People seem to think the Matrix view is all about EDM...in one of my Advanced Workshop videos I tried to debunk that notion, but that was a long time ago.
 
Lately I've been experimenting with setting up basic "song structure" loops in the Matrix view and transferring them to track view not as a complete song, but as portions (e.g., I come up with a chorus I like, and transfer it to the linear tracks). Normally I'd wait until I perfected some sort of procedure and present it for the benefit of Sonar users, but I had a feeling that if I threw this idea out there, that 1) people who are already doing this might have some suggestions, and/or 2) you might think "hmm, that sounds interesting," give it a try, and come up with interesting new techniques.
 
So I guess this thread is both making a suggestion and asking a question - "ever use the Matrix view for songwriting?"

"ever use the Matrix view for songwriting?"
 No, because I have Ableton Live.
 I would love it if the matrix view in Sonar allowed the editting of MIDI clips in the cells. This would allow me to sell Live and use Sonar exlusively, which is something that I would like very much.

I find it quite an alien way of songwriting, call me old fashioned if you will. 

I have often thought about using it....Maybe I'll experiment.

When X3 came out I revisited the Matrix View and took a step back to think about song construction. Many parts of a song repeat (specifically verses/choruses), so I took a very old song I wanted to redo and set a goal of learning the Matrix View as I went. A few neat tricks came out of doing this:
 
   1) Since the matrix is column exclusive, this was incredibly handy in taking the track structure and dragging 4 bar loops down into the matrix. Columns for intro, verse, chorus, bridge, and outro made for easy editing of "piece parts."
   2) I found the cells in the Matrix View made excellent "placeholders" for clips that were ideas that needed to be fleshed out (I now use this often). Rather than losing them "somewhere" in a track, they can be put into the Matrix View and dragged-and-dropped at will back into a track for editing. Multiple versions of the same clip can be done this way and easily tracked, since the matrix is two-dimensional and allows for better use of screen real estate.
   3) Once columns are set for different portions of a song, composition is simpler since the project can be recorded by firing off columns, and the fact that different bar lengths can be used make things even better. This also makes "editing afterthoughts" simpler as I typically use 4 bar patterns for the matrix, and can drag/drop them into another track to modify.
   4) A large portion of a song can be constructed this way, especially anything that "repeats," so the Matrix View can be a massive time saver if forethought goes into song construction.
 
   The use of the matrix as a repository has gained a lot of weight with me just for that feature alone. Visually it is a nice thing to take advantage of, and I often have a "quick idea" I do not want to stop the flow of thought to develop, so will often create it in a track and then drag in into the matrix for when I have time later.
 
P.S. I have only done EDM just to "play with it," but the Matrix View can be used far beyond "just EDM." Almost every song has "repetition" in it. I think there is a misconception that the Matrix View is a "Live-knockoff" or some such, but it is actually a powerful tool.
 

I think it would be easier for me to give this a shot if there were a kind of template building section of a tutorial - sort of a "How to build your underlying track to take advantage of the Matrix view, and understanding the flow", if you will.
If this already exists, please point me in the right direction!
 
Brian 

Not more than a few weeks ago I had a song that was mostly synth part based, and I thought that I could put those small four to eight bar parts into the Matrix view and mix them up a bit to try and hear what order would sound good. Now that you have put this out there, I think I'll just go back and try that idea.

I'm with Brian on this one: While I have used the Matrix View a few times in the past with delivered content (loops and one shots), it's getting my own MIDI or audio into the "right" state for Matrix use that holds me back from using it more.   Whatever that "right" state might be.
 

I think the Matrix could be real handy for building a drum track,haven't really done that yet though.

stevec
I'm with Brian on this one: While I have used the Matrix View a few times in the past with delivered content (loops and one shots), it's getting my own MIDI or audio into the "right" state for Matrix use that holds me back from using it more.   Whatever that "right" state might be.

For audio, you need to convert it into a groove clip. If it doesn't convert "nicely," then you may need to become intimate with the Loop Construction window and adjust its grooviness.
 
I assume it's the same for MIDI and you need to create a MIDI groove clip...don't use MIDI much with the Matrix view, though, so I'm not sure.

I'm still learning my way around X3 coming from SONAR 6 so I  have to confess that I haven't used the matrix view yet in X3 …
The Matrix view is probably one of the features I loved and used the most in P 5 ….. I still use P5 all the time 
 
regarding interesting techniques  I have found it very helpful to think Matrix view even if I'm not using it 
my way of doing that is I Like to think of SONAR as one big Matrix view ...by that I mean 
I often work in a non linear fashion in a project …
I have things mapped out according to partial arrangements in my time line  ….
what that means is I may have different sections of the song that I am composing and experimenting with in my song project and if I was to play the song from start to finish in the time line there would be sections of silence and gaps ….
now if you bear with me I'll tell you how I solve that problem ...
when I have enough of those sections and I feel I'm ready to put the song together I will freeze all my tracks ,  
I will then lasso and copy and paste all my frozen sections into an arrangement as if I was using the Matrix View..
once I find something (meaning an arrangment ) I am happy with I will open up a new project set the tempo and copy over the whole frozen arrangement over one track at a time …..
after saving the new  project I will revert my original scratch pad project back to an unfrozen state I usually do a save as  before I unfreeze it...
Yeah , I know my workflow might sound a little crazy ….it works for me and I never place Genre of Music restrictions on myself
it pretty much works out like the Matrix view for me …
the only thing in the Matrix view that is faster is the ability to audition different cells from different colums as they play  …
in the end , it all adds up to making interesting music & thats truly what I care about 
 
Kenny