PRV request for Sonar Platinum, please help.

I just bought sonar platinum and I have lingering issues that go back over a decade.

I don't want to have to download an app like duckbar just to get what i want.

Simply put, I want to be able to copy across tracks in Piano Roll View. This means that if i highlight notes on a track in PRV, i want to select another track and left click+ ctrl to copy those notes that I have highlighted into the new track i have selected on the right track pane in PRV. This helps me to double parts or copy note values into other tracks on the fly without having to do any additional steps. As it is now, when i click the notes i have highlighted, it brings me back to it's track. This is not what I want. 

The "smart" tool. I don't want to click and drag to write my notes in PRV! I just want to click and viola! I have my note. I also would like to be able to highlight my notes by clicking and dragging over notes with the smart tool. It can all be possible with the smart tool, but for whatever reason, we are not allowed to tweak it. Id also like to right click over notes to delete them.

I do not want to have to use the keyboard to switch functions as i am unnecessarily forced to do. I do not want to switch views to manipulate notes as I want to. I get so jumbled up doing these tedious extra steps that i forget the notes im trying to write out on the fly because i spent too much time jumbling about!

Sonar has failed to differentiate for me for the past 10 years. They had it right with Sonar 2. Even Cakewalk 8!! I have spent alot of money on this product and it is the best thing out there, but it is not perfect. I really hope one day my simple requests will be fulfilled. 10 years is a long time. Please help.

If I am not clear, let me know and I will make a video to show you what I mean instead.

Best,

Daniel DeCastro.

A.A.S. Music technology (Queensborough Community College 2003)
A.S. Music theory (Queensborough Community College 2003)
B.A. Music Composition (NYU, 2005)
M.A. Music Composition (NYU, 2007)
M.A. Special Education 7-12 (Teacher's College, Columbia University 2012)<<< as you can see, i had to major in something else because sonar is no longer as good as it was when i was younger.. true story.

Ddamaged1
I want to be able to copy across tracks in Piano Roll View.

 
- Select notes
- F7 (old Now = From binding I restored)
- Click in PRV track pane to focus target track
- Ctrl+C,V
 
EDIT: Just saw your other post, this does not address your need to transpose at the same time. I can see how the old functionality worked better for your particular workflow. It seems the specific feature request you need to make is an option in Preferences to have note selection not change the focused track, but it might be difficult to implement, depending on how the Bakers have coded it.
 

I don't want to click and drag to write my notes in PRV! I just want to click and viola!

 
Can't help you there without using Alt or double-clicking.
 

I also would like to be able to highlight my notes by clicking and dragging over notes with the smart tool.

 
Right-click and drag to lasso.
 

Id also like to right click over notes to delete them.

 
That should be working as described

And yes to the OP: my gosh, why not allow single click note entry?   I despise the double click or click n drag that is now required from smart tool, and the draw tool won't let you adjust length or position after clicking.   dumb dumb
 

williamcopper
And yes to the OP: my gosh, why not allow single click note entry?

 
Because the majority of users are happy with the current behavior, and probably because there are more important things to improve/fix than implementing a customizable Smart Tool. You should be thankful that the current Smart Tool allows single click note entry by just holding down the Alt key as mentioned.

And, as I ws getting back to work and using the Alt key, was reminded of this:  some wacko at CW decided that a good sequel to Alt-Click with the smart tool would be the scissors tool, so you can't adjust the end of a note with the smart tool without releasing Alt, then waving the mouse away from the note to get rid of the scissors, then reclicking the note to lengthen or move it. 

I can't understand Smart Tool logic for midi editing. Note on is much more important than note off, it is important for every sound, and note off doesn't affect short sounds. But we are forced to draw note off every time, and have no tool or setting to draw note on. Most ridiculous it is in drum pane, where note off doesn't matter in 95% cases.

Ah, that's why midi drawing is so ugly, to stimulate users to do live recordings?

Adq
I can't understand Smart Tool logic for midi editing. Note on is much more important than note off, it is important for every sound, and note off doesn't affect short sounds. But we are forced to draw note off every time, and have no tool or setting to draw note on. Most ridiculous it is in drum pane, where note off doesn't matter in 95% cases.

You can't have a note on without a note off, it's part of the MIDI spec. Otherwise you'll get stuck notes. There are two ways to enter a note off. You can specify where it is by a drag to the desired note-off location after a single click, or have SONAR add a note-off automatically, without your having to do anything, by a single click with the Draw tool. This produces a note of a pre-defined duration.

Most things I need to draw is drums and arpeggios, where duration is fixed. For other parts it might be easier to record and then to edit. Draw tool is completely useless, because you can't edit note after draw without switching to other tools.
And it doesn't give one simple behavior, that I desire. I need left click to put note, move it without releasing mouse button back or forward, and edit it after releasing . And maybe Alt+Click+Drag to alternatively draw notes with durations. And options to switch it, and edit mouse functions.

Just few small improvements in core functionality could make Sonar so much better. There is similar theme on the forum started every month for last 5 years, more than 50 threads I guess. Some people are still on 8.5.3 just because of it. Some have left sonar because of anger that Smart Tool caused for them. It really make some people unhappy. It has nothing to do with learning how to use it. It is just against the logic in some use cases, and people who don't face it can't fully understand the issue. Imagine that you want to program drum machine or groovebox step-sequencer, but you can't just press button to put the note. But you have some choices: to double click it, to hold alt key on the computer keyboard, or switch drum machine in another mode, where you can put note, but can't delete it.
 

