I believe BAPU is on to something.   I spend the most time going through dead spots - mostly vocals, then cutting them out, then creating volume edits at the tails. But that's not the most important thing for me..
 
What is most important to me is to stay in the creative process once I am there. Creative meaning inventing and performing music.  I am a one person shop.   Shave any focus off of having to 'be the engineer' so I can spend more time with an instrument in hand.   There's a few things I take extra clock cycles on - pressing the record button and then waiting for the click pre roll.  Why not have a 'listener' for the audio engine on a certain track - when that listener gets a transient above a certain level, kick on the recording process.  
 
When I have to add a track, I have to assign the device port the input track and output track is going to.  Why not open a fast screen that you can click on a pre-assigned type, and it sets up the routing - it would eliminate a click on two drop downs and keep me more focused on performance.  I add a lot of tracks as I am writing. 
 
Other than staying in the creative process - hats off to the Cakewalk team and everyone here on this board.  You all help inspire me to be more creative, and to challenge myself to get better.   Y'all deserve a well earned atta boy this year... 
 
Happy Holidays!
 
LL
 
'Why no, I don't have a studio.  I have a small room that has a lot of money in it - and I like it'

Soundwise
It doesn't get pasted into a lane. I can't figure how to paste automation from one track to another without it becoming orphaned... Assign envelope menu displays only controls for a PC EQ. Is this a bug then?

I don't understand.
 
Select the automation lane (there is a blue "selected" thingie in the upper left corner of the lane controls) then try pasting. Does that not paste the envelope into the lane?
 
After that you just assign it to what you want.
 
BTW... I am working theoretically here. That, I think, is how it is supposed to work.

gbowling
In an effort to help the bakers understand what to work on, I thought it might be prudent to ask what things are the most difficult to do in sonar?
 
What is your most time consuming and difficult task on most of your songs?
 
For me, it's multitrack drum editing. I have become pretty expert in audiosnap, drum replacer, track groupings, and many other techniques for tightening up multitrack drums. But it still is a very time consuming and difficult process.
 
In today's world where your smart phone can do voice recognition, it seems like there should be a better way. Actually it seems like there should be an automatic way. Even a novice can tell what the drum part is "suppose" to sound like, but attempts to have audiosnap or other tools automatically process an entire part frequently result in a part that is completely out of whack.
 
This means you have to do a lot of manual editing, moving markers, and doing it beat by beat. Seems like there should be some sort of artificial intelligence or "drum recognition" that could take 12+ drum tracks and auto-correct them. 
 
gabo

 
Dealing with the file system, especially when I change computers.
 
I don't want to think about how many times I saw an error message that the audio files could not be found, even though I used the copy command to back up the data. I either have to start the project over or forget about the project, or, sometimes I can recover the files with a lot of work.
 
In all these years I still don't know how to back up Sonar. As of now I basically use a utility to disk clone, and hope for the best. It is like Sonar uses an absolute address for the audio files and if the folder moves, all is lost. I imagine it is all my mis-understanding of how to use the software, but this is my reply to the question.
 
It would really be nice if there was a batch utility to make bundle files. One that would automatically back up each project in a directory to a separate bundle. Then I could feel good about my project back ups.

jpetersen
Craig, thank you, that works.
Please don't think me ungrateful, but this is so typically Cakewalk. A simple task, a
non-intuitive solution. My instinctive approach was the same as John T's, but if you do that, the
Delete, Delete Special, Cut and Cut Special menus are:
1) Disabled (grey) if one or more of the tracks selected have audio somewhere (but outside the selected range)
2) Enabled if the selected tracks have NOTHING IN THEM AT ALL but if you click Delete, nothing happens.
But there is almost certainly a reason why it must be so, as with the Clean Audio Folder and CWAF tools.

 
Well it's not necessarily a good reason, but regarding 1) Cut/Copy/Paste functions are event-oriented, not time-oriented. SONAR has never known how to cut/copy/paste time, only events that occur within a time. That's why there has to be an event in there. Once you realize the event/object orientation/limitation, a lot of things make more sense. Regarding 2), that's probably something that could be fixed but I guess a programmer might think "Why bother? No one will be cutting something that doesn't exist so they'll never notice it anyway."
 
The Clean Audio Folder is a legacy doofus [technical term] from back when hard drives were expensive and audio was dumped into one big folder. No one should need to use it any more. The easiest way to clean up unused files is to Save As to a different per-project folder, and you can have it save either all the audio ("just in case") or only the clips with actual audio that's pointed to from larger files. 
 

