Sonar 8 Wish List

A more cleaned up GUI in Sonar 8!
Compare Cubase to Sonar:
http://members.shaw.ca/sonar99/SonarvsC4.JPG

This may be one of those things they've already done and I'm just too lazy to dig it up, BUT - I do a lot of guitar doubletracking (a fairly common practice in recording guitars) and it would be great to see a function for treating two recorded parts like that as one. Especially with the advent of re-amping using Amplitube and Guitar Rig and such, I would love a way to really link my multiple takes of the part so they can all run through a single EQ or plugin or volume automation profile (pretty much everything but panning) simultaneously.

ORIGINAL: Rockscientist

This may be one of those things they've already done and I'm just too lazy to dig it up, BUT - I do a lot of guitar doubletracking (a fairly common practice in recording guitars) and it would be great to see a function for treating two recorded parts like that as one. Especially with the advent of re-amping using Amplitube and Guitar Rig and such, I would love a way to really link my multiple takes of the part so they can all run through a single EQ or plugin or volume automation profile (pretty much everything but panning) simultaneously.

the best way to do that is send the guitars you have double tracked to their own group, which would then be able to control that, the group output can then be sent to other groups (e.g. to create an overal guitar mix before sending to the master fader)

for example for 2 different guitars

tracks for 1st double take----> (Guitar Bus 1) ----> guitar submix---->MASTER
tracks for 2nd double take---> (Guitar Bus 2) ----> Guitar submix---->MASTER

hope thats some help, also when you start getting onto double tracking, I've found that folders really do become a massive help for the screen layout and zooming in and out and around :)

*edited because I didn't word it correctly first time

also could I add the possibility of getting the option to change the colour elements of the segment faders?


pleeease

ORIGINAL: Jon Con

the best way to do that is send the guitars you have double tracked to their own group, which would then be able to control that, the group output can then be sent to other groups (e.g. to create an overal guitar mix before sending to the master fader)

for example for 2 different guitars

tracks for 1st double take----> (Guitar Bus 1) ----> guitar submix---->MASTER
tracks for 2nd double take---> (Guitar Bus 2) ----> Guitar submix---->MASTER

hope thats some help, also when you start getting onto double tracking, I've found that folders really do become a massive help for the screen layout and zooming in and out and around :)

That's how I do it as well.

And ya, folders really help keep things organized and manageable as paired tracks start accumulating. Would be nice to have subfolders... so that the folder structure could parallel the bus structure. Would make navigating the project easier and more sensible. (Hmmm... might even be nice to be able to have a bus, or an alias to a bus, in folders too....)

I think it's really saying something that most of the improvements requested aren't "earth shaking" but little things to improve workflow.. I think most of the "big impressive, easy-to-sell" improvements have been made...

That said, the ONE thing that is a HUGE problem for me is that there is no way to move automation envelopes in the bus.

i.e. I'm working on a complex mix, and I decide I want to cut out two measures completely... in the tracks section, no problem... it will cut the measures, slide everything (including automation) over and done...

Ooops.. but wait... it WON'T MOVE the automation in the busses... time to redo EVERYTHING.

I only want one thing... fix that... the others would be nice, but this is impossible... I produced a band with a great song they wanted a radio edit on, and for varioud reasons, this isn't a simple thing to do.. but most of all, for the reason I just listed.

1) Uniformity of controls, procedures and visual on all plug-ins
Ex: Step Sequencer, Session Drumer (both), V-Vocal. They look like they were made by different companies (and probably were!)

2) A Reset Audio Setup button
To avoid having to exit the softawre to update the Audio Options changes

3) Re-include the features to program CAL routines
Like in the old Cakewalk Pro Audio versions - think about how many improvements could have been done by users just with CAL.....

4) Re-include the virtual piano
Like in the old Cakewalk Pro Audio versions - it was a simple way to enter MIDI notes via computer keyboard

5) Less upgrades
Stay more in a version and release updates and plug-ins as needed

Complete flexibility to designate which midi controllers control a track. We currently have the option of a single controller or all controllers, but not the ability to exclude certain controller in ports. This would be useful for me. Some devices send mischief out of their midi ports.

