Hello All,
 
I've been using Sonar since 1.0 and have used it for all the normal production purposes. I play in a band, who practices at my studio. I also host "open" jams at my studio. For band practices and jams, what I do is just press record. Since all the instruments are mic'ed up for writing situations, they are ready to go for jams and practices. I usually only have to do one or two quick wiring adjustments for jams, then I'm ready to record.  Which brings me to my question....
 
When recording jams & practices, I end up with about 2-4 hours worth of audio in ONE PROJECT -- with many songs. I'll split the songs into individual sections in the time line, then export each song. However, this takes a TON of time that would be better spent practicing my guitar! I'd like to be able to select all the clips I want to export it and have each song exported to it's own file. Either with markers or some combination of features... Anyone know of a way to do this?
 
I'm a software engineer, so if there was a programming/scripting way I would not have a problem doing it. It would be simple logic to write -- look for all grouped clips between the same points in the timeline and export as individual songs. Can Cakewalk CAL do something like this, or is it really only for MIDI like the help file indicates?
 
Peace,
Xavier

I think CAL mainly works with MIDI Commands although actual host scripting would be a good idea, so you could or someone like yourself could create a Macro to automate a series of action as above.
 
Using the regions you can solo a selection in the timeline and render only specific parts of it. However as for any other useful methods they don't spring to mind.
 

Xavier,
 
One song at a  time, you can select and highlight all of the tracks for each separate song and go to "Clips> bounce to tracks". After you do that, you will see the tracks for the chosen song bounce down to the first empty track at the bottom of your song. 
 
Next do the same thing for the second song and then the next songs...  Now you should see a singe track for each song you have at the end of your project.  The beauty of this is that the bounced down song sits underneath of  where your song was on the time line.
 
Finally,  Move all of the bounced down files to the beginning of the time line. Highlight all of the bounced down files you came up with and select FILE > Export > AUDIO >
 
Select the following:
* Source Category > Select Tracks
* Preset > Raw Tracks
This will allow you to export each song to a separate wave file wile still in the project.
 
I hope this helps.
 
 

interpolated
...actual host scripting would be a good idea, so you could or someone like yourself could create a Macro to automate a series of action as above.

Oh, interesting idea! Are you talking about Windows Scripting Host or something like AutoHotKey?
 
I'll look into that and see if there is a way for the script to determine the start and stop of each song in the timeline. If there is then the rest of it can definitely be done by the host scripting...

Xavier
...When recording jams & practices, I end up with about 2-4 hours worth of audio in ONE PROJECT -- with many songs. I'll split the songs into individual sections in the time line, then export each song. However, this takes a TON of time that would be better spent practicing my guitar! I'd like to be able to select all the clips I want to export it and have each song exported to it's own file...

 
If it was the mix that I wanted to be split, then I would export the whole thing in one go and split it in Audacity.

On the other hand, if I wanted to keep the original tracks and split into multiple projects, I would make several copies of the original project (keeping them in the same project folder), one for each song. Then in each project I would delete everything but the required song. At a later stage I would probably "Save As" each project to a separate project folder.

I think you missed Jesse's post~ It can be done as he described. 
 
Another option that I use is to break the night into smaller chunks. 
 
I make a project that has all my inputs armed and ready and named. 
I "save as"  as many times as required and number them= Saturday Jam 1, Saturday Jam 2 and so on. 
On the night of the jam I fire up the Laptop and open and minimize all those projects. They will spread out across the bottom of your screen and you can see them if you float Sonars screen. 
 
So now it takes all of 3 seconds to maximise those projects and they are ready to hit the big R. No fumbling around so I can focus on playing. I multi track live gigs this way and it ends up with 2 - 5 songs per project. Just basically anytime there is a pause in the show I can quickly get a new project recording. On the break I save them all. 

Jesse G
Xavier,
 
One song at a  time, you can select and highlight all of the tracks for each separate song and go to "Clips> bounce to tracks". After you do that, you will see the tracks for the chosen song bounce down to the first empty track at the bottom of your song. 
 
