Hello all,
 
     I have several old audio Sample CDs (mostly drum loops) that I once used with an Akai S2000.  I'm interested in resurrecting some of these loops to use in Sonar X3d Producer, but am not sure about the best way to accomplish this.  Some questions:
 
     1) These CDs are in the format of having around 25 1-measure loops per audio track, with a click at the end of each loop and a second or 2 pause before the next loop.  Can I import the track into Sonar and chop/edit them into individual loops within Sonar?  I don't think Sonar has a waveform editor.  Or should I import the tracks into Audacity and chop them up there, and then export individual 1-measure .wav files?
 
     2) Once I have a bunch of individual 1-measure .wav files, how is the best way to use them in a Sonar-created track?  Just import a couple of the .wav loops and convert them to groove clips so they'll follow my tempo?  Use some sort of software sampler?  I have the free version of Alchemy that came with CM magazine, but have never used it.  Or use Dim Pro, which I think allows you to import your own samples?  I would like to use loops that came off the CD at (for example) 120 bpm, in an original track that's set to 116 or 124 bpm.  For that reason I'm suspecting that using the .wav files and making them groove clips is the way to go.
 
     Thanks in advance for any help.  I read this forum daily, and gain a lot of Sonar knowledge from the advice posted here.  Take care!
 
                     Joel

You can slice up samples pretty easily using Sonar's basic editing tools. Although if you're happier editing in Audacity then by all means do it there. There is also a loop constructor in Sonar in which you can edit loops, adjust tempos and make groove clips etc. Just double click on an audio clip to bring it up. 
 
Personally I use Geist for chopping and slicing loops - it's not cheap but it's by far and away the best software I've used for doing it. Geist is a fully featured drum machine VST which has excellent automatic loop slicing capabilities. It will slice by equal divisions or by transients, and will even classify the resulting slices into kick, snare, hat, percussion etc and load them onto pads. From there you can tweak and edit the resulting slices, apply envelopes to them, make them fit the project tempo, layer them, apply effects chains etc. And there are also pattern and song editors so you can make your beats entirely in the VST (or trigger them via MIDI from Sonar). If you're used to an Akai style workflow then Geist will probably be your dream tool. It's on sale every now and then so keep your eyes peeled. 

If you're not using a zillion loops, you can use DSP to stretch them (ctril+click+drag the clip edge, as if you were slip editing) and snap to the measure. Bounce the clip to itself to use the offline, high quality stretching algorithm. Then you can copy and paste as needed.
 
Or convert into groove clips. I use groove clips all the time but note that converting a file into a groove clip is Sonar making a first pass at how to edit it. You'll likely need to do manual editing if you expect it to stretch without too many artifacts.

If you're not using a zillion loops, you can use DSP to stretch them (ctril+click+drag the clip edge, as if you were slip editing) and snap to the measure. Bounce the clip to itself to use the offline, high quality stretching algorithm. Then you can copy and paste as needed.
 
Or convert into groove clips. I use groove clips all the time but note that converting a file into a groove clip is Sonar making a first pass at how to edit it. You'll likely need to do manual editing if you expect it to stretch without too many artifacts.

 And +1000 on Sharke's assessment of Geist. However to take full advantage of it as a complete musical instrument, you need a multi-octave keyboard as lots of keys can be used for triggering and switching. That's not necessary if you're just prepping loops.
 

Battery is an alternative or Maschine. I hope one of these days I have the time to learn Geist.

Geez, I go away for an hour and come back to find some helpful answers already.  Gotta love this forum!  As I've worked almost exclusively with MIDI in Sonar, I've never even double-clicked on an audio clip, I don't think.  Never had the need to even see what it would do.  So I should be able to import a 2:00 audio track with 25 120 bpm loops into Sonar, double click the clip, and then be able to drag/edit the clip to isolate just 1 loop AND remove the ending "click"?  And then convert that 1 loop to a groove clip so that it will follow my project's tempo?  That's awesome.  I'll be at my DAW computer later tonight so I'll give it a try then.  I appreciate the answers!
 
     BTW, Geist sounds pretty sweet.  I'll see what I can do in Sonar, of course, but I may have to check it out!

mrpippy2
Geez, I go away for an hour and come back to find some helpful answers already.  Gotta love this forum!  As I've worked almost exclusively with MIDI in Sonar, I've never even double-clicked on an audio clip, I don't think.  Never had the need to even see what it would do.  So I should be able to import a 2:00 audio track with 25 120 bpm loops into Sonar, double click the clip, and then be able to drag/edit the clip to isolate just 1 loop AND remove the ending "click"?  And then convert that 1 loop to a groove clip so that it will follow my project's tempo?  That's awesome.  I'll be at my DAW computer later tonight so I'll give it a try then.  I appreciate the answers!
 
     BTW, Geist sounds pretty sweet.  I'll see what I can do in Sonar, of course, but I may have to check it out!

You don't need to go into the loop constructor to chop the whole track into individual loops. You can do that roughly with the split tool (zoom in if necessary). That way you can just take each loop in turn into the loop constructor and fine-tune them one at a time. 

Anderton
 And +1000 on Sharke's assessment of Geist. However to take full advantage of it as a complete musical instrument, you need a multi-octave keyboard as lots of keys can be used for triggering and switching. That's not necessary if you're just prepping loops.
 

You can actually get by in Geist without a keyboard at all if you're just using the pattern sequencer (or triggering pads from a MIDI track). But yeah if you're using it as a performance instrument and you need to trigger pads on multiple engines simultaneously, the more keys you have the better. 

Thank you all for your help.  Definitely several ways to skin a cat!  What's working for me is a method that uses both Sonar and Audacity, and I end up with the loops as individual .wav files.  As I don't have much experience using audio loops in Sonar, I still have some experimenting to do on that front, but so far so good.  Thanks again!