Kylotan
 
One more thing:

cparmerlee
There seems to be no way to archive tracks. That is a really important feature IMHO.

Right-click on track, choose Disable Track. Seems to be much the same thing.
 

exactly, it's just ignorance (meant in a nice way) lack of knowledge in the program, just like the other day someone said you couldn't freeze a melodyne track to free things up and then bring it back in studio one, same thing, ignorance and lack of knowledge and time spent. i use to come across the same all the time with people saying reaper couldn't do this or that, i had used reaper for a number of years at that time, only intermittently now, but it was the same, reaper could most certainly do it, they just didn't know how. whatever you use, use it and learn it, and don't go slagging off something you haven't spent much time with, because more likely than not you just don't know how to accomplish it, not a deficiency in the program, but 'pilot error' kinda thing

cparmerlee

sharke

Chandler
I agree with the complaints about Sonar's export. I've been burned by that too. I export my song and shut down Sonar. I put the song in my iPhone and as I'm walking down the street I realize it only exported the bass. This has happened multiple times.

The export should select all tracks automatically and go to the last note and then add 3 or 4 sec. That should be the default and other things like individual track export or partial track export should be advanced options. This IMO would be a big workflow improvement and would get rid of a lot of frustration.

What's wrong with simply selecting the "What You Hear" preset in the export dialog? This does exactly what it says on the tin and sounds exactly what you're looking for. 

The problem has to do with selecting tracks and chopping off the reverb tail. The presets don't affect either of those, do they?  In other words, even if you use the "What You Hear" preset, you still have to select all the tracks and set the ruler, true?

False. As long as you mute or archive any tracks you do not want to hear, select <none>, then "What You Hear" will export exactly that, including reverb tails.
 
Dan
 

sharke
I think part of the problem is that people don't even look at the export presets, they struggle along with all the options and get frustrated that such a simple end result is fraught with pitfalls. For this reason I really think Cake should have a "What You Hear" button in full technicolor right on the export dialog instead of hidden away in a preset menu.

How 'bout confirmation dialog?
 
"Are you really, really sure you don't want to use the What You Hear preset?" [yes] [NO]

if cakewalk want to keep the new users they attract, then these kind of default (lazy) settings should maybe given the once over

Anderton

pwalpwal
if cakewalk want to keep the new users they attract, then these kind of default (lazy) settings should maybe given the once over

And the should also make the dialog box Help button neon red, glowing, and twice the size of all other buttons. Otherwise how will people know that if you don’t check the Track Automation box, “any volume and pan automation, including initial volume and pan settings, is ignored when creating the new file(s). The amplitude of the raw data in the tracks is used, and the pan is C, or centered.”
 
This is incredibly useful when exporting raw files for remixes. I wonder how many people even know this option exists?

good idea, like a "tutorial mode" quite common in games

cparmerlee

dcumpian
False. As long as you mute or archive any tracks you do not want to hear, select <none>, then "What You Hear" will export exactly that, including reverb tails.

That is not what my testing shows. When I select nothing and use What You See preset, I get the tail stuck onto the BEGINNING of the WAV file -- believe it or not. Following that tail is an extra 5 seconds of silence that is beyond any of the clips.  I do not believe it is safe to use the "select nothing" mode.  The only time I have consistently obtained reliable results is when I carefully select every track and carefully set the exact beginning and end on the ruler.
 
I should point out that in this case, the clips are narrowed down (using the split command and cropping) from a continuous 60 minutes of program, so maybe that somehow accounts for the "tail-sounding thing" that is inserted at the beginning of the exported file.  When I play the material in real time, it is definitely silent at the beginning of the clips.
 
This is the problem.  The EXPORT behavior is all over the map.  It may be adequately predictable for some of you.  For me, it seems mostly random and a continuous source of frustration, and clearly I am not alone in this experience.
 
 

There is a setting in Preferences that is causing the tail to be stored in the buffer and it ends up in front of the export. Enable "Play effect tails after stopping" and the problem will go away.
 
Regards,
Dan

Chandler
I agree with the complaints about Sonar's export. I've been burned by that too. I export my song and shut down Sonar. I put the song in my iPhone and as I'm walking down the street I realize it only exported the bass. This has happened multiple times.

The export should select all tracks automatically and go to the last note and then add 3 or 4 sec. That should be the default and other things like individual track export or partial track export should be advanced options. This IMO would be a big workflow improvement and would get rid of a lot of frustration.

