All I can say is that I'm glad I still have my Cakewalk Pro 8 still installed for MIDI notation, as the tools available in SONAR are less than satisfactory for actual composers.
To erase a MIDI note, for example, one soon learns that the Eraser Tool is gone in Staff View. I believe there is a way over in the Piano Roll View but this is extremely inconvenient for musicians used to dealing with notation.
It's clear overall in the program that in an effort to make music making *fun* and accessible for non-musicians, classic trained musicians are given the short shrift.  

The Eraser tool works for MIDI notes in staff view, as well as anything else that needs erasing. The keyboard shortcut is F10. 

I haven't used it in a while, but I seem to remember a simple right click deletes when smarttool is the selected tool?

Only in the PRV. In staff view, a right-click opens note properties.

Clicking on your scroll wheel brings up the tool HUD as does the keyboard shortcut T and F10 as noted Craig where you can select the erase tool which is located at the the right hand of the tool HUD.

However the staff view is in desperate need of some love.

Anderton
Only in the PRV. In staff view, a right-click opens note properties.

Thanks for correcting me Craig...
 
It's been a while since I used the Staff View... ;-)
 
 
 

No one can make a legitimate case that the Staff View is a replacement for Finale, but I am a composer and I live in the Staff View.  I agree it has quirks, but I am able to do what I need.  I export from Sonar and into Finale to print publisher-ready scores or lead sheets, but that's OK with me since Sonar is geared towards music creation and there are many things I don't want printed (like keyswitches).
 
One little thing that does bug me is that triplets are only notated if all three notes are present and all in proximity.  It is not possible to write 1/4 and 1/8 as a triplet, for example. A rest can't be part of a triplet and a triplet can't cross staves—but not a big deal. (You can program them: they just don't look right.)
 
One thing that is a kind of big deal is swing time which is fast 12/8 written as 4/4.  Notating that can be pretty tedious and non-standard, but more of a problem for people writing country or ballroom.

bigpiano
All I can say is that I'm glad I still have my Cakewalk Pro 8 still installed for MIDI notation, as the tools available in SONAR are less than satisfactory for actual composers.
To erase a MIDI note, for example, one soon learns that the Eraser Tool is gone in Staff View. I believe there is a way over in the Piano Roll View but this is extremely inconvenient for musicians used to dealing with notation.
It's clear overall in the program that in an effort to make music making *fun* and accessible for non-musicians, classic trained musicians are given the short shrift.  

Yeah, Cakewalk has managed to make the staff view even more dysfunctional.  They recently took away the track numbers from the track pane on the right side of the screen.  Why this decision was made (if it was actually a decision) is beyond me.   The snap function is getting worse, it's worse than it's ever been, although I have found a way to still use it, it's tricky and the only way I could help somebody use it would be to actually be standing next to them to show them how to enter notes at the right position.  It's a hit-and-miss affair.  And while the paste-special seems to be working OK (sometimes) in notation, in the event list it still doesn't work at all, you have to make a track active in order to paste into it, which of course defeats the whole point of "paste-special".
 
I have no idea why CW refuses to prioritize the staff view for a while.  I cannot believe it is only an economic decision, I suspect some underlying ideology about notation must also play a part in the neglect.  Maybe the next update will change this, but it's hard not to give up hope given the amount of time these bugs have been around and ignored.
 
Jerry
www.jerrygerber.com/symph8mvt4.htm
 
 
 
 

jsg
Yeah, Cakewalk has managed to make the staff view even more dysfunctional.  They recently took away the track numbers from the track pane on the right side of the screen.  

And this is why I haven't updated Sonar in months. Aside from staff view, Sonar can already do way more than I'll ever need... my workflow is pretty set and I don't do any audio work to speak of, so all the bells and whistles they keep adding do me no good.  I don't even use PRV, so while I'm happy for the folks who do, those changes didn't help me personally.  And at every release I was tempted to update, but would hit the forums first and see issues people were having with it, or that the staff view got the accidental shaft once again.  Just not worth the hassle for features I likely won't use.

jfcomposer

jsg
Yeah, Cakewalk has managed to make the staff view even more dysfunctional.  They recently took away the track numbers from the track pane on the right side of the screen.  

And this is why I haven't updated Sonar in months. Aside from staff view, Sonar can already do way more than I'll ever need... my workflow is pretty set and I don't do any audio work to speak of, so all the bells and whistles they keep adding do me no good.  I don't even use PRV, so while I'm happy for the folks who do, those changes didn't help me personally.  And at every release I was tempted to update, but would hit the forums first and see issues people were having with it, or that the staff view got the accidental shaft once again.  Just not worth the hassle for features I likely won't use.

I understand how you feel, I avoid upgrades often for the same reason.  But the ability of Sonar to now start playback in the middle of a long note (and still have it sound) is such an important feature for me that I upgraded for that reason and I put up with the lesser issues (lesser for me).   I keep hearing from people at Cakewalk that the staff view is going to get some attention soon, but I don't know whether "soon" means next month or 10 years from now.
 
Jerry
www.jerrygerber.com/symph9mvt1.htm