the tracks are going directly to the audio interface and being sent to a bus at the same time. You should be using a master bus in the project. To fix the project:

1. Use CTRL-A to select all tracks
2. Holding the CTRL key, click the send drop down in one track and "Delete Send"
3. Holding the CTRL key, click the output drop down in one track and select the name of the bus you created as a send
4. Right-click the bus header and select "Set as Default Bus" (optional - this causes any new audio/instrument tracks to automatically route their output to this bus)
5. Relabel the bus "Master" (optional)

 
You may want to use the normal template in the future.
 
Using the master is one way to create a fade. It does lack the control of fading each track individually. Regardless of the method chosen for creating a fade, using a master bus before sending audio out of SONAR is a good idea.
 
 

Yeah, I guess it should not have been posed as a choice.

Anderton
Buses can have volume automation. So if all your tracks feed a master bus, you can just add a volume automation envelope, and fade it any way you want. All your tracks will fade simultaneously if they're all feeding that single master bus.

Alternatively, output your tracks to various busses ( ie drums, gtrs, keys, vox etc) route all those to your master bus and you can then automate different bus fades if say you wanted the gtrs to fade but the drums to keep on for bit before they fade a bit later.  Or you could even do this at track level.
 
Either way, there is no need to be exporting the track and then going back to apply end fades afterwards.
 
 

Thank you all.  I will attempt the above when I get home and report back. 
A special thanks to scook for the step by step which is what I really needed. 
I will be using the "Normal Template" moving forward.
 
Thanks