Hi,
 
Does someone know how to record soft synth tracks in SP?
 
I want to record some bars and have them as audio files (wav)
and then piece them together.  Then I continue to play with another
software synth.
 
How do I do this?  Thanks.
 
 

1. Record the MIDI/Softsynth part
2. Insert an audio track and set its input as the softsynth output
3. Arm the audio track, hit record and let it play.
 
Or
 
1. Record the MIDI/Softsynth part
2. Freeze the Softsynth track
3. Copy the audio/wav of the softsynth track to a fresh audio track

Watch the video below and other related videos from cakewalk.
 
Using Soft Synths in Sonar
 

Thanks, you guys are awesome.
 
To save cpu, I pretty much want to record everything to .wav.
 
Record the soft synths/drums, then record a wet track of fx, multiple
tracks sometimes of fx.
 
then I can put all of the great eq's and multiband compressors and the channel
tool.
 
without overloading the cpu.
 
so these freeze and record options are what I need, and then to figure out how
to organize them nicely in project folders accessible by the media explorer.
 
Questions remain about how to get the best record quality and
advanced topics/questions about the sound engine.
 
Thanks.
 
-Matt

I am thrilled with how easy it is to record soft synths by just routing
the output to an audio track.
 
it used to be more difficult to do this in Sonar, no?
 
So easy and awesome now.
 
My only remaining questions are...  what options to
I have re the sound engine?
 
Is there a place where I can set the settings for
this audio record?  in terms of sample rate, bit depth
and dithering?  are there any other settings I can
explore?
 
any suggestions?
 
 

also, I wonder if I should convert .wav recordings into clips, and
what I can do with these.
 
There is a lot to learn.
 
 
 

There is a lot to learn.
 
I would recommend you go through the tutorials included with Sonar.  They will answer a lot of your basic questions.
 
Regarding your settings question - you can change your settings in the Edit>Prefence Menu (hotkey P).  There is a pick called Driver Settings which will allow you to change bit depth, sample rate and give you access to your ASIO control panel (or other settings if you are using other driver modes).

Groove3 has some great videos too.  It costs some green ($$$) but saves time

mtthw
I am thrilled with how easy it is to record soft synths by just routing
the output to an audio track.
 
it used to be more difficult to do this in Sonar, no?

No, not really.

A MIDI track sending MIDI to a synth loaded on an audio track is basically the way pretty much all DAWs handle software synths. Hardware synths aren't that different, the MIDI track still outputs to a synth, only this time via a MIDI hardware port, and the synth's outputs still get recorded to an audio track, only this time via an audio interface. With a software synth deciding to convert the synth track to audio clips (all chunks of audio or MIDI files are "clips") may not even be necessary as the final export of a stereo/mono mix will do this anyway.

As for saving cpu, depending on your PC's spec and how big and complicated your project is, that may not even be an issue, a fast i7 can process an awful lot of data. If it is an issue then track freezing offers a way of reducing cpu load while not commiting yourself to whatever the synth/fx are set to because you can always unfreeze the track to work on it more.

Personally I do bounce things to audio, but only when I'm happy with the sounds, but that's partly because I mostly use hardware synths so I handle the software ones in a similar way for consistency and partly because it helps me resist the temptation to endlessly go back and tweak and adjust stuff and as a consequence never get anything finished.

I strongly recommend working through the tutorials at the begining of Sonar's help files as they walk you through most of what you initially need to know about the program and how it works.

Thank you for pointing to the driver settings.  These are what I wanted to experiment with,
as well as various audio settings.
 
I wish I knew more about the sound engines of the different DAW's.  I do think there
are little differences, as if some DAW's have a limiter in there already or something like
that, or a different frequency response or whatever.
 
I appreciate the replies very much, for me recording straight to audio and organizing the
audio files via the media browser has become a better way to do a project.  I just sometimes
wonder/worry if I am getting the same exact sound, or if I lost something in the recording, (or added something) from the original soft synth.
 
Thanks