Ok I missed only about 2 pages and I can't believe it but I haven't seen:

VARI-SPEED!

I do lots of acoustic instruments and being in tune is so essential in a recording... does nobody who ever used vari-speed miss it like crazy???

After tuning a guitar track to a 36 string harp in Reaper- man that's a life saver! It's really sad that even with how great of a program that Sonar is, it still has lots of disadvantages in the department of simply recording tracks (!) compared to what tape machines used to have. That it doesn't need to have!

Like Vari-speed!

And switchable latency set-ups and auto-ping latency adjustments for tracking and for mixing.

Arming and entering record on the fly.

Tape machine style monitoring.

And rewind or ff just a little- my Tascam US-428 has it and I use it all the time.

Of course plug-ins that would sound like virtual analog tape sound and virtual vintage board sound would be awesome!

Here's a really bizarre Idea that would save a lot of mousing for me-

"Auto Input Detect and Select" on enabled tracks! Just enable learn and hit the track with a signal- auto detect and select.
That'd be sweet! How much time would THAT save when you're doing drums?

Yes and learning and storing sequences of keystrokes into keybindings like "go to marker xx"- "select track xx"- and "insert FX on channel xx"

a latching "auto-play" toggle.

I also wish you had a latching shortcut for "don't change my freakin now time with each click" too!

I mostly miss Vari-Speed. It made basic tracking in tune SOOO much easier! And that's what I do all the time.

Ev


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Varispeed! Gotta have it!

I've been kvetching about that since Reaper showed (me at least) that it was possible.

I haven't read through all of this page. So, I'm sorry if someone has mentioned it, and I'm not a Sonar user, but I do use it from time to time because of my live keyboardist. So, I'm also sorry if Sonar can already do this.

Anyway, as far as I know, no sequencer can do this yet...

It'd be cool to have an option for envelopes to gauge them by percentage instead of cents or decibels. So that, let's say you are using a volume envelope creatively to get a certain effect. Then, when you are mixing later, you decide that you want to change the overall volume of the track. Instead of having to go back and redo the entire volume envelope, it'd be cool if it automatically adjusted it relative to the slight change you make to the fader later. It'd be cool.

In other words, Scale Envelope. Exactly. You can move the whole envelope up or down, but you can't compress/expand it.

there's a couple ways around that envelope thing-

for one, just click the triangle for track select- once the whole track is selected, hit E for envelope tool and then while holding shift click on and drag any spot in the envelope up or down. (wait for the tooltip) You may have to modify any nodes that are at +6 or -infinity or there's no room to drag. (shift keeps you from dragging the envelope left or right.)

or you can just add a EQ or compressor and turn the whole track up or down from there.

HTH-
Ev

I forgot to add in my last post.

I would love something like Cubase's Arranger Track - this is such a great feature for composing and trying out ideas.

Make switching between soft synths as easy as it is in Project 5. NO Synth Rack crap. Just right click on a track and choose "Change instrument". That's it.

I don't know if it's been mentioned.
but, the 'setting the now time' thing is ****ed. whenever i clik somewhere it's a new now time.
Just let me use F9, F10.
or, maybe I'm missing something.

the 'setting the now time' thing is ****ed. whenever i clik somewhere it's a new now time.

Right-click the time ruler, and go to View Options. Uncheck Left/Right Click Sets Now. Then, only clicking in the time ruler will set the Now time.

Ok, yea, I know that Brundle. Thanks.