 
Don't select anything and let the default settings that everything will be exported.

Never used it but I see it runs on Mac & Windows AND they offer a mobile device remote app for each.

I like Sonar Platinum better than S1 V3.
- Sonar has Groove Clips
- Sonar has Step Sequencer
- I like Skylight interface way better than S1's interface
- I don't like S1's mixer. . . it just seems un-intuitive to me for some reason
- I love the quick grouping in Sonar
- I like the MIDI editing in Sonar better
- I find the routing in S1 to be less intuitive for some reason, but that just might be my perception.
- I think Sonar has a nicer theme (Mercury) . . I don't like dark themes and S1 forces you to use a dark one.
 
There are some really nice things about Studio One though:
- Regions
- Scratch Pad
- Nice MIDI effects
- Browser is nicer
- Gapless audio engine
- S1 can run on Mac 
- Better visual feedback when you change the clip gain
- I've heard that the transient detection is better
 
Just depends on taste really.  Both are great DAWs.  

I like Studio One and I know the guys there, they are friends and just as dedicated as SONAR's developers. So I'm not comfortable doing a "SONAR does this, SOP does this" type of comparison. Furthermore it's possible to buy products for SOP that help make up for the difference, like a Drum Replacer (although it won't have SONAR's ARA integration) or VocalSync. You can get a Matrix view by rewiring Ableton Live into SOP. You can make up for the lesser number of instruments by rewiring Reason into SOP...or buy a bridge if you have 32-bit plug-ins. Things like DSD support, the lack of a fret view, or ability to generate tab would probably be considered inconsequential by most people but they aren't to me. I like the way SONAR handles grouping better although of course you can group with SOP. You don't have to use all of SONAR's notepad-type features, you can open a Word document and save it with your project. I use SONAR's export presets to good advantage but of course you can export from SOP, just not in the same way. And so on. If SONAR disappeared tomorrow I could use SOP and happily make music, no problem.
 
So I'll mention four things that pretty much every other DAW can't do, with of course the caveat there are things SOP can do that other DAWs can't do as well but that's not the point. This is about what I need in order to make a living from using a DAW.

• Plug-in load balancing. I don't need this all the time, but when I do, it's aces.
• Upsampling. Given how much work I do in the box, and the audible difference this can make, it's essential for me. There are workarounds to doing this in other DAWs (i.e., what I used to do in SONAR before this existed) but the set-and-forget nature and integration into the control bar is so convenient.
• Mix Recall. Not quite sure how I lived without it.
• Edit and create Acidized files. Actually Acid Pro can do this too, but it's limited in many other ways. Sure, you can use DSP to stretch, but with video projects I often have to make tempo changes to have hit points line up and only Acidized or REX files will follow, but REX files are more limited in what they can do in terms of fidelity with sustained sounds. Furthermore, a lot of commercially available Acidized loops are poorly edited, so they don't stretch well. SONAR lets me fix them and make them usable. 

This just underscores my point, often repeated in this forum, that no DAW does everything. So you pick the one that matches your needs the best. Thankfully, there's enough competition that there's pretty much something for everybody. The onus is on the user to do their research and pick the correct DAW for their needs.
 
For me, that was - and remains - SONAR. If anyone thinks I have to use it because Gibson acquired Cakewalk, I've been using SONAR since it first came out, and I could use whatever I want in the privacy of my studio...but it's SONAR that gets the nod.

dcumpian
There is a setting in Preferences that is causing the tail to be stored in the buffer and it ends up in front of the export. Enable "Play effect tails after stopping" and the problem will go away.

According to this page, that option is supposed to be in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Playback and Recording.


I don't see it there or anywhere else.

BobF
Does this one do it?
 

No, I don't believe so.  My understanding is that applies only to the process of bouncing clips. I wish it did apply to the file export process, but I went around on that one a few months back with Sonar support. They said it was never intended to work with export, only with bouncing.
This is the kind of thing that makes Sonar so maddening.  It is a powerful program, but many things seem way too complicated.  Who would ever want the option to not finish the tail, and to dump it at the beginning of the next file exported?  I mean, that is just absurd. Nobody could possibly want such behavior, so why even have an option that has this result? With StudioOne, I hit export and that's what happens. No muss, no fuss, and no lengthy explanations of why I didn't set my options just right.