Tip: Create and save a "Test" project to try out new builds/tools and to learn new stuff.

This is yet another obvious and simple suggestion from a rather simplistic dude but it has been pretty useful for me so I thought I'd point it out.
 
Since we are always getting new stuff now and pretty much all of us (even our hardened veterans) are constantly learning (if you aren't you are doing something wrong... lol) it can be a little anxiety inducing and possibly counterproductive poking around at new things within our musical babies. A project in the works is going to have a lot of factors that can alter the sound, force us to bend new tools/features to accomodate the project, distract from just getting used to new stuff and in the worst case scenarios potentially crash/corrupt what we are working on.
 
For a while now I have been keeping "Test" projects for each version of Sonar. Most of them have veered off until full blown songs but now with Platinum I am keeping it simple. It is just a project named "Platinum Test" and all I have in it is a MIDI drum setup and one track routed to the line in on my interface for guitar/bass. No effects or nothing.
 
Anytime I want to try something out or study an effect/synth in detail I open this project and add what I need (currently I am giving myself a crash course on GR5 and after that will be going through all the synths I have one at a time to really learn them).
 
I can create presets for templates, effects, synths, etc in it. If I want to try out Sonar features or just explore I add whatever needs to be added (like I can record or drag in MIDI/audio then test things out on that). If I end up tracking some ideas I think I might want to keep and work on later I just use Save As to put it aside without screwing up the basic test project.
 
Because there is very little in the project to begin with it isn't weighed down with a bunch of files or other factors that might make troubleshooting issues more complex (if something screws up I can be pretty certain it's that feature or synth... not something else in the project going wonky or conflicting).
 
It's great for working through manuals, tuts and just jamming out on.
 
Once I'm done I close without saving so I can just pop it open and start all over again. Because as I try things out and create presets and templates there is no reason to save the project because if I want to insert what I've done elsewhere I can just load it from teh browser or various loaders in the program. Of course, as I said, if I actually write something I want to keep it's just a matter of doing a Save As and now I have the backbone of a new project. Alternatively I can just do an export and drag the results into a new project as a "ghost" track or backer.
 
Again, I know this is pretty obvious stuff but I find it useful and we've got a ton of new users it seems with the introduction of Sonar 2015 so sometimes the simplest of workflow suggestions can make a huge difference... and my back is ticking me off today (again... due to the damned spring rain) so I figured I would blather on for a while.
 
 
Peace.

I thought everyone did this. Good tip though. 

Yeah... it is a simple concept but like Zargg I end up getting into stuff and save and save and save until I've built up an actual project. For every release I've always started a "test" project that stayed named "test" until I realized "oh crap... this is now a song... better rename it". lulz
 
Just kind of a mental/conceptual thing I guess but I think I might have tried out more stuff if I had actually kept my test project as an actual test project.
 
For example there are a ton of things in SPlat I've been wanting to try out but I have been working on two specific things artistically. One was for an actual client so it wasn't really the type of thing to screwaround with (although I came up with the noise removal trick in that project) and the other is actually my X3 "test" which has turned into a full blown opus.
 
Both of those were too important and/or huge and/or had so much other distracting things going on that it was preventing me from really trying anything.
 
So if I wanted to do something I would create a new project, screw around and then exit without saving. But then I gotta do the prelim set up every time and yadda yadda.
 
Silly and obvious? Totally but I guess it's just good habit building. You know how excited one can get with all sorts of new goodies or if you get the inclination to try something. The urge is to just go nutty on whatever is in front of you.
 
IDK... I'm a spazz. lol

Hi Beepster, thanks for this tip. I've been using various forms of Sonar (and benefiting hugely from this forum) for a while now, so your "obvious" suggestion is much appreciated. Cheers!

I have a base template that connects all my hardware, along with sufficient audio and MIDI tracks with all the necessary busses that I can load for an instant blank canvas. I have a mix project from a magazine comp that I kept for trialling. It's 34 tracks of audio and lets me try out features and fx in a known environment. I save a version with each new release of Sonar ie Allston to Dorchester (so far).

Apart from planned projects I save noodling by dragging the audio and or midi tracks to Sonars browser. I have some folders already setup on my Projects drive.

If plugins are involved then I save the whole project or save as plugin presets or fx chains as appropriate.

i try to get noodles down to their basic audio and or midi components so I don't end up with endless array of meaningless projects full off ideas I can't catalog n some way. So from time to time I go back to those projects until the noodle project is empty of all audio and midi either deleted or dropped into Sonars browser or developed into a project I want to work on.

Just some personal practices.

bitflipper

Anderton
I just create a new project with a nonsense title, like "dfhsjkf." Every now and then I go through the Projects folder and delete all the projects with titles that look like they were written by Martians.

My most frequently-seen SONAR message: "A project named asdf already exists."

Haha. Mine's "123..."

I could see this going a step further.  A benchmark project that includes audio and MIDI using only the plugs/VSTi included with Sonar.  Something that could be downloaded and used for apples/apples performance comparisons.
 
 

The SONAR demo projects are useful for this. They use only bundled content, and everyone has access.

Man... he's probably busy but the guy I think who could really give our systems some good workout projects would be Mr. Roseberry. I'm sure he has his own set of diagnostic procedures and programs but I'm guessing he would know exactly how to hurt our rigs in just the right way across multiple user needs (like my needs as a MIDI/audio guy is going to be differnt than a pure audio guy or a pure MIDI opus writing guy... or gals of course) to isolate and expose potential issues.

brundlefly
The SONAR demo projects are useful for this. They use only bundled content, and everyone has access.

I have always wondered why people never use the bundled demo projects when it comes to verifying a problem someone else reported ...