Hello all,
 
So I'm trying to see if I can use Sonar Home Studio (22.11.0 BUILD 66 [2016.11] - x64) to run backing tracks for a live show. I've created a playlist, which all seems well and good. One of the delay options to run the list is "Wait for Key Press". This is what I want to try first.
 
I set the option to "Wait for Key Press", and Sonar doesn't "Wait for Key Press" after I start the first song. It starts the next song on its own with no delay.
 
Is this a known bug? Am I missing something? This is throwing a serious wrench in the works.
 
Thanks for any help!

Good luck with Playlist. The only reason I do not use Sonar live

It used to work for me. I haven't used it for a few months. But I've used it for live productions for the last 20 years. It ran the mixing board and light board through midi timecode and program changes as well as all the music and sfx. But I've reached the end of a legacy. We've switched to Q-lab, a MAC program designed for running shows. It's amazing, but it can't touch Sonar when it comes to editing audio.

Well this doesn't sound encouraging. I thought I'd be able to have a production and live playback solution all in one app, but I guess it's not to be. Thing is, it's SUPPOSED to be! The feature is there: "Wait for Key Press".
 
I mean really, how long as this app been around?
 
For now I need to be able to do live mixes. I need a multitrack playback system. SONAR was supposed to do that. I researched it, I purchased it.

shaggydawg
Well this doesn't sound encouraging. I thought I'd be able to have a production and live playback solution all in one app, but I guess it's not to be. Thing is, it's SUPPOSED to be! The feature is there: "Wait for Key Press".
 
I mean really, how long as this app been around?
 
For now I need to be able to do live mixes. I need a multitrack playback system. SONAR was supposed to do that. I researched it, I purchased it.

We have been using the playlist for live multitrack playback successfully in Sonar X3 with exactly these options. Since there are hardly any changes done to the playlist I doubt that this so broken now...

I can't check myself at the moment but maybe some expert playlist user will jump in to comment. Bruce (tenfoot) is usually around and very helpful. If not maybe try to PM

There are a few people here who use it all the time and even though it has shortcomings they claim it works. 
Hopefully one of them will chime in on this thread as I'm sure they would have the answers and help you make it work. 
I've played with it myself and found it very slow to change songs which is not exceptable to me. I'm used to using stereo Wave files with Win Amp and I have a footswitch to control playback, so I run most songs without pauses between. 
I was planning on using it as I'd like to have MIDI control my effects. I have bought Home Studio just for this purpose even though I have Splat. I figured HS would be more stable. I haven't given up on it yet and possibly a faster laptop would speed things up. Worst issue I'm dealing with is Sonars Lenses seem to be the issue. It loads the song but then jumps around for  a while figuring out the page set up. Looks like I'd have to go though all 150 projects and save them exactly the same layout or something.. 
 
 
I've brought up the topic a few times as I think there's a market for a well thought out live playback software. I guess Apple has something but going down that road is not about to happen for me. 
 
My proposal would be a very simple DAW with the following features. 
12 tracks audio
Unlimited Midi
VST host supporting common formats 
Text file support for second monitor, Lyrics display automatically when song starts. 
Playlist editing = drag and drop to re arrange set lists on the fly. 
Start and stop options ( custom keystrokes) 
 
 

Thanks for your input, guys. I've been messing around a little more and am now finding the "Wait For Keypress" to be "mostly" working. I.e., it usually works but sometimes plays through to the next song in the list with no keypress.
 
All my projects are saved with the same lens setup (I struggled with that concept a few weeks ago trying to learn how to get a consistent project view) and I don't have a problem with loading times. That's perfectly acceptable. It's the random starting of projects with no keypress.
 
I guess I can try to see if it's the same songs that always start by themselves and see if there's anything about those that's causing the issue.

Cactus Music
There are a few people here who use it all the time and even though it has shortcomings they claim it works. 
Hopefully one of them will chime in on this thread as I'm sure they would have the answers and help you make it work. 
I've played with it myself and found it very slow to change songs which is not exceptable to me. I'm used to using stereo Wave files with Win Amp and I have a footswitch to control playback, so I run most songs without pauses between. 
I was planning on using it as I'd like to have MIDI control my effects. I have bought Home Studio just for this purpose even though I have Splat. I figured HS would be more stable. I haven't given up on it yet and possibly a faster laptop would speed things up. Worst issue I'm dealing with is Sonars Lenses seem to be the issue. It loads the song but then jumps around for  a while figuring out the page set up. Looks like I'd have to go though all 150 projects and save them exactly the same layout or something.. 
 
 
I've brought up the topic a few times as I think there's a market for a well thought out live playback software. I guess Apple has something but going down that road is not about to happen for me. 
 
My proposal would be a very simple DAW with the following features. 
12 tracks audio
Unlimited Midi
VST host supporting common formats 
Text file support for second monitor, Lyrics display automatically when song starts. 
Playlist editing = drag and drop to re arrange set lists on the fly. 
Start and stop options ( custom keystrokes) 
 
 

+1

Hey Shaggydawg.
 
I can confirm that despite reports to the contrary the playlist does work very well for live playback, so stick with it! I use Sonar as both a production tool and live playback system to run not only backing tracks, but complex setups with lights, effects, digital mixers, external processors etc. That said, I do currently use a pre lense version of Sonar Platinum (2016-09) on my live rig as it is rock solid.
 
I have the latest Sonar Platinum loaded onto a spare laptop and just ran a test, and the 'wait for keypress' is indeed working as expected. One thing I would suggest at this stage is to not use lenses with the playlist as I have encountered a couple of issues with this. Instead, save your projects using a locked screenset that has the project windows in the position you require them. Also, make sure that you undock the browser window and close it prior to locking and saving your live project screenset. This will speed up the loading process.
 
The other point I would make is to make sure that whichever release version of Sonar you use live, make sure you use the same in your studio/production. With the changes to Sonar over the past six months, loading projects edited in later versions into earlier releases can cause Sonar to not find midi and audio outputs correctly,  particularly wth regard to archived tracks and disconnected VST synths. It is no big deal, and easily fixed by resaving the projects, but is hugely disruptive to the flow of a live performance!
 
Once you are aware of these few quirks, hopefully you will discover that the playlst in Sonar is exactly what you hoped it would be:)

Screensets are not available in SONAR Home Studio.