Next do the same thing for the second song and then the next songs...  Now you should see a singe track for each song you have at the end of your project.  The beauty of this is that the bounced down song sits underneath of  where your song was on the time line.
 
Finally,  Move all of the bounced down files to the beginning of the time line. Highlight all of the bounced down files you came up with and select FILE > Export > AUDIO >
 
Select the following:
* Source Category > Select Tracks
* Preset > Raw Tracks
This will allow you to export each song to a separate wave file wile still in the project.
 
I hope this helps.

Hi Jesse, I appreciate your response!
 
I think I understand your suggestion. I just tested it out. Unless I'm missing something, doesn't this add a lot more steps to the process?  Currently I do the following for each song:
 

1. Left-Click highlight the tracks for a song in the Track View
2. <CTRL+F> -> <E> -> <Enter>
3. Type name of song
4. <Enter>
5. Long Wait..........
6. Repeat 1-5 for all songs
7. Done.

My interpretation of your steps would be:

1. Left-Click highlight the tracks for a song in the Track View
2. Click "Tracks -> Bounce To Tracks".
3. Long Wait..........
4. Repeat steps 1&2 for all songs
5. Left-Click highlight newly bounced tracks in the Track View
6. Move all songs to start of timeline
7. Slide all the offset new tracks to 0
8. Left-Click highlight newly bounced tracks in the Track View
9. <CTRL+F> -> <E> -> <Enter>
10. Type some name
11. <Enter>
12. Go to export folder
13. Select file
14. Press <F2>
15. Type name of song
16. <Enter>
17. Repeat 13-16 for each song

I've done this a lot with my band - live recorded rehearsals. I first of all split the recording into songs. Then I create a new project for each one but in the same directory and audio folder. Then I mix each one and master it separately. This works well for me. We do this with 8 channels so it's a bit of a compromise. When we record properly we normally start with drums and lay everything down separately like the old days (which is where I came from).

Cactus Music
Another option that I use is to break the night into smaller chunks. 
 
I make a project that has all my inputs armed and ready and named. 
I "save as"  as many times as required and number them= Saturday Jam 1, Saturday Jam 2 and so on. 
On the night of the jam I fire up the Laptop and open and minimize all those projects. They will spread out across the bottom of your screen and you can see them if you float Sonars screen. 
 
So now it takes all of 3 seconds to maximise those projects and they are ready to hit the big R. No fumbling around so I can focus on playing. I multi track live gigs this way and it ends up with 2 - 5 songs per project. Just basically anytime there is a pause in the show I can quickly get a new project recording. On the break I save them all. 

Thanks, I can see using these ideas for a few different types of situations. Great idea!
 
I actually do a similar project thing for these jams and practices: My default start-up project matches my studio wiring. I do File->New Project, type some name, press <Enter>, then press record and forget about the PC.
For these jam and practice sessions I need to be completely hands-off Sonar. I hit record and forget about it. That way I can focus on my guitar and voice. If I start managing the PC then I start screwing up my playing   Apparently I'm not as multi-task oriented as you are...

35mm
I've done this a lot with my band - live recorded rehearsals. I first of all split the recording into songs. Then I create a new project for each one but in the same directory and audio folder. Then I mix each one and master it separately. This works well for me. We do this with 8 channels so it's a bit of a compromise. When we record properly we normally start with drums and lay everything down separately like the old days (which is where I came from).

Yah, if I were making an actual album or otherwise distributing songs to the public, I do it this way -- with those extra steps. Or if it was a killer jam that we'd want to listen to over and over, I do this. I agree that each song usually needs it own personal attention and mixing.
 
For these band practices they are just notebook recordings to generally review how we are doing and have talking points. I just set the levels once for average listen-ability then I export. That set-levels-once-for-all-songs is nice, because it trains us to manage our volumes through the instruments better. Plus I'm recording to 18 tracks. We all know how when we start mixing we can go on forever trying to perfect things In this case I just don't care about perfect, I care about fast...
 
I'm trying to minimize my time mixing and distributing so that I can spend more time on other things, like playing music and serious recording/mixing of finished songs.