• SONAR
  • So, are Take Lanes REALLY that useful? (p.3)
2013/06/11 11:07:32
Beepster
What I would like to see is a way to select which lanes you want to work with and then have those appear in the parent track for more traditional editing. The others are omitted. That way I can still audition the various takes but comping, crossfades, etc are done in one lane without extra clutter. Or even better have kind of a sandbox lane(or lanes) to do this in and then when you are happy with it you can apply it to the parent track. That way all the original takes remain exactly as recorded (unless you you edit them directly in their specific take lane) for easy access should want to start over. Man that would be awesome.
2013/06/11 11:14:40
fooman
I don't use X2 mainly because I dislike working with take lanes.  I'm super fast with layers.  Organizing take lanes is a mess from my experience and folding them to see muted clips rather than what is actively playing drives me away from X2.
 
I haven't seen a video guide posted on how to edit, say, 12 tracks of drum mics with 3 different takes crossfading slip edits and whatnot.  All videos I've seen simply cut to a grid and mute.  Show me how to slip-edit using lanes.  Music isn't always gridded, so slip-editing and doing the edits a few times is often necessary.
2013/06/11 12:19:11
tayzonday
Fooman . . . you mix down 12 tracks of drum mics (to be clear, you mean *tracks,* not lanes or takes or layers) . . .  I'm assuming this is because you mic drums with 12 mics, record simultaneously and do 3 takes each? 
 
I'll also assume you want to be able to quickly "audition" whether right room mic, left room, center room, kick, etc. "sounds" best in a mix as it plays . . . 
 
Take lanes are the best way I can imagine to do this on each individual track. You just select all and "K" to mute, use "S" to slice all take lanes into clips by the beat, measure, or whatever unit you want to audition in the song . . . loop that measure if desired and then use "k" to unmute whatever clip(s) you wish to commit to.
 
If you want automatic cross-fading when sizing clips, it's easy to keep takes in the same lane by just hitting "record" on that lane. I see zero loss over X1's arrangement and numerous gains. You can make take lanes work like layers did prior, you just have more control. 
2013/06/11 13:21:55
fooman
tayzonday
Fooman . . . you mix down 12 tracks of drum mics (to be clear, you mean *tracks,* not lanes or takes or layers) . . .  I'm assuming this is because you mic drums with 12 mics, record simultaneously and do 3 takes each? 
 
I'll also assume you want to be able to quickly "audition" whether right room mic, left room, center room, kick, etc. "sounds" best in a mix as it plays . . . 
 
Take lanes are the best way I can imagine to do this on each individual track. You just select all and "K" to mute, use "S" to slice all take lanes into clips by the beat, measure, or whatever unit you want to audition in the song . . . loop that measure if desired and then use "k" to unmute whatever clip(s) you wish to commit to.
 
If you want automatic cross-fading when sizing clips, it's easy to keep takes in the same lane by just hitting "record" on that lane. I see zero loss over X1's arrangement and numerous gains. You can make take lanes work like layers did prior, you just have more control. 


12 tracks, yes as in 12 mics. 3 takes of a song (just as an example of how my sessions usually go).
 
I just found that editing using lanes was slower for me.  I'd love to see a video of someone editing live drums without using a grid with crossfades and whatnot.  I truly don't see a gain on lanes over layers.
 
With layers I blew up a track to 1/2 my monitor height, and edited using that one track as a guide with the rest of the clips all grouped together on the other 11 mics/tracks.  With take lanes it's not as easy to resize things.  Sure you can do it, but it takes longer from what I remember.  That seems to be the story with a lot of lanes vs layers comparisons.  You can do it, and maybe a bit more, but it takes longer to get there and requires more effort.  Once again, just my experience.
 
When you fold the parent track, you often see mostly the muted clips no matter the order they appear below the parent track.  When you are using visual cues with folded tracks it's not a small issue.  I tried to tackle this issue for a good amount of time before I gave up.  I even asked on here a few times.
 
I'm not arguing that you are wrong or I'm right, I'm just relaying my experience to the OP.  Maybe there is a video I have to purchase to show me how to use the software correctly... ;)
2013/06/11 13:49:46
joden
Again my thanks to everyone posting their experiences. It is really interesting and enlightening, not to mention there are some really good tips emerging as well
2013/06/11 18:39:26
twaddle
Surely the best advantage of having all your takes in lots of lanes within the one track is when you have that track bussed out to various effects.
 
If you're doing lots of takes that are running through reverbs and filters or whatever then you're going to lose all that if you tell cakewalk to record to a new separate track for each take.
 
Steve
2013/06/11 19:01:30
stevec
I guess I'll add my +1 to those that are getting use out of Take Lanes.   While I have my own short list of issues with the way they currently work, I still prefer them over layers.   I agree with Brian that with a little TLC they could be useful for the majority of SONAR X2/3/4 users.   Fortunately for me, I can also use them as-is.
 
2013/06/11 19:40:53
Chappel
I would find them more useful if they didn't change the start times of the clip when loop recording. If I record 5 takes, each of them will start at different times and will have to be manually edited so they all line up. I got tired of doing that real fast. So That's not a feature I find useful at all.
2013/06/11 21:44:53
stevec
Chappel
I would find them more useful if they didn't change the start times of the clip when loop recording. If I record 5 takes, each of them will start at different times and will have to be manually edited so they all line up. I got tired of doing that real fast. So That's not a feature I find useful at all.




I would think there's something more than lanes happening there...   I don't know how recording multiple takes to the same track could affect the start time of each successive clip if recording to separate tracks does not.   Weird.
 
2013/06/12 14:51:11
brconflict
Beepster
What I would like to see is a way to select which lanes you want to work with and then have those appear in the parent track for more traditional editing. The others are omitted. That way I can still audition the various takes but comping, crossfades, etc are done in one lane without extra clutter. Or even better have kind of a sandbox lane(or lanes) to do this in and then when you are happy with it you can apply it to the parent track. That way all the original takes remain exactly as recorded (unless you you edit them directly in their specific take lane) for easy access should want to start over. Man that would be awesome.




Novel idea, there. In other words, to be able to maybe hide Lanes like you can Tracks.
 
And to steve_c's credit, I do get use out of Take Lanes, like many others, even though I was happy with Layers. I just curse a lot during editing/comping when Lanes fight with me, like misbehaving magnets, or clips disappear in odd places.
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