I don't think this is currently do-able in Sonar, but IMHO it would be very useful to be able to have "control" channels to have control over several parameters on different channels.

Say you have 8 channels:

- Violin (Library 1)
- Violin (Library 2)
- Viola (Library 1)
- Viola (Library 2)
- Cello (Library 1)
- Cello (Library 2)
- Bass (Library 1)
- Bass (Library 2)

I would like to group them in various ways using control channels:

- All Library 1
- All Library 2
- All Violins
- All Violas
- All Celli
- All Basses

These control channels would adjust the *relative* levels of these audio tracks.

Cheers!

Martin

I may not be understanding you correctly, but couldn't you do this with busses?

Or groups!

VCA = violin, cello, bias?

VCA is "Voltage Controlled Amplitude" to me. Don't quite understand what the OP intended.

VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) Groups are common on SSL and some other desks for grouping channels under one control.

I think you could pretty much accomplish the same thing between busses and groups in SONAR.

where did SSL dream up that idea?

I never understood the need for this in a DAW.
Busses work well.

I never learned about SONAR's groups...

This quote from WIKI seems to apply to basic mix routing and so if in SONAR groups provided this it seems worth knowing about:

"A benefit of VCA sub-group is that since it is directly affecting the gain level of each channel, changes to a VCA sub-group level affect not only the channel level, but also all of the levels sent to any post fader mixes. With traditional audio sub-groups, the sub-group master fader only affected the level going into the main mix and does not affect the level going to the post fader mixes. Consider the case of an instrument feeding a sub-group and a post fader mix. If you set the sub-group master fader to zero, you would no longer hear the instrument itself, but you would still hear it as part of the post fader mix, perhaps a reverb or chorus effect."

Does anyone know if SONARs groups work the same way?

It's actually really flexible as you can something belong to multiple groups at the same time - I think you can get "most" of the way there with groups and busses in SONAR. VCA technology is the standard grouping methodology in high end desks.

Let's see taking the OP's original requirements - he could:

Put all of library 1 on buss A
Put all of library 2 on buss B
Group Violins together
Group Violas together
Group Cellos together
Groups Basses together

I actually think that covers it per his original request.