Track Colors

Does anybody know if I am able to group track colors? For example, I have all my drum tracks in one folder. Am I able to make all the track colors in a specified folder (or just tracks that aren't in a folder) the same? This would help when it comes time for mixing since all the different parts of the song would be different colors and easy to tell apart.

Best thing to do is group colors of the clips. This can be done in the Clip Properties in the inspector. Use Quick Groups to change the foreground color of clips on multiple tracks at the same time. The default foreground color selection is sloppy but you can get into the custom menu and select what yuo want from there.

ston
You can load a solid colour image as the track's icon, which is one way of applying custom colours to tracks and buses.

Actually, this sounds like a great idea to me. Can the small icon to the left of each track name in TV be edited individually? Will try it when I get home.

I want to change the background colors and leave the foreground colors the same.
 
I don't want a bunch of different color wave forms. It is incohesive and it deemphasizes the idea that each waveform drawing is a meter that provides valuable information about how the mix levels will sum.
 
I want a bunch of different color "Clips" that help me manage and visualize the routing in my project.
 
I use blue for drums, brown for bass, yellow for guitar, grey for vocals, purple for keys etc.
 
Like this:
 

 

mike_mccue
I want to change the background colors and leave the foreground colors the same.
 
I don't want a bunch of different color wave forms. It is incohesive and it deemphasizes the idea that each waveform drawing is a meter that provides valuable information about how the mix levels will sum.
 
I want a bunch of different color "Clips" that help me manage and visualize the routing in my project.
 
I use blue for drums, brown for bass, yellow for guitar, grey for vocals, purple for keys etc.
 
Like this:
 

 

I like your colour choices here Mike.  And I agree with the concept of associating colours with instruments (or which are routed to certain busses etc.).  
 
I do wish we could colour-code the track itself, so these are visible in the track view even when there is no wave form present, as well as in the console.

You mean like a list of which options in the list work and which ones on the list that do not work?
 
A list of a list?
 
Good idea! That would have saved me time when I was figuring out I was going to uninstall SONAR X1 and go back to SONAR 8.5.
 
best regards,
mike

ston

Seth [DAWGURU]

Jlien X
Nope. The small icons aren't changeable. How sad.
Wish the track name text/background colors were changeable per track. Maybe in X3...

You can have the small icons follow the large icons, which is what I do. It is a global setting and can be changed in View | Icons menu, IIRC.
 
SP

Yup!
 
View->Icons->Track View->Show Custom In Header (tick this)
 
Voilá:
 

 
You can design your own, so you could have purple with green spots if you so desired :-)

The icons are 96x96 pixel bitmaps I believe.
 
[edit]: just tried the above, the purple doesn't show up for some reason, just the green spots ;-)  Maybe it has to be a solid colour.  Probably a transparency thing thinking about it, Sonar might assume one of the colours should be used like this as gradients work OK.

wow...thanks Seth and ston!!
 
Now my track strips look like this. Great!

 
But...I think I also want brown, pink, gray, etc. (in the shaded style). Is it possible?
 

thanks for panup's list, should be in the documentation!

ston

Jlien X
But...I think I also want brown, pink, gray, etc. (in the shaded style). Is it possible? 

I've roughed a few up in paint.net: 
https://app.box.com/s/8pnfcyuf1xzuw7sgftkb
 
These are a bit more pastel shaded than the default ones, let me know if you'd like some darker ones or different colours.

 
Ohh! Thanks ston!! Much appreciated!!!
 
So, this time I used my project template and applied colors including the ones you kindly created and provided.
And it looks like this:

 
Very good....but I think I need a better red. As you can see, I gave two red colors to guitar tracks. The first two guitar tracks have the red you provided, which IMO is a bit too bright, and the remaining guitar tracks have the default Red 2, which is a bit too dark. So I'd appreciated it if you could create a not-too-bright/dark version red (only if you have time, of course). I don't know what other colors I need but maybe dark brown and light brown? (beige?)
I have to go to bed now so I'll check this thread again tomorrow.
 
Anyway, because of this thread and your great help, Sonar has become an even greater daw for me.
 
Thanks again

OK, some updated icons in the zip file now, including a few with effects added to see if you like them.
 
Note: red is a bit tricky because current monitor design trends favour blues and greens, it's hard to get a good tomato or blood red so I've made quite a few more reds.
 
Here's a screenshot of the current set:
 

 
(That jpeg's a bit blurrier than I thought it would be!?  [edit] Photobucket has shrunk it in the direct link for some reason.)
 
...and the link to the .zip file:
 
https://app.box.com/s/8pnfcyuf1xzuw7sgftkb
 
:-)

Btw, does anyone here know in which folder these 3 default icons are located?
I want to use them for track folders but I can't seem to find them in any of the folders in the Track Icons folder. 
 

Leadfoot
If you right click on the icon, you can get to the folder that way.

Well, if I right-click on the icon it shows a menu and if I choose "Load Track Icon" it just takes me to the Track Icons folder (which I already checked), but I don't know in which folder in this Track Icons folder the three default icons are stored. I assumed it's the "Default" folder, but the ones in the folder look a bit different.
(The screenshot below shows the difference. The three icons in each orange square are the ones in the "Default" folder.
 

 
I don't mind using one of the icons in the orange square, but I just wonder where the real default icons are stored in my PC.
 

Jlien X

Leadfoot
If you right click on the icon, you can get to the folder that way.

Well, if I right-click on the icon it shows a menu and if I choose "Load Track Icon" it just takes me to the Track Icons folder (which I already checked), but I don't know in which folder in this Track Icons folder the three default icons are stored. I assumed it's the "Default" folder, but the ones in the folder look a bit different.(The screenshot below shows the difference. The three icons in each orange square are the ones in the "Default" folder.  I don't mind using one of the icons in the orange square, but I just wonder where the real default icons are stored in my PC. 

Sorry I misread your post.

Jlien X
I don't mind using one of the icons in the orange square, but I just wonder where the real default icons are stored in my PC.

I don't think they exist as a separate bitmap (just searched using Agent Ransack).  The larger default version is really blurry compared to the one in the 'default' track icons folder, which makes me think it's a scaled up version of the smaller one.  Don't think it's an icon file either so I'd guess compiled into the application or a library.