But, 'now and thru' may be set using F9 and F10, however, when you click anywhere, it resets the Now and thru to non-existant.
I mean, yea, that is where 'now' is cause that's where you are now but it shouldn't change the now and thru boundaries that you have set.
Hope that makes sense.

which brings me to another gripe:)
(speaking of hating mice)

If you are using any window other than track view, then the normal keyboard menu commands such as alt/f, alt/v no longer function.
It's not like they have a new function in say event view or something. They just don't exist till you either tab back to track view or mouse clik.

bottom line for me is to make the program a little more keyboard friendly (aka, Pro audio 9) and not so mouse intensive.
Did I say I hate Mice..

I dont know about varispeed. But it occurred to me a few months ago that we have this whole digital thing backwards. We shouldnt be emulating analog techniques and sounds. We should be expanding out toolbox by doing stuff that is only possible in digital audio workstations.
That said I'd like to see more nitty gritty digital audio functions. I would like to be able to down or upsample at will. To pitch shift by stretching and compressing, and not in the lame way it does it for clip looping.
For instance, I had a project a few months ago in which I recorded some subway trains. then I changed the project sample rate to 88.2 to pitch them up an octave. Then I recorded some other stuff. Whenever I tried to export the project it would revert back to the 44.1 rate.
I would prefer to be able to brutalize my audio however my muse leads me.
I also wouldnt mind if TTS would either come out with a wave editor, or incorporate more wave editor-ish features in sonar.
And make the automation better.
1 make it more elegant. I shouldnt have to cut and paste several times to make a pan go back and forth on the beat.
2 make the automation envelopes follow edits of tracks
3 give us some automation presets like we have for the pattern brush. you know what I mean right?

Ps now I remember why I never hang out on this forum. It logs me off constantly and randomly.

ORIGINAL: timidi

If you are using any window other than track view, then the normal keyboard menu commands such as alt/f, alt/v no longer function.
It's not like they have a new function in say event view or something. They just don't exist till you either tab back to track view or mouse clik.

That's one my favoite annoyances too. But it only happens when the non-Track View windows have Floating enabled. If you disable that, then you can still use the kb to access the main menus. Unfortunately, floating is a useful function. But if you don't mind having the non-maximized/non-floating window in front of the main track view, then you can still use the main menu. I'm not sure if there's something about the floated state that prevents kb commands from getting to the main app (I can easily imagine that there is) or it's just an oversight in the implementation (I can easily imagine that too.) But it would be nice if there was more consistency in general between the different views. And more customizability of keystrokes across the application, not just in PRV.

Did I say I hate Mice..

Me too.

ORIGINAL: calaverasgrandes

I also wouldnt mind if TTS would either come out with a wave editor, or incorporate more wave editor-ish features in sonar.

I might've posted this before... but I'd rather see TTS/CW put their development resources into refining and modernizing and smoothing the workflow in Sonar, and instead do a deal with Sony or Adobe or whoever to include a discount coupon for a wave editor program for those who want one.

ORIGINAL: calaverasgrandes

I dont know about varispeed. But it occurred to me a few months ago that we have this whole digital thing backwards. We shouldnt be emulating analog techniques and sounds. We should be expanding out toolbox by doing stuff that is only possible in digital audio workstations.
That said I'd like to see more nitty gritty digital audio functions.

You are a man after my own heart.

ORIGINAL: Rockscientist

This may be one of those things they've already done and I'm just too lazy to dig it up, BUT - I do a lot of guitar doubletracking (a fairly common practice in recording guitars) and it would be great to see a function for treating two recorded parts like that as one. Especially with the advent of re-amping using Amplitube and Guitar Rig and such, I would love a way to really link my multiple takes of the part so they can all run through a single EQ or plugin or volume automation profile (pretty much everything but panning) simultaneously.

I have been doing this for years in Sonar - just overdub to the same track as the original - you can select "show layers" to view the different waveforms and make edits to the individual takes.

- Chris

ORIGINAL: evansmalley

Like Vari-speed!

And switchable latency set-ups and auto-ping latency adjustments for tracking and for mixing.

And rewind or ff just a little- my Tascam US-428 has it and I use it all the time.

Varispeed would indeed be cool - but we already have separate latency settings for recording and playback, no? And you can FF and RW in small increments using control surfaces like the Alphatrack.