Anderton said:
>> Based on a lot of the forum posts here, I'd say the hardest thing about SONAR is
>> reading the documentation
Well, in my defense, not even scook knew this.

 
Not aimed specifically at you, and as mentioned, not intended to be snarky. Programs like SONAR are very complicated. Same can be said of Cubase et al. There are a lot of dark corners and you have to dig to find out where they are and what they do. For example, if you look under "Markers," the help won't tell you how to cut/paste so that marker positions are unaffected...although it will tell you how to lock markers to SMPTE time. You have to look under Cut/Paste, which then describes how these operations affect markers. And how does one know to look there? Well, you don't. This is why I rummage around the help files every now and then to see what I can learn. I get consistent, reliable, creative results with SONAR and yet I still feel like I know at most 50% of the ways to help make workflow more efficient.
 
This is also why the forum is a great and valid shortcut, but you'll get better results if you start a thread with a very specific question - like "Can markers move automatically when you delete sections of a song?" The only reason I found your post was because I was looking for any consensus on particular issues to pass along to Cakewalk.
 

He did, however, suggest turning off "Always Import Broadcast Waves At Their Timestamp"
in Preferences>File>Audio Data and that cured the source of the initial problem.
But how a mere mortal is supposed to know such a thing exists, what it is, that 
it is on by default and what the consequences of that setting are is beyond me.

 
This issue cropped up so much in forums that I highly recommended having time stamp at import not selected as the default, and I'm pretty sure that became the case in SONAR 2015. However those who migrated settings from previous versions still had the preference set to importing at time stamp.
 
There are a finite number of options in Preferences and it's important to know what all of them do. Every preference page has a Help button. The Help buttons are invaluable. Once when doing a sample library with hundreds of tracks I was getting constant dropouts. It had to be latency or an underpowered computer, right? Hey, I'm a veteran, I know these things...right? But I clicked on the Help button when the dropout notice appeared, and lo and behold, audio file fragmentation can cause dropouts - especially when you're doing a zillion edits on tiny files. So I followed the advice on defragmenting the project, and the dropouts stopped...I filed under "ya learn something new every day."
 
As to the time stamping, you could just as easily ask why the files you wanted to import added a time offset unless it was really needed...SONAR is simply doing what the file tells it to do. You could make an argument that SONAR SHOULD default to reading time stamps, because if something is time-stamped it's for a reason, and people should be smart enough not to time-stamp something that doesn't need it. However that's not a given. I've seen a lot of sample libraries where the files have a start time of 1 hour. Why? I can see no rational reason for that, so I can only assume the program they used to create the files defaulted to that...which they probably didn't know...and they also didn't know to turn off exporting with Broadcast WAV metadata when they exported the files. So SONAR did what the files asked it to do, and the result was frustration that appeared to be SONAR's fault - but wasn't.
 
2-inch 24-tracks were easier on some levels, but too darn expensive 
 

pharohoknaughty
In all these years I still don't know how to back up Sonar. As of now I basically use a utility to disk clone, and hope for the best. It is like Sonar uses an absolute address for the audio files and if the folder moves, all is lost. I imagine it is all my mis-understanding of how to use the software, but this is my reply to the question.
 
It would really be nice if there was a batch utility to make bundle files. One that would automatically back up each project in a directory to a separate bundle. Then I could feel good about my project back ups.

Short form is create a folder for your audio projects. Use only per-project audio folders within that folder. Then you just back up the folder with all your projects to back up everything.
 
Check out these articles:
 
https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec10/articles/sonar-tech-1210.htm
https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan11/articles/sonar_tech-0111.htm
 

Beepster

Soundwise
It doesn't get pasted into a lane. I can't figure how to paste automation from one track to another without it becoming orphaned... Assign envelope menu displays only controls for a PC EQ. Is this a bug then?

I don't understand.
 
Select the automation lane (there is a blue "selected" thingie in the upper left corner of the lane controls) then try pasting. Does that not paste the envelope into the lane?
 
After that you just assign it to what you want.
 
BTW... I am working theoretically here. That, I think, is how it is supposed to work.

That didn't work with first synth audio output option selected. I managed to copy automation envelope to a MIDI source track and reassign it to control volume. Now everything works, but that was hard...

Soundwise
 
That didn't work with first synth audio output option selected. I managed to copy automation envelope to a MIDI source track and reassign it to control volume. Now everything works, but that was hard...

oooh... I think I know why I was futzing it up. Your were doing MIDI CC stuff and I was describing effect style stuff.
 
