I have had issues with this for a long time. Posted about a particular isse a few eeks ago or so and got help, but many chimed in about this shortcoming. I use to do Tech work, stopped in 2000. This is a windows program and I would love it if it worked like windows like Sharke mentioned "copy and Paste" for instance. 
 
I must add this won't make me switch daws either but sure make me a happier Guitar player\composer

sharke
 It's far more important that Sonar preserve time signature and tempo changes, given that it's a music creation program.

Maybe I'm just slow, but I still don't understand how SONAR would know where to re-place a time signature or tempo change event if it existed in an area that no longer exists. Kylotan presented one option, but then, someone could argue that groove pitch markers or MIDI program changes are equally important, and require their own pop-up menu..and then the "keep it simple and fast" option becomes much more difficult.

Not the most elegant (and probably already touted in here) but starting a new project and setting the revbised structure tempo/time sig map, then cutting and pasting from old to new project usually handles my most complex needs.
 
I might add that if I'm still in tracking/arranging mode I'm less likely to have bus automation (despite my suggestion is post #58) and any that I might have is most likely easily reproduced as I try to keep my bus automation as simple as possible (near nil) until I'm actually in the mixing stage.
 

Anderton

sharke
But then you have to wonder, if you're deleting time from a song that was synced to video, the whole thing is then going to be out of sync with the video after the cut anyway.

Not necessarily. It may not be a 1:1 sync issue, like sound effects, but a music bed where you decide to delete a repeat of a verse, and extend the end. You don't necessarily care what's speeding up, just that something is speeding up at that time. I encounter this situation often.

If that's your intention though, you wouldn't really need a "delete time" function, right? You could just lasso everything and drag it across, or use "slide" as Poco suggests.

bapu
Not the most elegant (and probably already touted in here) but starting a new project and setting the revbised structure tempo/time sig map, then cutting and pasting from old to new project usually handles my most complex needs.
 
I might add that if I'm still in tracking/arranging mode I'm less likely to have bus automation (despite my suggestion is post #58) and any that I might have is most likely easily reproduced as I try to keep my bus automation as simple as possible (near nil) until I'm actually in the mixing stage.
 

That's a pain if you already have loads of synths and the like set up. I guess some people work differently - I mix and design sound roughly as I'm writing and arranging.

Anderton

sharke
It's far more important that Sonar preserve time signature and tempo changes, given that it's a music creation program.

Maybe I'm just slow, but I still don't understand how SONAR would know where to re-place a time signature or tempo change event if it existed in an area that no longer exists. Kylotan presented one option, but then, someone could argue that groove pitch markers or MIDI program changes are equally important, and require their own pop-up menu..and then the "keep it simple and fast" option becomes much more difficult.

That's why I suggested making Delete Time only doable on an empty region. That way it's up to the user to decide what happens to any data that's in the region you're deleting.

The time sig changes are easy enough. Take the last time sig change in the region that's being deleted and move it to the point of the first measure after the deletion.

sharke
Moving time signature changes and tempo changes manually is a pain. What we're really looking for is a way to edit arrangements quickly and intuitively.

Okay, then I misunderstood because I thought the premise was an easy way to remove time from a project, so that's what I was addressing.
 
A lot of my "Friday Tip of the Week" entries come from my being stubborn enough to think "there must be a way to do [name a function]." I'll see if I can at least come up with the easiest, 100% reliable method to remove time from a project per these requirements:
 

bapu

sharke
So to recap, a "delete time" function should:
 
1) Delete ALL data in the area you specify
2) Move ALL data to the left to fill the gap. 
 

3) Move ALL bus automation left to fill the gap. 

 
This is something I could use anyway from time to time 
 
 

sharke
But Sonar already has options like insert time and delete hole which have options for things like markers, tempo changes etc - it's just that they don't work properly.

 
I can also try tackling what "doesn't work properly" if you can specify what doesn't work, and what the intended behavior should be. For example, I still don't understand what the intended behavior for tempo changes would be if you removed them, unless you had an option to specify what the intended behavior would be per the Kylotan approach.
 
As you alluded to with time signatures, for groove pitch markers in a deleted area I think there's really only one use case - if there was one in the section to be deleted, then it should be at the beginning of the section that was moved over to the left to fill the hole. Ditto program changes. I don't think it's possible to tell SONAR where to place those things as a result of deleting their existence, but I can certainly give it a try 
 

sharke

Anderton

sharke
But then you have to wonder, if you're deleting time from a song that was synced to video, the whole thing is then going to be out of sync with the video after the cut anyway.

Not necessarily. It may not be a 1:1 sync issue, like sound effects, but a music bed where you decide to delete a repeat of a verse, and extend the end. You don't necessarily care what's speeding up, just that something is speeding up at that time. I encounter this situation often.

If that's your intention though, you wouldn't really need a "delete time" function, right?

Right, but I find it simplest.

sharke
So to recap, a "delete time" function should:
 
1) Delete ALL data in the area you specify
2) Move ALL data to the left to fill the gap. 
 
No nonsense, no worrying about tracks losing their relationship with each other, no manual selecting and dragging of clips, just the simple process as described in bold above, something which should be as simple as deleting a word in a word processor and having the remaining text reposition itself to fill the hole. Please!

+1.  I'd love to see this in the next build; it's long overdue.
 

sharke
You want to remove a portion of time from the start of a song. You want everything within those measures to be deleted, and everything which remains to shift along by that number of measures to the left. This should be doable with a simple, hassle free, bug free and foolproof one click method.

I've been thinking about this, and I can't see how you could do this with one click. AFAIK you would at least need to tell SONAR:
 
1. If needed, the tool you want - presumably the Smart or Select tool. (If you currently had the Erase or Mute tool selected, that probably wouldn't be appropriate.)
2. The region you want to delete (probably a click+drag).
3. That you want the Delete Time function (probably a click+drag from a menu, or a keyboard shortcut).
4. Another click on OK to confirm.
 
I don't know how you would simplify this to one click. Even with a word processor, if needed you have to choose the right tool to select words, select the words you want to delete, then either go to a menu or use a keyboard shortcut to perform the actual cut operation. You also need to use a different shortcut to delete and not put something in the clipboard, compared to cutting and putting something on the clipboard.