Adq
Imagine that you want to program drum machine or groovebox step-sequencer, but you can't just press button to put the note.

For step sequencing, I use the step sequencer.

Agreed, a totally customizable Smart tool would appear to be a potential solution, especially as there seems to be no consensus about what would be an optimum workflow but rather requests to make handling specific use cases easier at the expense of other use cases. However, making complex code customizable is a slippery slope, especially when you have something like the Smart tool that's embedded deeply into every corner of the program. I'm pretty sure the result would be a programming and QC nightmare. I would also not look forward to all the "SONAR BROKEN!!!! SMART TOOLS SUCKS DONKEY BALLZ!! posts because someone didn't take the time to understand all the customization options.  You know that would happen...
 
It's often better to offer different ways to do things rather than one customizable way, which in many cases is clearly the path Cakewalk has taken (e.g., three different ways to edit MIDI controllers, each optimized for a certain scenario).
 
But I appreciate that you offered a specific suggestion so it can be evaluated. After thinking about it, unfortunately I believe there's a major problem with combining the Move tool with note entry.
 
With the Smart tool, after clicking to create the note, if you could then move it without lifting your finger off the mouse button you would remove the option to edit the duration while holding the mouse button down, because holding the mouse button down would be dedicated to moving the note. I think that more users probably click where they want the note to occur, so they would find it much more useful to be able to edit the duration than move the note. It's not possible to assign a single mouse click or motion to multiple different tasks unless you use positional data to determine the function (which williamcopper hates, so he wouldn't like that) or use a modifier key to tell the mouse to use an alternate behavior (of course, some people complain about shortcuts...).
 
With the Draw tool, if you could click and then drag to change position, for similar reasons you would not be able to drag and create multiple notes at regular intervals with a single mouse motion. I don't know if Cakewalk has surveyed users as to which option they would prefer, but I create multiple notes with the Draw tool far more often than have a desire to change the note position once I've created it. I suspect most users would feel the same way.
 
This is why I keep hammering on the fact that specific, concrete proposals are needed to effect change. Sure, it's possible to change the Smart tool functionality from "create note+edit note" to "create note+move note," but I suspect that would alienate 90% of the users in the process of pleasing 10% (if that).
 
No one from Cakewalk would ever come in here and call users "stupid, dumb dumb wackos" because in their opinion those people weren't bright enough to figure out how to use the Smart tool optimally. It has nothing to do with smart or stupid. It is Cakewalk's task to analyze the workflow of a large number of users, and come up with something that accommodates the majority. Just because a user doesn't like a particular programming tradeoff doesn't make them stupid any more than someone who loves a tradeoff makes them smart. 
 
It's obvious Cakewalk is paying attention to what the community wants and implementing those wants as fast as they can. Many in the community have essentially partnered with the developers by providing reproducible steps for bug fixes. Implementing feature requests requires a well-thought-out proposal with a concrete solution that doesn't trade off commonly used functionality for less commonly used functionality. These things have to be thought through.
 
Also remember that SONAR can handle many different types of projects and is used by people who have very different workflows and needs. Using MIDI to create an orchestral piece, a drum machine beat, real time instrument part recording, editing hellishly giltchy MIDI guitar parts, or not using notes at all and creating control signals are very different functions. Not everything can be customizable, for the reasons mentioned above. Therefore tradeoffs HAVE to be made. The object with software design is to have negative tradeoffs affect the minimum number of people and positive tradeoffs affect the maximum number of people. It is simply not possible to please all the people all the time, or provide an optimal workflow for all workflows, given that many of these will be contradictory in their needs.

Anderton
It's often better to offer different ways to do things rather than one customizable way

I don't agree. It is much better to offer different ways AND one fully customizable way.
 
Maybe it is hard to feel why i would prefer the way I've described. Again briefly, I don't use snap, I don't care much about durations so I can edit it lately if needed, I don't draw patterns. I just want to have tool to place notes in their right and exact locations as easy as possible.
 
Again, there is no need to change Smart Tool default functionality, just to add some options, or even better dedicated Custom Tool, and gradually develop it. People who don't need it, won't even notice it. And it could make many people really happy. I can't say how many of them, but there are some signs, that there is more of them that it might seem.

I can understand that what would be better for me, would be worse for somebody else. So customization is absolutely needed here, as I see it. And now this door is closed, and nobody answers door bell.
As for my workflow I see it like this.
Alt+Click+Drag draw and move notes ( try to do several fast Alt+Click+Drags with Smart Tool on PRV, snap off, and try to explain what does it do). Option to switch Click+Drag and Alt+Click+Drag behavior. Option to switch Right-Click erase behavior in Smart Tool (something like rectangle or lasso deleting).
Also there is problem with deleting in drum pane with durations switched off. The delete zone is very small and if you click at the note left part, note properties appear instead. Also notes are not marked while erasing.
P. S. I've read some help and it says that I can do "Drag to perform the alternate mode of the selected Erase tool (either lasso Erase or Mute)" with ALT+Right-click+Drag. Can't understand how does it work, how to do lasso Erase?

Adq
Alt+Click+Drag draw and move notes

You're not going to believe this!!!!!!!!!!
 
I just did alt+left click+drag with the Draw tool to see if it had an existing function. Guess what?!? It lets you create a note with a single click, then drag-move it without having to do anything else. What's more, if you keep your finger on the alt key you can continue creating and moving notes just by clicking. Works in the main PRV and the in-line track PRV, too.
 
(Although now that I think about it, I should have said I went into the code and took care of your feature request. )
 
Try it out just to make sure I'm not hallucinating.