Size of Track Description in SONAR X2

Which box are you talking about? The one on Take Lanes?

In the track inspector there is space for note taking. 

magek
I'm using it live so I need to see multiple tracks. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 
Actually, if you use the text box in Take Lanes, you can see much much longer text while being able to see multiple tracks.
Just click the Take Lanes button in the bottom left corner of the track strip, widen the width of the strip as wide as you wish, then enter loooong text. 

Yeah, the track can shrink a bit from the image above but overall a track+take lane will take more space than your previous solution. You do have a unique application for the track description.

Sorry double post 

I used to use Sonar live, but found Brainspawn's Forte MUCH better suited for gigging.
 
I am not bashing Sonar in any way - it's just that if what you are using it for is switching a bunch of keyboard sounds and backing tracks and such, a VST host like Forte is built from the ground up for that, versus Sonar, which is designed for recording purposes.
 
Just a thought - you can download a free demo of Forte from www.brainspawn.com
 
It is fabulous at switching sounds, for example, you can control whether or not it loads samples when loading a preset that uses a sample player - like Kontakt - so that as long as the sound loaded is the same one as last time the preset was loaded, switching back to it is instantaneous.  It also seamlessly allows layering and multiple zones and triggering of sequences and all of that kind of thing, plus it does a fabulous job of managing memory.
 
I LOVE Sonar, been a customer for multiple decades now - I just use Sonar for what they primarily built it for, and use Forte for live gigging.  I build sequences in Sonar that I will trigger through Sonar, then load them up for use in Forte and off I go.
 
It also never crashes on me.
 
Bob Bone
 

magek
If I create a new blank project, then insert any type of track, let's say an audio track, in the Track pane, there will be one track. It will be numbered "1" and to the right of the "1" there is an audio track icon. Then, to the right of the audio track icon will be a text box with a default of "Track 1" in that text box. I can then double-click in the text box and change "Track 1" to anything I want. I can grab the right side of the text box and increase its width, but only so far. I can enter 2-3 times more text than can be displayed in the greatest width of the text box. If I hover over the text box with the mouse, the tool tip will show the entire contents of the text box. I'm not sure exactly how many characters are allowed, but certainly more than the text box width will support.
 
In previous versions of SONAR/Cakewalk (been a user since version 3 of Cakewalk), that text box could be widened to display the entire maximum width of the contents. Can't do that, as far as I know, in SONAR X2a.

Just out of curiosity, what are you trying to enter that won't fit? 

@Bob Bone
Sounds awesome. I looked at Forte a little last night after reading through a lot of their forum, and it really does look like I can accomplish what I need in a live show with Forte, energyXT and Sam Solo. I'll never leave SONAR, but may find adding these tools much better for live performance. Maybe one day Cakewalk will develop a "live" use product, or "modularize" SONAR to disable features unnecessary for live performance. That would be cool.
 
Thanks for uncovering this solution for me!
 
@Mistergreen
Uh oh, now you've made me realize that there are a few other boo-boos in SONAR (and plugins) that I have been compensating for over the many years of use...
Here's what I will put in a track description:
(assigned MIDI device and channel number) sound/patch/program short description (plugin name and patch) SONGS that use this track/patch
 
Now, here's why:
The order in which I turn on my hardware - Laptop, Ultra 8R, Axiom Pro, other MIDI controller (maybe my Triton, or Hammond, or 01w), and sometimes my MidAir. If I happen to get those MIDI devices out of order, or omit one, SONAR will substitute something else, or nothing. So I always document my track with the assigned MIDI device so I can easily remember what needs to be set.
Next, a simple description of the track: pad, lead, piano, etc.
Next, sometimes, if a plugin is upgraded or changed, SONAR will not remember or communicate correctly with the plugin and the correct patch will not load with the project. So I document what VST and what patch should be used. Again, that allows me to quickly "repair" a track if it goes wonky when I load the project.
Then, I will document the songs that I use the track on.
 
I will create a project for each song, adding the tracks I need. Then, I will save those tracks as a template named for the song. When I assemble a setlist, I will create a project for the set, and load each of the set's songs by inserting the track template. Most sets I can accomplish with 16 MIDI channels or less, but sometimes I will have to duplicate a channel and mute one track. My Axiom can use 4 channels per program, so I set 4 programs to use channels 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16. Sometimes I will have a few extra programs for songs that don't organize into those channel groups nicely. There are times I will load many other songs in a single set, and use a lot of track muting so I don't have to open a project before each set. My machine is optimized such that I can load a set (project) in less than 2-3 seconds, so if the mood needs a song substitution, I can load fairly quickly.
 
I don't often use audio/midi tracks, so I usually keep the right pane of the track view collapsed so I can see more of the details of the track setup. My latest effort to compensate has been to shorten all those descriptions so things fit.