Hi all,
What's the easiest way to remove a section of a song?  I've struggled with this historically: manually splitting clips, deleting the section in each track, then moving the tracks to the left individually.  Crazy, right?  But when trying to drag all tracks are once or
when using a cut / paste special approach - I'm never successful. 
 
I understand the new update may have 'delete hole' fixed, although I've never used this option before.   Hopefully ripple editing will make this easier down the road, but I need to delete a section (or two!) of a song now and with 50 tracks of audio / MIDI, I'm seriously looking for an easier way.
 
Thanks in advance.
Russ
 
 
 

karma1959
I understand the new update may have 'delete hole' fixed, although I've never used this option before.   Hopefully ripple editing will make this easier down the road, but I need to delete a section (or two!) of a song now and with 50 tracks of audio / MIDI, I'm seriously looking for an easier way.
 

Delete hole doesn't work with MIDI tracks if MIDI notes extend over the split point, and doesn't work with audio tracks if there is nothing in the track to be deleted. 
 
The best I can offer is to select all, place the cursor where you want the "hole" to start, then type S to split. If a MIDI note extends over this boundary, the section of the note to the right of the split point will cease to exist, but the section of the note to the left of the split will remain intact.
 
Do the same thing at the end of the "hole."
 
Select all, then drag in the timeline over the length of the "hole." Hit delete.
 
Now, select all the clips to the right of the hole, and create a group. Now you can move it as just one big block of clips.
 
It's not pretty, but it will do the job until the cavalry arrives in the form of ripple editing.

Delete hole is working well, if you do a little trick. For each track that has more clips right to the area to delete, the track must have a clip that spans the full hole. You can simply create a midi clip (even for audio tracks) with one note that spans the area to delete.
 
The advantage of "delete hole" is that tempo or key changes are moved as well.

Thanks guys.. I'll give those methods a shot.
 

I hate to sound like a fanboy but, in this instance, Sonar is not designed for song writing; it is a very good sequencing program for making the sound for pre-written material.  It doesn't include an audio editor nor does it include a usable music scoring editor... think of it as a good MIDI programmer with a multi-track tape recorder synced to it.
 
I know a lot of people are going to say they write music with Sonar and I wish them the best of luck.

Depends on whether you write songs linearly or non-linearly. I'm a non-linear songwriter, so SONAR works extremely well for me. But, most DAWs work well for non-linear song construction.

It would be nice if markers moved with the sections...but mine never do.  Deleting even a measure becomes an hour long effort...

Anderton
Depends on whether you write songs linearly or non-linearly. I'm a non-linear songwriter, so SONAR works extremely well for me. But, most DAWs work well for non-linear song construction.

   I'm not sure song writing is a matter of linear or non-linear... it is typically a matter of intention and organization, which would be difficult in Sonar if you can't easily move sections around, delete holes or copy MIDI events that don't occur on edit points.
   When I compose in a non-linear organization, I need to be able to move blocks (sections) around and slide them within a pulse/meter.  If I can't easily delete the hole remaining and keep MIDI/sound/note events lined-up or I have to re-edit, that would SERIOUSLY reduce my workflow and inspiration... this is why I write in Finale or on pencil and paper before going to Sonar.
   @Mr. Anderton...Pop song writing is mostly non-linear.  If you write two or three verses, and add choruses, breaks, solos or bridges, don't you find the "delete hole" issue and tied notes over bars a problem?  I know I do and, as per the forum, it sure seems like most people think this is something Cakewalk needs to address.  With a simple read ahead form of MIDI editing, this is really a VERY EASY problem to fix in a sequencing program.
 

I still feel that Sonar is not for song writing except for the most basic of songs/compositions.  It is for producing the sound of a song/composition and I think it does a pretty fair job of that... think of Sonar as a recording studio; you can write songs in the studio but it is expensive and time consuming. If you already know the song and want to record, mix and master the audio, it is pretty good (though it requires another audio editor to do professional work... just like a "brick and mortar" studio).
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsQeLUXmtU4