JRR Will have the $99 deal tomorrow...

https://www.jrrshop.com/a...ca-mixcraft-pro-studio

3rd attempt at trying to post - disappeared the first time after editing to say thanks to Larry for the link. Fortunately I know this forum s/w so had saved it to a Word doc. Be prepared for 2 duplicates to appear later :)
 
Thanks covecamper1962 
 
In a normal track in Sonar you can insert a send to an Aux track. This creates a new track which appears like any other track (with a special icon to show that it's an Aux track) but it's input is taken from the output (pre or post) of the original track. There are many ways to use Aux tracks but I use them mainly on mono vocal tracks with the Antares Harmony Evo plugin to generate multiple harmony tracks from a single vocal.
 
So I insert HE on the vocal track and create a send to a new Aux track. Then I create a MIDI track with the harmonies and send this to HE. I then record the output of the vocal track into the Aux track. This can be repeated with multiple Aux track and MIDI harmony tracks to create really complex layered harmonies with little CPU load as all of the harmonies have been recorded one at a time to each Aux track. I usually mix these with multiple vocal tracks to add to the realism. When the harmony Aux tracks have all been created I then disable HE, disable the outputs to the Aux tracks and mute the harmony MIDI tracks. The mono vocal track is still untouched ready to use in the mix.
 
To do the above in Studio One Pro the only way I could find is to send the output of the vocal track to a stereo bus and then send that back to a separate track for recording. It was a lot more involved to get it working compared to Sonar.
 
I will check out the manual (thanks for the link Larry).
 
Cheers
ZT

Download and installed the trial it feels a little like somewhere between SONAR 5 and SONAR 8.5

Could be worth the £75 as a backup plan if a Windows update screws SONAR.
 

ZincTrumpet
 
 
Thanks covecamper1962 
 
In a normal track in Sonar you can insert a send to an Aux track. This creates a new track which appears like any other track (with a special icon to show that it's an Aux track) but it's input is taken from the output (pre or post) of the original track. There are many ways to use Aux tracks but I use them mainly on mono vocal tracks with the Antares Harmony Evo plugin to generate multiple harmony tracks from a single vocal.
 
So I insert HE on the vocal track and create a send to a new Aux track. Then I create a MIDI track with the harmonies and send this to HE. I then record the output of the vocal track into the Aux track. This can be repeated with multiple Aux track and MIDI harmony tracks to create really complex layered harmonies with little CPU load as all of the harmonies have been recorded one at a time to each Aux track. I usually mix these with multiple vocal tracks to add to the realism. When the harmony Aux tracks have all been created I then disable HE, disable the outputs to the Aux tracks and mute the harmony MIDI tracks. The mono vocal track is still untouched ready to use in the mix.
 
To do the above in Studio One Pro the only way I could find is to send the output of the vocal track to a stereo bus and then send that back to a separate track for recording. It was a lot more involved to get it working compared to Sonar.
 
I will check out the manual (thanks for the link Larry).
 
Cheers
ZT

I'm almost positive you can do this and it might be easier. You can output your vocal track that has HE on it to a send track or a submix track and if you check out page 232 of the manual you can use any midi track note data as an input to a VST effect. From the manual:
 
"The Use MIDI From Track pop-up menu lets you route the playback of MIDI note data to a VST effect. This is most commonly used in conjunction with vocal tuning plug-ins (like Mixcraft’s GSnap Pitch Correction) or vocoder plug-ins. To choose a MIDI source track, click the pop-up menu and select the desired MIDI track. The Use MIDI From Track setting applies to all effects in the track’s effect chain, but plug-ins that don’t make use of MIDI data will simply ignore it."
 
I think alot of confusion on my part is the naming standards from DAW to DAW. (submix, aux ,child, send etc. )

Thanks covecamper, I wasn't sure from the descriptions of the track types in the manual but, as you say, it's often the naming conventions used by different DAWs that's the most confusing. I will try the demo and see what's possible.

Cheers

Funny how a simple change of terminology can throw you for a loop. That's always the first step in decoding a new DAW: figuring out the synonyms for everyday terms. What do they call a project, or a template, or a bus? How many synonyms do they use for a bus? The newer DAWs seem to be more confusing because we've moved away from the hardware analogies that were the basis for older ones like SONAR. That's why Reaper rubs so many the wrong way - it's too, um, software-ish.
 
Same goes for even minor paradigm shifts. I load a VI into Mixcraft and start looking around for how to route it to an audio track. Well, you don't. It gets routed to a mixer channel, not to an audio track. An all-VI project will not have any audio tracks. It's really quite logical - once you get to that Aha! moment.

bitflipper
 
Same goes for even minor paradigm shifts. I load a VI into Mixcraft and start looking around for how to route it to an audio track. Well, you don't. It gets routed to a mixer channel, not to an audio track. An all-VI project will not have any audio tracks. It's really quite logical - once you get to that Aha! moment.

It seems that the MIDI/Audio track combination for a VI was that thing that confused many people coming to Sonar from other DAWs judging by the number of posts and questions about it on these forums. Looks like the "Instrument track" scenario is something I am going to have to get used to as most alternatives use it.

Dislikes
 
 No real browser that points to your own folders
 
 Any VIs like Kontakt or Play is not an easy setup.  They don't seem to care about this since you can only find a user video on youtube and not on their site.
 
 Forum full of mindless 'never used a DAW before" fanboyz
 
Likes
 
Upgrade pricing very affordable
 
Staff view
 
 It's not difficult to use 

I got the demo and I'm trying it out. What really shows up is how many cool things Sonar did that I took for granted. File management, inserting VSTI's, control surfaces and on. You don't know what you've got till it's gone (thanks Joni).
 
But I'll say this. It's the first alternative that felt pretty good and sort of Sonar like. I'm broke right now so it doesn't matter, but Mixcraft may be the contender for me. I have many questions but the demo is pretty nice and seems very stable.

I never used Instrument tracks in SONAR because I like to treat a sythn's audio output the same as any other audio source, which it is. That includes grouping synth audio into track folders, adding aux tracks, combining synths into busses.
 
And Mixcraft does lets you do all that. It's just that the output is visually separated from the other mix elements, and the synth's audio effects are now inserted into the Mixer (Console) view. And that's the biggest adjustment I'll have to make - using the console. I am used to doing everything in the Track View and PRV, almost never the console. With Mixcraft I can move the console to another display, but it's always going to have to be up.
 
This was one of the motivations I had for buying a single, bigger monitor. That and watching concert videos on Netflix/YouTube, of course.