- Chris

Not sure if audiosnap can do this...
Roland V-guitar: have the recorded wave files trigger synths in the correct pitch.

Tape emulation is always, always, always cool. They should trash the track inspector and replace it with a pro graphic of a reel to reel machine (not a cartoonish one, please). The tape pack could be indicative of where you are in the song.

Track view needs to be able to zoom all the way out! 60 minutes of audio, no problem. I want to see it! Steinberg knows whats up!

Still, my main complaints with most things digital is the ease of navigating the GUI when projects get bigger.
Why don't folders work in the bus section?
Why is it such a chore to hide/unhide tracks? (stop/ hide/unhide)
can't they have a row or sidebar, of tiny buttons that jumps you to tracks? (ie: tracks 1-36, busses 1-12 etc...)
Why can't folders work in console view?
When I select a track in console view, why isn't it selected in track view?
How about some real time features? archive/ arm tracks/ enter into record mode. +1!
If they have to, just make each button perform the task of stopping playback, doing the function, then re-enter playback. Save my wrist from having to surf all over the screen. (of course, don't stop playback during recording!)
---edit-- you know, they could probably do this by, say, grabbing a 5-10 second section after the now time when the button is pressed, then converting it to a stereo file and store it in a buffer that plays the 10 second stereo mix while Sonar processes the action of say arm the track. It should be possible anyway.

Locating a track or seeing the file as a whole, sucks in digital.
why not zoom all the way out on the console too!!! I'd love to see my whole project and arrage where the tracks are without scrolling!

I'll throw this out there:
click a toggle key on the keyboard (like say: `), then each number on the keyboard jumps you to the track. 1= track 1, 2=track 2, 32 = track 32. It would require programming that considers the timing of the interval of multiple taps. Of course the lazy ineffective way would be 01=track 1, 02=track 2, of which will be annoying. Why? if its just 1 number then I can do it without looking at the keyboard at all. When I've got to find the 0 key, I might need to take a glance. My point... the more steps it takes to perform a function, my dissapointment grows on a logarithmic scale.

ORIGINAL: 21doors

Tape emulation is always, always, always cool. They should trash the track inspector and replace it with a pro graphic of a reel to reel machine (not a cartoonish one, please). The tape pack could be indicative of where you are in the song.

I am at a loss for words.

Are you serious, or is that a joke?

In 1982, the kids with the feather mullets ruled.
Nothing changes with people except their fads.
tape has been around since the beginning of music recording.
it will be around when sonar 8 isn't worth the dvd its released on.

ORIGINAL: 21doors

I'll throw this out there:
click a toggle key on the keyboard (like say: `), then each number on the keyboard jumps you to the track. 1= track 1, 2=track 2, 32 = track 32. It would require programming that considers the timing of the interval of multiple taps. Of course the lazy ineffective way would be 01=track 1, 02=track 2, of which will be annoying. Why? if its just 1 number then I can do it without looking at the keyboard at all. When I've got to find the 0 key, I might need to take a glance.

I would like better track navigation too.

I sometimes think it would be nice if track numbers could (optionally) remain fixed, so if my bass is on track 10, and I delete two tracks above it, the bass would remain on "track 10" even though it might be the 8th track from the top. And if I drag the bass track so that it's adjacent to the kick track, its number would stay the same. I would always know that my bass was track 10. That way, they could implement a "Goto Track ##" function where you just had to type in the number and it would always take you to the same *track* no matter where it was located horizontally. And this could pay workflow dividends across projects, even if the actualy "track counts" differ.

I can see that there problems with this suggestion -- like how do you number a cloned or inserted track? And wouldn't seeing tracks numbered 1, 2, 3, 10, 20, 11, 12, 13, 4, 5, 6 etc be confusing. But the fact that tracks are renumbered everytime a track is deleted or inserted makes the numbers themselves less meaningful than they might be. I dunno... Just an idea.

