Waveform Preview

This is related to my Maschine thread, but really this is a proper Sonar X question so I figured I should extract it as it is a specific question about waveform preview.
 
Track 13 is a snare hit. It shows the waveform but whatever I do I can't record this to a track and play it back in Sonar. How do I record this within the Sonar UI?


Or what are the technical reasons that I can't?
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X3&Lang=EN&Req=Mixing.22.html
 
 (Please note track 17 is the Maschine soft synth itself).
  
Many Thanks folks...

Nope does not work, it's not a clip being a "waveform preview" methinks...

Sadly not. If I highlight the waveform, Right click on the track -> Freeze.
All options under here are greyed out except "Freeze options".
It's like it only exists in picture form, and not in sound.
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X3&Lang=EN&Req=Mixing.22.html

You can freeze it though, you're just using the wrong approach. Look for the Freeze button in the track header (looks like a snowflake).

Think about it like a "channel" rather than a lump of data. Audio is coming in through every audio "channel but it's coming from different sources. For audio tracks with clips, the clips are where the sound comes from. For audio tracks coming in from synths, the synth output is where the sound comes from.
 
Once the sound is into the channel, the channel works the same no matter what the source.

This is one of those things that's really obvious if you started out working on desks, and perhaps less obvious in DAWs. Probably because DAWs are largely programmed by people who started out working on desks, paradoxically enough.
 

Another way to think about it is this: recorded audio waveform stuff is "down on the tape". Synth tracks are "live" inputs, unless you freeze them. The midi data tells the synth what to do, and it gets performed live by the synth on every playback. This means there's no audio data on the track to play with when you're not playing the song.

Is this helping at all?

From memory, I don't think you can press record to capture it in Sonar, which is a bit of a limitation. But you can use the Freeze functionality to achieve more or less the same thing.

You can simply drag audio or midi (depending on how you set your prefs) from maschine directly onto any audio track.

If you route the output of track 13 to a new audio track (not to master) you will be able to make a live recording from the synth (from a midi track or your real time playing). Btw the metronome track behaves exactly like that. In one project I wanted to use the metronome sound in a song and I and solved it as above.

Apologies, Alex, I glanced at the screenshot and assumed the track had been frozen. John T nailed it when he said waveform preview is a "metering function". Purely a visual aid.
 
Freeze the synth, then drag the frozen clips into another audio track. At that point you can archive the synth, which you don't need anymore unless you want to edit the MIDI data behind it.
 
BTW, this is a technique I use often when I want to isolate and capture a single drum hit and apply special effects to it, like a big snare hit with reverb, or a reversed handclap. I've even transferred sounds from one synth to another this way, stealing a cool patch from a soft synth and loading it into, say, a Kontakt library.

Believe me Dave I apologise, this is quite confusing I think for all of us :)
John thanks for genius advise.
Edward thanks for the screenshot.
 
So....

I TRIED THIS.
Armed track 17, pressed waveform preview button on track 13.

Pressed record for 10 seconds. Observed waveform envelope image created on track 13.

Highlighted the wave image, pressed the freeze button (*) on track 13, whereupon the wave image disappeared. I navigated to track 17 and no image preview was put there or anything, so there is nothing to grab or move.

ALSO TRIED THIS
Armed track 17, pressed waveform preview button on track 13.

Pressed record for 10 seconds. Observed waveform envelope image created on track 13.

Pressed the freeze button (*) on track 17, whereupon the wave image disappeared on track 13 (note no image is displayed on track 17). I navigated to track 17 and now image preview was there or anything. There is nothing to grab or move.
 
No dice!
 
Slowing thinking this is a weird maschine issue or maybe even some weird Sonar issue (so another reason to hope X3D will produce a magic solution  ).
 
 

Isn't it true to say that some other DAW's can? I'm building up to a feature request here I guess.

The subject comes up every now and then, Cakewalk has never provided the capability. http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/FeatureRequest.asp

John
Akex you need to freeze the synth not the track. 

Freezing the synth or the track gets the same result assuming it was a Insert->Synth. I've done both and the end result is all tracks get frozen even if I (using Alex's example) pressed only the freeze button track 13.

CakeAlexS
BTW I used this methodology:  http://youtu.be/_ScjVqnzgG8

That is a PT video... no wonder you are having troubles!!
 
Edit: Just saw John's post...