Here's another trick for those into the Clip Gain Automation approach. It's wicked fast for many types of audio clips.

1. While holding Alt, drag the Smart tool across a region to split it on mouse down and mouse up. (Therefore if for example you want to split a clip into 10 pieces, you need do only 5 click/drags.)
2. While holding Ctrl, click anywhere in a clip (no precise positioning required) and drag up or down. The clip gain automation line appears, along with a tooltip that shows a) the absolute offset from 0 as well as b) the relative offset from its previous position (e.g., how much you've moved it).

Note that the "ctrl+click in the waveform and drag up/down" works with the edit filter set to Clips. You don't need to change it to Clip Gain Automation to adjust clip gain automation.

Anderton.
Note that the "ctrl+click in the waveform and drag up/down" works with the edit filter set to Clips. You don't need to change it to Clip Gain Automation to adjust clip gain automation.

That's a speed up for the workflow.  Good tips, thank you.
 

If someone has already suggested this and I missed it, I apologize. It seems like there are people on both sides who have very strong opinions about the "right" way of handling clip gain/waveform size and, given that it is not likely that there is going to be concensus, why not request it as an option that can be turned on and off or have it display both the original and the adjusted waveform in, say, different colors?

benjaminfrog
If someone has already suggested this and I missed it, I apologize. It seems like there are people on both sides who have very strong opinions about the "right" way of handling clip gain/waveform size and, given that it is not likely that there is going to be concensus, why not request it as an option that can be turned on and off or have it display both the original and the adjusted waveform in, say, different colors?

There is no right way, just ways that work best in particular applications. For that reason Sonar has multiple ways of adjusting clip gain, including DSP that redraws waveforms, dedicated clip gain edit filter, clip gain quick edits from Clips view, V-Vocal rubber-band automation with waveform redraw, and if you upgrade to Melodyne Editor (which is often on special and well worth it for multiple reasons), you have yet another option which is arguably superior to the way any DAW handles this function natively.
 
I suspect the majority of users don't use what Sonar offers already to its full potential, so adding one more option that would be at least somewhat redundant doesn't seem like the best possible use of resources. I also suspect this function is a deep and fundamental part of the code, so if that's the case, changing it would require a lot of effort and also considerable QA.
 
 
 
 

Guitarpima
If Capitalism is so great, how come three fourths of the world live in poverty?

Just a guess, but could it have anything to do with the fact that over 3/4 ths of the, world including the US, do not enjoy the free market dynamic upon which capitalism is based and  thrives; but, rather suffers under the corruption attributable to  "Crony Capitalism", the sort of which is exposed by Hunter Lewis  in his book "Crony Capitalism in America ... "
 
A fine read and a real eye opener!

Jeff Evans
...Yes we do make nice beer here! Too nice actually I find myself drinking more of it than I should. Our beer is strong in flavour and alcohol content too.

Fosters?  
 
 
 
(I'll grab my coat on the way out )
 

Fosters is down on the low end of the market.  Good after a hard summer day labouring. And lots of it too! At the high end we have some really lovely brands.
 
Sound design and post is another area where seeing the waveforms change is useful.  And yesterday I did a big session producing a sound design and music for an illusionist.  The effects often get quite complex in parts.  He was with me and we were under pressure.  It was great to be able see the changes immediately to the waveforms.  You can almost get a good rough mix on the fly just tweaking these to shape.  Because the fades show up and change the wave too it is nice to see how something is going to enter and leave.
 
Some effects being imported had very high waveforms but they may only end up very low in the mix.  Changing clip gain quickly by subtracting lots of gain and seeing it showing low tells me that effect is quiet.  Other effects being imported might be quite low in level and have a weak waveform.  You can add 24 dB or more with clip gain.  So I might need to quickly add 15 dB to create a healthy waveform telling me now that effect is going to be heard!  And now I roughly know how high to make it to be the right level in the final mix.  One movement and everything is set done and sounding right.  This is fast pure and simple.
 
I mix with the clip gain waveform height and the track automation at the same time.  Clip gain level set and waveform view to start then fine tune with automation later.  While he is there we get good rough mixes using clip gain adjustments and seeing waveform height.  He can take away a pretty decent sounding CD to rehearse with.  After he leaves I get stuck into automation making it all sound more polished and better balanced.
 
Craig has got me thinking about the approach where the waves do not change.  And I can see the reasoning for it now.  I see both systems as being very balanced both ways.  For me I just jumped in and used it because it was there and I liked it overall.  Craig I agree you used it and did switch back and I find that very interesting too.  Some may switch back but I think others may also like it and prefer it like me.  There are just as many reasons for as I keep thinking of them every time I do something in the studio I am using it.
 
You guys have got clip automation too and I would love that as well. Being able to control what happens within a clip just adds a third way to manage the audio volume envelope. Because I don't have that could also explain why I have to cut clips up into smaller sections and manage their volumes that way using the clip gain handles and altering waveforms instead.