It would be nice if track clip colors didn't change simply because the the track's number has changed (due to deletion, insertion, dragging, etc.) Currently, clips only retain their colors if the clips themselves have been re-colored. Otherwise, they follow the default colors of the track, and will change as the track number changes. This wouldn't be so bad if if was easier to change colors, such as, being able to copy a color combo from one track/clip to another without having to click and crawl through those awful color dialogs.

User defined color presets, that could be displayed in a dialog, as "swatch" pairs, and assigned to selected clips, would be great. The current system is too clumsy. Of if you prefer, too Klumsey... auf Wiedersehen!

My point... the more steps it takes to perform a function, my dissapointment grows on a logarithmic scale.

Yes. And those momentary twinges of frustration. That's really the thing.

ORIGINAL: 21doors

tape has been around since the beginning of music recording.
it will be around when sonar 8 isn't worth the dvd its released on.

But that's not really so. What's been around since the beginning of recorded music is the need to store and playback sound in the order and at the tempo is was produced.

Tape recording may see some revivals from time to time, just like vinyl does. But over the long run?

Tape was just a linearization of the disk, which was just a flattening of the cylinder, which was just the physical graffiti of sound waves. Technologies are superseded. Eventually even their nostaligic appeal is lost.

When you think about it, multiple horizontal adjacent tape tracks, each with its own set of parts, is an analogue of a musical score, which is an extremely lo-res "recording." Both read left to right at a specified rate.... unless you're playing backwards at a different rate... in which case it STILL happens "left to right" through time. That's probably the only real constant, that it has to happen in time.

Easier to read bigger text, BOLD everything like on the mute and record buttons.

Enhance Track Display
I'd like to be able to display things other than audio wav and midi piano roll in a track, such as:
- tempo map in a track
- track level markers (that differ from the overall project markers)
- folders at the bus level


Tempo Adjustment at Track Level
I'd like to be able to see the timing and/or tempo shown at each track, and then be able to stretch and squeeze that timing/tempo instead of doing it at the clip level. I'd love to keep the wav view the same, but alter the tempo view of each individual track as a separate entity. You'd see each track tempo all misaligned, but a new toggle button would switch views where the tempos all align and the clips are stretched/squeezed accordingly. I think this would be a very simple and intuitive method of working, but alas it is harder to explain. I'm confident everyone would go "aha" if they could see it in action.
This would effectively replace/enhance the "set measure/beat at" function, and would be much quicker to use and modify.

how about "record in reverse"? some of the high end 24 tracks used to do it- you can get some awesome effects with "pre-verb" and other stuff...

Also to those who have edited in a video NLE like Avid, how cool would a fully functional J-K-L be?

Also the ability to drag and drop an audio effect onto a clip or transition like you do a video effect would be awesome- like how you can drop a "quick transition" dissolve over a video/audio edit in Avid, and smooth out transitions. Or drag and drop an effect onto a clip... it's faster

I'd love to keep the wav view the same, but alter the tempo view of each individual track as a separate entity. You'd see each track tempo all misaligned, but a new toggle button would switch views where the tempos all align and the clips are stretched/squeezed accordingly. I think this would be a very simple and intuitive method of working, but alas it is harder to explain. I'm confident everyone would go "aha" if they could see it in action.

I'm not getting it. Calling them "individual tempo views" might be the problem. Tempo has to apply to a whole project. All it does is relate the M:B:T grid to SMPTE/Absolute/Real time. From there, different tracks can be stretched/compressed within the overall tempo framework, using AudioSnap and other tools.

The only thing I can think of that might be something like you're talking about would be the ability to grab beat/bar lines in the time ruler with the mouse, and drag them against an absolute time ruler, to change tempo, rather than having to use Set Measure Beat at Now. This might speed up the process of aligning the time ruler to existing audio track(s).

