Hi all,
 
I am working in X3 on a project that I did a lot of moving around of individual tracks for editing and such.   Now I have a lot of empty time in the file so when I do a mix down,  the export takes 30 minutes or more to finish, and I have a WAV file that's an hour long, when I should have a song file that's about 4 minutes in size.
 
I've scrolled through each track and there are no audio events on any track in the project past 5 minutes.  How do I clean it up so the final mixdown file doesn't have all that extra time/space in it?
 

ryansheeler
Hi all,
I've scrolled through each track and there are no audio events on any track in the project past 5 minutes.  How do I clean it up so the final mixdown file doesn't have all that extra time/space in it?

Have you also checked for the following that occurs after the 5 minute mark:

MIDI events (check with Event List view)
Meter or time signature changes or marker events
Tempo changes
Stray lyric or text events (Though you would also find these with Event List view)
Automation changes
Etc

You could use Navigator view to see which track(s) contains whatever is present after the 5 minute mark. There has got to be something there that Sonar is seeing as present...

Could could also select all (CTRL - A) , then select smart tool and hold ALT while mousing after the 5 minute mark to split the tracks and then delete everything after the 5 minute mark.

Yep I think there were some volume automations I didn't see - found a few green dots and dashed lines way downstream that I trimmed and removed.  Lots better now.  thanks!

This is such a common problem that it might be time to ask for a feature that will wipe everything in the project beyond a selected now point. Something like clear-from-cursor-to-the-end. 

slartabartfast
This is such a common problem that it might be time to ask for a feature that will wipe everything in the project beyond a selected now point. Something like clear-from-cursor-to-the-end. 

That's a good idea.  I'll vote for the FR when I see it pop up 
Adding a link to the FR back here will help direct future readers of this thread to it as well.

slartabartfast
This is such a common problem that it might be time to ask for a feature that will wipe everything in the project beyond a selected now point. Something like clear-from-cursor-to-the-end.

What happens if there are note-on messages before the selected end and note-off messages afterward?

Anderton

slartabartfast
This is such a common problem that it might be time to ask for a feature that will wipe everything in the project beyond a selected now point. Something like clear-from-cursor-to-the-end.

What happens if there are note-on messages before the selected end and note-off messages afterward?

Automatically append an "all notes off message" or something. You guys figure it out. That's what you are getting paid for. This problem has been going on for a long time. it seems like every month somebody posts this same question.
 

Song begin/end markers (multiple sets for albums) would help as well since "dragging in the timeline" can be hit or miss depending on project resolution.

The real issue I see with posts like this is people find out and waste time *after* they hit bounce/export/etc.

My audio often does not start at the beginning of a track and ends prior to where Sonar thinks the end of the song is. I solve this issue by, in track view, selecting only the audio to be exported. Like this:
CNTL-A to select all audio clips
Set From and Through points using the Selection toolbar
 
I ALWAYS set markers  in my projects for beginning, end, verse1, chorus1, etc. which makes setting the from and through points a breeze, among other things...

+1