The Early Access Program is Now Live for the Upcoming Release of SONAR 2017.06

This month’s release for SONAR Platinum, Professional, and Artist brings new features along with fixes & enhancements to many key elements of SONAR. 
 
Comping with Melodyne clips
(Platinum, Professional, and Artist)

Creating the perfect take just got better in SONAR. It is now possible to comp with clips that use Melodyne as well as any other type of Region FX. You can use Melodyne, Drum Replacer, VocalSync and go about comping as you normally would by swiping sections. To use a Region FX, select a section and use the Region FX menu or right-click the clip to use Melodyne or another Region FX.

Improved Touch Zooming & Scrolling
(Platinum, Professional, and Artist)

Zooming into a particular point using touch in SONAR is better than ever before. The 2017.06 update has improved detection of touch points making it smoother and more accurate. Previously zooming with Touch could cause tracks and clips to feel like they were moving away or scrolling unexpectedly. This now feels fluid and much more natural. Touch Zooming now also has improved anchoring of the touch position so making a desired track larger or zooming into a specific drum hit is reliable, intuitive and feels very precise. These enhancements are both available in the Track view and Piano Roll view.

Improved Project Handling
(Platinum, Professional, and Artist)

When creating a new project using the Start Screen “Create Project” or Ctrl + N, SONAR will now help store the project into a folder and keeps better management of all the audio files associated when it is saved. This also improves the behavior of “Save As” and “Save As Copy” When using the same location as the current project to save a revision, SONAR knows this is the original location and will save the revision without creating an additional folder. If you choose a new location for the project, SONAR will place the project in a folder and its associated audio files into the folder when the “Copy all audio with project” is checked. This only effects project files, the behavior for templates, bundles, and MIDI files is unchanged.

Virtual Controller / Keyboard access
(Platinum, Professional, and Artist)

The Virtual Controller has now been separated into two view menu items: Computer Keyboard (Alt+0) and Piano Keyboard (ALT+SHIFT+0 ). You can now access either mode directly via menu commands and keyboard shortcuts. Opening of one these and saving will now also save with the project. In addition, when the Virtual Controller Computer Keyboard is open, it no longer blocks R (Record), Delete, or shortcuts that use a modifier. This allows you to open views, access menus, and use any multi-key shortcut such as CTRL+S for Save, CTRL+Z for Undo and CTRL+SHIFT+Z for Redo, etc.

Velocity change audition in the Piano Roll view Controller pane
(Platinum, Professional, and Artist)

You can choose to audition changes in MIDI Note velocity as you make them. This has previously only been available in the Piano Roll view Note pane, and is now also available in the Controller pane.
To enable velocity audition, go to Edit > Preferences > Customization - Editing and select Velocity Audition.
 
Fixes and Enhancements
(Platinum, Professional, and Artist)
 
General

• Resolved an issue with excluded Plug-ins showing up in plug-in list
• Assigning a MIDI Remote Control will now save with project
• Using Remote Control to activate a send would appear activated but not function
• Virtual Controller display mode button could overlap octave display on some systems
• Virtual Controller no longer blocks shortcuts for Record / Delete / Views
• Transparency for the Control Bar Now Slider now displays properly when creating a custom theme
• Deprecated the Read Me from installer and README.RTF from Help Menu. Similar topics will now be shared in the Knowledge Base going forward: www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base

Stability

• SONAR could crash using the RealTek ASIO HD as my Playback Timing Master
• Step sequencer "New Value Type" parameter selection could cause SONAR to appear hung

Track View

• Resolved a situation where take lanes could become uneditable or corrupted
• Splitting clips on take lanes could fail under certain conditions
• Track with automation could get automatically deselected after Ripple Editing a selection
• Unfreezing a track after ripple editing could remove data on the track
• Ripple Edit Selection could cause unexpected cropping on MIDI tracks
• Resolved an issue when Ripple Pasting with single track could pastes to the wrong track
• Drag and dropping a clip to an empty lane could drops clip the wrong lane
• Undo properly restores Markers after using Process | Slide
• Muted Region FX clips now display like other muted clips
• Folder preview highlighting no longer behaves unexpectedly after performing a Select All (Ctrl+A)

Piano Roll View

• Resolved an issue when adjusting Velocity could cause stuck notes
• Smart Swipe + Scrolling of controls in the Piano Roll view has been improved
• Improved redrawing of Controller Pane Velocity with Pen
• Using Pen to adjust Velocity no longer causes notes to move unexpectedly

Preferences

• "Share Devices with other programs" option is has been renamed to better convey what this setting does. It is now called “Suspend Audio Engine When SONAR is Not in Focus”
• RU: Preferences > Project > MIDI > Frame Rate drop down had offset & overlapping text

3rd Party

• VST2 and VST3 plug-ins that use sample position to playback data now stay in sync better with SONAR
• Using Melodyne in the FX Rack will now recognize loop points in SONAR and stay in sync
• Using Melodyne VST2 or VST3 in the FX Rack previously didn’t get the right sample position and could cause SONAR to not stay in sync when adjusting the timeline position of the NowTime.

 
 
To participate, you can obtain the Early Access release via:

• Cakewalk Command Center under the Rollback menu. Steps:
  • Start Command Center
  • Click the Settings button
  • Click the Check Now button
  • In the Connected Products list, right-click on the product or suite name you want early access to
  • Choose Rollback > Early Access 2017.06 from the context menu
• Through your products download page, under "Available Downloads."
  • Click the "Show Other Downloads" button to reveal the link.

If you encounter any critical issues prior to official public release, post them to the Problem Reports Forum. Please include SONAR 2017.06 Early Access in the post title, and refrain from including issues not related to SONAR 2017.06 as they may get missed. We’ll do our best to lock posts as we confirm the reports.
 
Thank you for your participation,
Cakewalk