But it would require some significant rethinking and re-engineering of display conventions, because right now, even though absolute time is the underlying constant, SONAR always shows the M:B:T ruler as the unchanging reference, effectively bending absolute time according to the tempo. I often think that AudioSnap functionality would be a lot more intuitive if absolute time were the unchanging reference and the M:B:T lines got closer together, or farther apart according to the tempo.

how about "record in reverse"?

Like Process/Audio/Reverse?

ORIGINAL: brundlefly

how about "record in reverse"?

Like Process/Audio/Reverse?

That's not quite the same thing, though, is it?

ORIGINAL: brundlefly
The only thing I can think of that might be something like you're talking about would be the ability to grab beat/bar lines in the time ruler with the mouse, and drag them against an absolute time ruler, to change tempo, rather than having to use Set Measure Beat at Now. This might speed up the process of aligning the time ruler to existing audio track(s).

Exactly. But on the other hand, this would make Sonar look more like Cubase... Not gonna happen I think. For many years CW show their fondness for dialog widows and typing numbers.

no Sir Brundlefly- it's not at all the same. You could in some ways reproduce the same effect with audio processing as you say, but it would be time consuming and not nearly as musically and logically arranged.

If you've ever flipped a reel it's really cool, but that's kinda logically nutty, too... too much math for me! But I've done it and totally blown away my clients with the huge sucking sound of PREVERB rushing into your vocals! And electric guitars. Preverb rocks! You can workaround it and do it with the tools we have, but it's way more complicated to do it this way than just record in reverse... really.

So has nobody tried J-K-L? it'd be really cool in Sonar!

If you've ever flipped a reel it's really cool, but that's kinda logically nutty, too... too much math for me! But I've done it and totally blown away my clients with the huge sucking sound of PREVERB rushing into your vocals! And electric guitars.

Although I've never actually done it myself, but I know exactly what you're talking about. And it seems to me that the only way to reverse an effect like reverb is to record the track dry, then "flip the reel", run it through the effects processor, and print it to another track, then reverse it again. You're not going to get the effect processor to run in reverse, much less anticipate input that hasn't even been produced yet, and start creating and effect tail in advance. . So this idea of "recording in reverse" makes no sense to me.

In the SONAR world, you would record the track, reverse it, apply (a.k.a. print) the effect, and then reverse the track again. You could do this with a clone and then comp the original track and the processed track to get the effect only where you want it. I can't imagine it's more work in the virtual world than it was to do it with physical media.

If I'm totally off base, please enlighten me with a little more detail about the original process. I'd really like to understand what you're talking about.

Using the widgets in the corner to zoom in on tracks is very kludgy. Let us have a 3D track view where the mouse scroll wheel zooms in and out on wherever the cursor is pointing.

So has nobody tried J-K-L?

J-K-L like in CD Architect? That would be so cool. Reverse and vari-speed playback.

Hmm... except that I have L mapped to toggle looping. (Or is that a Sonar default?)

Re: PRV and Inline PRV (IPRV)

1) In IPRV mode, there's a button/dropdown list to Show/Hide MIDI events. It's very nice. But every time you switch between regular clip mode and IPRV, you need to click the Show/Hide button to turn the events display back on. That's not very nice. The only thing that keeps it from totally thucking is that because (as far as I can tell?) there's no way to toggle IPRV without using a mouse, the mouse is already near the Show/Hide button when you toggle back in... but you have to remember those extra clicks... and remembering extra nonintuitive clicks totally thucks. So the whole thing's not very nice. (Imagine having clip layering turned on, and then toggling into IPRV, and having layering turned back off when you toggled back. Same difference.) PRV and IPRV need to be made more consistent with each other. Really.

EDIT: Looking more closely at this... the way I think this should work is... when you're in IPRV, and you right click in the "scale area" (where, in regular clip view, the Layer options are located) the options available should the ones that are now under the Show/Hide button (which is not to say that button shouldn't also be there.) Currently, in IPRV, right clicking just shows mostly grayed out Layer options. But it would make more sense for the options in that space to toggle according to the current mode of the track -- and have mnemonic key shortcuts, like the Layer options do.

