Here's a couple of small tools as well

Color Bars and Test Card

Click on the green dot next to How-To's, choose the tool, then R-Mouse click and "Save As".

Also, Vegas (and other video NLE's) are able to create a "blank" title which is nothing but a frame of black screen.

All the best.

Tarsier:

Can you help me to understand Sonar's ability to create a marker that locks to SMPTE and how one might use that to lock clips?

Thanks in advance.

-D

If you're working in 29.97FPs, Sonar works quite well. Given the Surround features added in V4, it is just as capable as the next DAW. If you're looking for advanced notation however, it might not be the best match.

Tarsier, You bring up a good point. Sonar still doesnt have HD timecode support. I've sent this request ot cakewalk several months ago when I was working on an HD project. The only software I know at the moment that supports it directly is PT. (with the additional DV $1000 surcharge...) Nuendo has a function to do pullup/pulldowns as well as an adjustable speed for video playback. I love working in Sonar. (it just sounds and feels better to me) As I continue to take on HD or 24P projects, this functionality is becoming more essential. I think cake could hoist a big chunk of the market share if they improved the video/multimedia functions or added some of these features... (It would certainly make me a lot happier...)


unshackled,

EWQLSO offers some great sounds. Distorted reality offers a good starting point and has some great loops. I like it to get ideas going. The only problem is that it's all over a fair amount of current film scores and IMO, overused. It might be in your best interest to steer away from that library...

ORIGINAL: wynnsong
Supposedly the next version will allow Sonar to export the video files via firewrie video such as a cannopus advc 100, currently you have to use a Matrox Perehelia card to export video to a big screen or external monitor for client presentation.

Where did you hear this tidbit of news about outputting to firewire? That would be a fantastic feature. (And you don't need a Parehelia card for external presentation. Any 2nd head display will do to output Sonar's video window.)

ORIGINAL: DonM
Can you help me to understand Sonar's ability to create a marker that locks to SMPTE and how one might use that to lock clips?

Nope. You can lock a marker to a timecode, but you just can't lock a clip to a timecode. Or to a marker. It's a feature that Sonar desparately needs. If anyone has any other tips on using markers for this, I'd love to hear it.

ORIGINAL: studiofreak
If you're working in 29.97FPs, Sonar works quite well. Given the Surround features added in V4, it is just as capable as the next DAW. If you're looking for advanced notation however, it might not be the best match.

Tarsier, You bring up a good point. Sonar still doesnt have HD timecode support. I've sent this request ot cakewalk several months ago when I was working on an HD project. The only software I know at the moment that supports it directly is PT. (with the additional DV $1000 surcharge...) Nuendo has a function to do pullup/pulldowns as well as an adjustable speed for video playback. I love working in Sonar. (it just sounds and feels better to me) As I continue to take on HD or 24P projects, this functionality is becoming more essential.

We've started doing surround DVDs and Sonar really works well for surround mixes. Now it just needs to be able to export a Dolby Digital file.

We're also probably going to start shooting HD by next year, so 23.976 timecode support will be a must for us. Pullup/down would sure be handy as well. I keep looking for alternatives to Sonar, since it doesn't do everything I want it to. But each new version adds just enough new features to keep me using it. I just wish the new features would come out a lot faster

Hey Tarsier,

I think I read it somewhere regarding the firewire output. I forgot where. Would be real nice. You are right that you don't need a Perehelia card but it looks the best for how I use it. Directors are such pains if the video isn't large and beautiful! Great video card nontheless.

If it is true about the firewire ability, then I can use my "third head" for another monitor! Sweet.

the video over firewire would be awesome.


I kind of do that now by MTC synching a second machine with vegas video and utilizing the video over firewire function. my camcorder acts as a converter into a huge tv monitor... Kind of convoluted, but it works...

it would be great to free up that other machine and run the video out of sonar directly...

Nope. You can lock a marker to a timecode, but you just can't lock a clip to a timecode. Or to a marker. It's a feature that Sonar desparately needs. If anyone has any other tips on using markers for this, I'd love to hear

Amen! Locking markers to cues in a flexible way is THE problem I have with using Sonar as a scoring environment.

Joe Tabby

Qucik update. I talked to the director and he seems extremely happy with my work. He's all but said I have the job. The movie is called Autumn Angel and you can find out about it at www.superredpictures.com.

So... I have a much better handle on what the hell it is I'm doing, so thanks everyone for your help. Another of the million questions I have is would it be better to import the full-length video into Sonar, or should I do like wynnsong does and break it apart? I don't have the software to break it into sections and have absolutely no money (and I mean it) to buy Vegas or the like.

This film is shot with a digital camera at 24 frames, in case anyone needs to know.

I would definitely break it into sections. You can do this cheaply by upgrading to Quicktime pro for $29. You can cut the film into sections there and then rexport the qt or avi file... Depending on you system's capabilities and how much juice you're using for VSTi's, effects, etc., a large video file will only slow you down. I generally break my files down into sections of 20-30min and then reassemble after I'm all done.

Since they're shooting on 24p and if you need to sync to exact frames, you'll need to get a file that runs at 29.97 and then do a pulldown later.

Otherwise if your files are 23.97 fps, your timecode won't be in exact sync. I just did a project like this and it worked fine, it was just a bit of a pain not to have the tc line up exactly. If your doing more sound design stuff, like effects, foley, etc. It's going to be a huge pain to sync up.

I hope the 23.97fps framerate support is included in sonar by the time I start my next project (also shot on 24p)....

Ron or anyone at cake care to comment on whether this is a planned feature for v5?



-r

I did a small Commercial and a Product Presentation on my old Acid 4 software a year ago and they didnt really require perfect sync to video. They went jus fine. I yet have to work that out on Sonar though. I personally upgraded to S4 for its VSTi/DXi and Remote Control features for making music. But when iam in a position like yours on whether to upgrade to S4 from S3 to score for films, iam really unanswerable, cos im really blank and confused.

I checked websites and they say Nuendo which is a Film Scoring/Post Production oriented software is almost 2 to 3 times the price of Sonar 4 PE which strikes me. Why ???? Sonar has Video support too, but why is Nuendo that highly priced ? Is Sonar still not ready for Post Production? I think yes. Im not unhappy cos i use S4 primarily to make Music, not really Films now. But when the occassion arises, i might be recommended to use either Nuendo or PT, or completely crossing the platform to Logic Express cos by the look of the pricing., it seems they are "designed" for Post Production. Someone above ^^ jus said the truth.