I have no bleeding clue about MIDI CC automation.
 
Or not and I'm just a dum dum.
 
Sorry about that but yes... automation in general is a cumbersome PITA in Sonar. Could/should be simpler.

Beepster
Meh... audiosnap can actually do what you seem to want when used at an "advanced" level. The problem is any "quantize" function can only do so much.

Ha! Never said I couldn't do it. I agree with Craig in that you have to read and study. I have done that and am quite adept at editing multitrack drums, thank you.. and a lot more. I am quite proud of my advanced audiosnap skills!
 
But I totally disagree with the notion that the quantize function is as good as it can be and can only do so much. These things do get better over time. Especially with multitrack drums as there are less options for what it could be than with note based instruments.
 
Things go bang on 2 and 4, or if a syncopated beat  or odd pattern is involved there are ways to recognize those. And there are other things that pretty much always happen on beat 1. When a run or fill gets involved, it's not difficult to determine where that should start and end. Once that's determined, what happens in between is easier to figure out. Actually I generally don't need to adjust what's in between the start/finish, just start it and stretch the end to fit. What happens in between is generally ok because it's usually the drummer rushing. The old joke is, you know how to tell if a drummer is at the door? The knocking speeds up!! 
 
I think you could write down and define a bunch of rules that would bound a drum part into something that you can move around automatically and get it right about 99.9+ percent of the time. Particularly when you know the time signature, which you do in sonar.
 
It'll happen some day, mark my word.
 
gabo

Here are things I find difficult:
 

1. CC Automation - I do not use lanes, I prefer to automate directly on the track. Now if I could also do my CC in here (make the cc ribbon hide once frozen) it would be amazing. The old school piano roll cc automation feels like I'm back in the 90's, though I do understand why the precision would be needed (maybe a thinner automation ribbon line?).
2. Finding videos of people actually using a recent release of Sonar in mastery type ways (so I can learn more tips and tricks) that aren't just recording a band, but actually doing large massive vst and editing intensive stuff.
3. A wish - a special freeze audio button that just creates a new audio track and copies the audio to it, leaving the original un-frozen. Just could speed up a workflow for me, and yes I know I could just record the audio to a new track, but I want a way to quickly just lock in a sound mid workflow.

gbowling

Beepster
Meh... audiosnap can actually do what you seem to want when used at an "advanced" level. The problem is any "quantize" function can only do so much.

Ha! Never said I couldn't do it. I agree with Craig in that you have to read and study. I have done that and am quite adept at editing multitrack drums, thank you.. and a lot more. I am quite proud of my advanced audiosnap skills!
 
But I totally disagree with the notion that the quantize function is as good as it can be and can only do so much. These things do get better over time. Especially with multitrack drums as there are less options for what it could be than with note based instruments.
 
Things go bang on 2 and 4, or if a syncopated beat  or odd pattern is involved there are ways to recognize those. And there are other things that pretty much always happen on beat 1. When a run or fill gets involved, it's not difficult to determine where that should start and end. Once that's determined, what happens in between is easier to figure out. Actually I generally don't need to adjust what's in between the start/finish, just start it and stretch the end to fit. What happens in between is generally ok because it's usually the drummer rushing. The old joke is, you know how to tell if a drummer is at the door? The knocking speeds up!! 
 
I think you could write down and define a bunch of rules that would bound a drum part into something that you can move around automatically and get it right about 99.9+ percent of the time. Particularly when you know the time signature, which you do in sonar.
 
It'll happen some day, mark my word.
 
gabo

Ah... I see. Well really I think the way to roll through that is to just slice up the clips and apply your quantize actions to the segments... not the whole part. I guess that COULD be made a little more intuitive with some kind of tool where you could select time ranges and set your quantize instructions for each range individually WITHOUT splitting things up but I'm not sure how much faster that would be because you still have to set the ranges, program in the quantize and hope it works.
 
Also doing it section by section means if the process borks up you can just reverse it on that section instead of the whole thing.
 
Then again maybe this theoretical tool could account for that and allow for specific sections to be "undone/recalculated" easily while retaining the successful adjustments.
 
Is that kind of what you mean?
 
Edit: BTW... the lock/merge markers option does that stuff across mutli mic'd drum tracks... which you probably know but just in case it should be mentioned.
 
Cheers.
 
Edit 2: But if the issue is faulty transient detection... well that can be a pain. They supposedly improved on that but it's probably still a little hit or miss/needs some user tweaking to make sure the transient markers are indeed on the transients... otherwise everything will most definitely turn to poop.