2) In PRV and IPRV you have the option of showing clip outlines. That's really nice. But it would be even nicer if you could right click on either an outline or on a note in an outline and have it select the relevant clip and all its notes.

3) The ability to hide muted clips is great. But it doesn't apply to Staff View, which can make staff view kind of messy. The Event List shows muted clips/notes as gray. But it would be good if both views could optionally fully hide notes (and all events) in muted clips. (But then both of those views need overhauls anyway.)

Varispeed. Guitar Tracks Pro 2 has it....was good to be able to simply up the speed of the song after it was all done, if you felt like it. Didn't change the pitch or anything...just made it play faster. Worked a treat in GTP2.

the ability to change tempos while playing

ORIGINAL: artsoul

the ability to change tempos while playing

... yes, and while recording, smoothly, with the mouse. The tempo values should be saved either in a track or as an envelope, where they can be edited later.



Kind regards,
wb

Wow, this updade list goes on forever. Didn't read it all but I'll add my two cents.

I'd like to see an improvement in Staff view. I'm not 100% sure about this but I don't think they have made any updates to Staff view since I was using Pro-Audio 9 (Pro-Audio 9 was Sonar prior to being called Sonar). I know their are dedicated programs like Finale to do notation, but Sonars staff view is already pretty good. Plus it is a huge benefit to be able to complete a project using one program, from creating the original score to recording the actual intsruments. They market Sonar for people doing film score but I think Sonars Staff view is a little to primative to please a professional composer composing music for any medium including film if they need a Staff view. Plus they market Sonar now for educational institutions which it seems like Staff View would be completely neccessary.

Yesterday I was working on a project where I was scoring a classical guitar part. I couldn't find any way to show harmonics.

If nothing else, at least clean up the printing of a score. You really have limited formating options when printing a score. Basic printing improvements would be ...
- The staff name is taken from the track name, such as violin, but gets preceded by the track number and often looks horrible on the printed score.
- Often there is too much white space between staffs when there are multiple instruments.
- It would be nice to be able to control how many measures get fit across a page. Often it appears like measures could be condensed a little to fit more measures on a line.

I just want it to work.....

ORIGINAL: artsoul

the ability to change tempos while playing

I don't get it? Why would you want your software do what live drummers already do?

F@KKER

the mouse scroll wheel zooms in and out on wherever the cursor is pointing.

You can Hold Alt while scrolling the mouse.

Tom

I would like to see Cakewalk improve one of the MIDI FX plugin's (Quantize). Although it is great having realtime individual timing control over each and every track. I am heavy into Hip Hop and R&B, Iwish that Cakewalk would consider adding groove templates (much like those in Reason 4 ReGroove Mixer) to there Quantize plugin. With a feature like groove templates as part of thw Quantize plugin and with maybe templates of feels from Classics such as the MPC, Linn 9000 and SP1200, as well as any custom grooves that Cakewalk could add in would give its user more freedom with creating there grooves without having to purchase a high price MPC. To put the need addition over the top, I would suggest that the grooves templates be standard groove template compatible. This would mean that the Quantize would need to read standard groove templates made by such applications like Propellerheads Recycle or have a way with the Sonar applcation to be able to slice and extract the timing so the users can add to the list of templates. Such a thought for what could be a simple improvement.

PLEASE CAN WE HAVE USEABLE AUTOMATION!! It's deadly impossible to copy/paste/move automation points on aux tracks...took me about 12 minutes to copy an automation pass from chorus 1 to chorus 2...c'mon...

oh yeah,,...why are aux/bus tracks treated SOOOO differently than normal tracks? (re: selecting tracks, mutes, solos, etc..)

thanks !

in the METER/KEY dialog....i'd like the ability to change the key signature for all listed meter changes globally. maybe i'm missing something - if i am, please let me know - but at this point, if a client wants to change the key for an entire song - and there are bars of 2/2 in a 4/4 song - i've got to edit the key signature for each bar where the meter differs. i don't use it often but on occasion i use the notation view to check string writing work.

