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! 

Dream Logic Audio
I hope you're keeping track of all the gems here to compile into a handy document for the community.

Now that you mention it, compiling/editing these into a Sound on Sound column and adding some more of my own would make a lot of sense. SOS makes all their articles free to the public after six months, which might help spread the word of Sonar's coolness to non-Sonar users.
 
Not sure how I'd handle credits - user names would be easiest, but maybe people would want their real names used. Or there could be some sort of blanket "Crowd-sourced by the Sonar forum community" credit...in any event there really is a lot of good stuff here that deserves a perhaps more permanent format.

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.

Anderton
Now that you mention it, compiling/editing these into a Sound on Sound column and adding some more of my own would make a lot of sense. SOS makes all their articles free to the public after six months, which might help spread the word of Sonar's coolness to non-Sonar users.

 
Now that's a keen idea! Not only could you spread the word of Sonar's coolness, but also the coolness of the Cakewalk forum/community - which is where the real value of Sonar exists.
 

Anderton
Not sure how I'd handle credits - user names would be easiest, but maybe people would want their real names used. Or there could be some sort of blanket "Crowd-sourced by the Sonar forum community" credit...in any event there really is a lot of good stuff here that deserves a perhaps more permanent format.

 
I'm sure anybody here would be honored to see their name in such a respected magazine. If you choose to give individual credits, you can PM anybody whose idea you use to see how they'd like to be represented. If you don't hear back from somebody, you can default to using their user name. On the other hand, a shout-out to the general Sonar community would also be cool to a lot of us here.
 
In the end, I guess it depends on how many ideas you end up using and how many people it would involve contacting. We all know you're a busy enough man as it is!
 
Kenn

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.

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 ;-)
 
@

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.

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.

Just allows you to specify which notes your device triggers so it allows you some consistency across the board (different devices may trigger different notes). However the UI is really clunky and SOLO buttons do not work properly in Console or track view when it is being used (bugged). It's an essential feature that really needs much more love from Cakewalk. I hope they rewrite it from scratch in X4.

If you are using plugins such as Addictive Drums it comes with it's own (much nicer) mapping functionality you can use instead.

Or you could set the device you are playing to trigger different notes instead, although its not a particularly eligant solution with multiple devices.

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. 

Leadfoot

Anderton
An underrated keyboard shortcut is select clip > Shift+Space Bar to play only that clip. For quick auditions you don't have to mess around solo or mute.

You just blew my mind. I didn't know you could do that! I need to get the X3 Power book or something. I'm sure there are TONS of things I'm missing out on.

While there's no doubt the Power books are great, I have quite a few myself don't discount the manual it's a tremendous and underrated resource.

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.