Anderton

Elffin
Using drum maps to control articulation switches in kontakt... works great!

More stuff I never realized. I'm so glad I started this thread, if only for selfish reasons 

This is a good one which I use all the time.  I created drum maps to keyswitch between all the articulations in my EWQL Play libraries.  The best part is you get to deal with descriptive articulation names instead of note names and numbers along the left hand side of the PRV.  
 
I use a separate MIDI track for the KS drum map which I put in a folder along with the MIDI notes track.  This way I can just select the folder and then open the PRV to see all the relevant MIDI data for that instrument.  
 

Anderton
Here's another feature I think is underrated: MIDI FX. They're so useful for making musically helpful wholesale changes without having to edit on a per-note or per-clip basis (in particular the velocity one).

The quantize one is invaluable when songwriting. i can temporarily clean up a part while the songwriting inspiratino thing is happening, then go back later and do the "real" quantization that's more subtle, uses groove quantizing, etc.

 
I'll second that. I use the Velocity MIDI FX all the time to randomize velocities in my MIDI sequences as part of my humanizing process.
 
Kenn
 
EDIT: BTW, lots of great stuff in this thread.  Thanks Craig for starting it!   As nobody says, "With great questions comes great responsibility." - I hope you're keeping track of all the gems here to compile into a handy document for the community.  Or at least you'll have some fodder for your next book! 

Speaking of buttons on the Transport module, Sonar is one of few daws that have a pause button, although it doesn't work properly like it used to in previous versions when "On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker" is enabled.

Reading some of this, I'm thinking we should have a parallel "confessions" thread. Features you completely fail at.
 
<stands up nervously in front of group> My name is John T, and I've never understood drum maps.

AT
Craig,
I would explain that you came up w/ the idea for the thread and how many people answered.  Put a link to the thread in the article - everybody gets credit where do and half the thing doesn't end up being names.  People can put their real names in User ID - or not.  Let them handle it, and we can all feel real warm inside knowing we helped write the article ;-)

Great suggestion. I just finished my next column (about a manual timing fix for lead guitar parts that doesn't involve AudioSnap and maintains virtually perfect fidelity). So, there's another month before I would need to harvest all the cool tips. If there isn't enough content to hit 1500 words, I flesh it out with some more tips. But at the rate this is going, in another month this will probably be more than enough material.
 
However, I would like to add two variations if the community is cool with it. When the link actually appears in the magazine, given that this thread will become very public-facing I'd like to do any necessary edits in case it gets off topic. As of now, I wouldn't change a thing but just in case there's a troll invasion ("Oh boy! I'll get to talk about my pet dog in Sound on Sound!") I would want to keep the thread representative of what this community is all about.
 
Y'all are too much.

I also think it should be the forum. It is a collective effort. If this were a tips thread perhaps credit should be given to the best tips. Oh well just a thought. 

mudgel
don't discount the manual it's a tremendous and underrated resource.

I agree. Between Search and Index, I can usually find what I want.

dubdisciple

John T
Reading some of this, I'm thinking we should have a parallel "confessions" thread. Features you completely fail at.
 
<stands up nervously in front of group> My name is John T, and I've never understood drum maps.

you are not the only one.  Maybe it's more useful for certain styles of production over others

Bonus idea for an article! Carry on.

Turn off VST scanning at startup.  Some DAWs neither had or removed that feature.  Plugins that require dongles can be a real hassle if you forget to plug the dongle in. 

jsg
A great feature for composers who compose using notation is that Sonar can open multiple staff windows at once. Here's how:
 
Dock the staff view and on the docked tab right-click and choose "Lock Contents".  Mouse up to the top View menu and choose staff view again, and lock it as well.  Do this as many times as you need. 
 
I have winds, brass, percussion and strings, and then one more staff view with variable instruments all in separate tabs, saves a lot of time not having to pick tracks in staff view!
 
JG
www.jerrygerber.com
 

You can only one view of the Track and Console views BUT, you can open up multiples of some other views (different technique than staff view) by locking one then opening another. See pg 1152 of Reference Manual.

mudgel...Pg 191 of the Sonar Reference manual "Audition Selection" the chapter is called "Controlling the Transport" select one or more clips and shift+ spacebar will lay them.

All these posts about the manual made me realize - Hey!  They can't be talking about the sketchy 53 page thing I have - Now I've looked at the Cake site, found the download for the Reference Guide manual, and am finally on the same page as you guys!--literally, like there's p. 191 with this nice "audition selection" tip.
 
Dang!-- Why wasn't that manual included in the initial X3 download?  Before this discussion, I literally did not even know an actual manual existed. 
 
So, all I've had is the little User Guide which is pretty much on the level of, "Push 'record' when you want to record a track.  Then, when you are through, you can push 'play' to hear what you have recorded!  See how fun and easy it is to make music, kids?" 
 
This is great to have an actual, gen-u-wine, info packed manual.  The Groove3 video tutes that came with X3 are nice to have, but nothing replaces a go-to reference manual.  I was, and still am bummed that the built-in Help guide is no longer available in the program.  Before X3, that's what I relied on constantly - So easy, while working on a project, to click Help and use the search to find info.  Now when it's just links to tute pages at the Cake site, it's pretty useless to me, since going online while working in Sonar is the last thing I want to do - It cuts off the ASIO driver from Sonar, for one thing.  IMHO, really bad move to take out those built in Help files.
 
THANKS for cluing me into the real manual - Can't believe I haven't had this before now.
 
Randy

The Ref Manual doesn't actually get released until after the current version of Sonar is out for a while. Likely because they are too busy dealing with the release and they want to make sure it syncs up with the final changes including the inevitable first patch or two.
 
It is cumbersome and there are quite a few errors/outdated stuff in it but it is super handy to have. However there are a TON of things in there about specific topics that are scattered around. There have been many times where I thought I had read all about something then stumbled across another entry on the same subject further on with more detail. Because of this I started just reading the thing straight through (with X2) and kept my own notes. I only ended up getting up to about page 800 so there are still tons of things I need to go through (and may restart the process with the X3 manual because I'll probably stay with this version for a while) but just putting my head down for a few weeks and reading, trying things out and jotting down my own version of how things work helped IMMENSELY. Most folks don't have the time to do that though. I literally spent six hours a day for almost a month just getting that far.

mudgel
Sonar's help file is still accessible by pressing F1 as in any Windows program. The help file contains the same info as the reference guide except the latter is on pdf format.

Not only looks was Sonar x3 given a big overhaul, from my experience I believe the manual has had a lot of the extraneous info has been deleted, corrections made and generally improved.

I believe the reference guide is released with the program.

Isn't there some kind of update process for the F1 help so it reflects the current version?
 
Good to hear that they cleaned it up a bit though. Maybe I will set aside a couple weeks to go through it line by line and create a new set of notes. Should be easier this time now that I understand things a little better. Cheers, Mudge.

Sorry to drag it OT but it is somewhat related because that's where many of these useful tidbits live. Just to be clear though (then I'll shut up about it) are you saying when I installed the X3e patch it updated my F1 help files as well? Because that would be cool.
 
I do find the bulk pdf version to be easier to navigate and read straight through. If I find something weird then I just google the online help for the online entry from my laptop.
 
Cheers.

Beepster
Just to be clear though (then I'll shut up about it) are you saying when I installed the X3e patch it updated my F1 help files as well?

Yes, you may notice the "What's New" section contains information about X3e.