if this has already been mentioned, sorry for the redundant redundancy :)

I don't know whether these have been mentioned:

Individual track freeze:
Right now when you freeze a multi-timbral soft-synth (such as TTS-1) track, the whole soft-synth freeze into one audio track. It would be great to have the choice of freezing the synth into individual instrument audio tracks. Right now you have to solo the bass track, as an example, to freeze it to audio; then you drag the audio to a new audio track, unfreeze the synth and then solo the next instrument and do it all over again!! Expand on the freeze option dialog box to have this choice of freezing each instrument into individual audio track.

Much improve play back function
This is for musicians using Sonar to playback songs to enhance live performance. Right now the "Play list" file functions are so basic that it is useless and actually quite risky to use during live performance. The wish list for this function is:
1) much improved GUI with multiple song selection to change parameters (such as pause and wait for key hit) together.
2) allow automatic closing the cwp file after finish playing so resources can be released. Now all played files stays loaded.
3) make the play list window's size lockable. Now it auto-expands to full screen after playing a song when activated, blocking the track view or the console view, for example.
4) allow option of permanent loading of often and commonly used softsynths so song files do not have to load another instance of the synth.

I normally am one of the folk sticking up for the way Sonar looks, it works very well for my personal workflow. But one thing that has started to bug me of late is the slightly crazy colouring conventions around sends and envelopes.

The colour of a send control is determined by the order they are created (I think by default the first one is green the next will be purple etc) so by creating sends on track in different orders you can have a situation where the same colour send is actually routed to a number of different destinations. It may just be me but one of the things that I noticed when I started playing around with colour schemes was that I can change the colour of pretty much every element and it's largely just aesthetic but if I don't have the volume, gain and pan in track view set to blue, dirty green and orange (as per the V4 default I think) then I'm all at sea, simple volume pan changes suddenly take me ages because I actually have to visually double check that I'm grabbing the right control (clearly with a bit of time and effort I could learn a new colour scheme but it was not as easy as I thought it might have been).

So I'd like to see the colour of Aux Sends defined by their destination rather than the order in which they are inserted in to the track and on top of that I'd like the envelope that refers to a send (or volume gain or pan etc) to also be the same colour as that item.

many thanks
Child

VariousArtist:
I'd love to keep the wav view the same, but alter the tempo view of each individual track as a separate entity. You'd see each track tempo all misaligned, but a new toggle button would switch views where the tempos all align and the clips are stretched/squeezed accordingly. I think this would be a very simple and intuitive method of working, but alas it is harder to explain. I'm confident everyone would go "aha" if they could see it in action.

ORIGINAL: brundlefly
I'm not getting it. Calling them "individual tempo views" might be the problem. Tempo has to apply to a whole project. All it does is relate the M:B:T grid to SMPTE/Absolute/Real time. From there, different tracks can be stretched/compressed within the overall tempo framework, using AudioSnap and other tools.

The only thing I can think of that might be something like you're talking about would be the ability to grab beat/bar lines in the time ruler with the mouse, and drag them against an absolute time ruler, to change tempo, rather than having to use Set Measure Beat at Now. This might speed up the process of aligning the time ruler to existing audio track(s).

BINGO! That's one part of it.

Being able to grab and slide around the MBT instead of using Set Measure Beat at Now would be a HUGE timesaver (for me anyhow)
- I would like to be able to do this at a global level for all tracks (the end-result would sound the same just as with Set Measure Beat). Let's call this the MASTER MBT
- I would also like to be able to do this for each individual track against the MASTER MBT, which WOULD affect the end-result because it would function like AudioSnap in moving the transients around

Skip groove clip view!

Instead a double click on an audio-clip would open a powerful audioeditor e g similar to Wavelab.

Too late.

Why?

I think 8 is ready. Now they beta test it. All new features if any will go to 9.

I see. Thnx.