Ok, so I read this article that I lost, but have also seen it said in a few other places that during the mixing process, for example; I use Steven Slate Drums and Midi Drum Grooves for my Drum Tracks. It is said that I should convert those by bouncing them to an Audio Track during mixing, before going to the mastering process... 

That true?

I've tried doing that in Sonar 8.5 (have yet to try it in X1) and when I bounced my drums from the Midi Track to an Audio Track, the Audio Track when played back, just did not have the same punch and loudness that it did in the Midi track...

What am I doing wrong? 

Any help would be much, appreciated... And I have pretty much moved on over to X1 finally.. So advice in the X1 context would be cool.. Thanks in advance!

It doesn't matter if you bounce/freeze to audio or not. If your computer can handle the load, then don't worry.
What comes to audio quality, there should be no difference between the rendered version and the original, unless you make such. "Punch and loudness" makes me think your audio tracks volume is just a bit lower, nothing else. As MIDI has no sound whatsoever, the audio track sounds are basicly a 1/1 copy of the Steven Slate samples, nothing more or less, unless you have used Fx or changed bitrates or dithered during the bounce.

Sometimes it's beneficial to convert MIDI to audio first before mixing when you're using synths that change their performance (such as evolving timbres over time, which can be different for each playback). In these cases, it's easier to mix when you have a "frozen" performance that you know won't change.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
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I've tried doing that in Sonar 8.5 (have yet to try it in X1) and when I bounced my drums from the Midi Track to an Audio Track, the Audio Track when played back, just did not have the same punch and loudness that it did in the Midi track...

This means that your bounce settings that you set where not correct. Your source may have been wrong. I dunno, but all you need to do is look at your gain stage and signal chain to make sure its all ok and make sure you select the correct bounce settings. Sonar does exactly what you tell it to do when bouncing
 
CJ

Hey CJ, what should my bounce settings be? Want me to post up a screen shot of what I'm doing?

CJaysMusic

I've tried doing that in Sonar 8.5 (have yet to try it in X1) and when I bounced my drums from the Midi Track to an Audio Track, the Audio Track when played back, just did not have the same punch and loudness that it did in the Midi track...

This means that your bounce settings that you set where not correct. Your source may have been wrong. I dunno, but all you need to do is look at your gain stage and signal chain to make sure its all ok and make sure you select the correct bounce settings. Sonar does exactly what you tell it to do when bouncing
 
CJ

I have SSD Plat 4 also. Bounce is as everyone said-identical.
 
I bounce this way:
Every checkbox is checked (except the last which are grayed out here anyway when you select fast bounce)
In source I use Tracks and Mono and dithering none. Been doing that way forever. I am on X2 now, but I believe that dialog box has not changed

Hey Stratman70, would you mind posting up a Screen shot of what you're talking about.. Sorry, dude, I am one of those extremely visual learners. Not always ideal. Which is why I always buy tutorial vids and never books.. 

stratman70


I have SSD Plat 4 also. Bounce is as everyone said-identical.
 
I bounce this way:
Every checkbox is checked (except the last which are grayed out here anyway when you select fast bounce)
In source I use Tracks and Mono and dithering none. Been doing that way forever. I am on X2 now, but I believe that dialog box has not changed

I do not have access to any of the photo sites and I cannot just copy and paste-doesn't work here.
 
If you read my post and look at the bounce dialog box at the same time you should be able to follow it.
All checkboxes except the last 2 on the right-fast bounce is the last one you check.
 
Then in source category:
 
I select tracks
 
channel format is Mono
 
and dither is none.
 
I usually just do each track seperately. You can bounce all the drum tracks at once also. In the source bus\tracks window you will see what is bouncing
. If you select ALL the midi drum tracks and select ssd softsynth (all tracks of course) you will bounce them all at once
HTH

TheEdster75


Hey Stratman70, would you mind posting up a Screen shot of what you're talking about.. Sorry, dude, I am one of those extremely visual learners. Not always ideal. Which is why I always buy tutorial vids and never books.. 

stratman70


I have SSD Plat 4 also. Bounce is as everyone said-identical.

I bounce this way:
Every checkbox is checked (except the last which are grayed out here anyway when you select fast bounce)
In source I use Tracks and Mono and dithering none. Been doing that way forever. I am on X2 now, but I believe that dialog box has not changed

I pm'd you the picture

Why in Mono?

And you do each track separately? Kinda lost me on that one... I just load up SSD4 and drag my Midi Grooves in the SSD4 Midi Track.. So that's what I would be bouncing... So I'd only be bouncing one track.. Sorry, that one confuses me.. 

stratman70


I do not have access to any of the photo sites and I cannot just copy and paste-doesn't work here.
 
If you read my post and look at the bounce dialog box at the same time you should be able to follow it.
All checkboxes except the last 2 on the right-fast bounce is the last one you check.
 
Then in source category:
 
I select tracks
 
channel format is Mono
 
and dither is none.
 
I usually just do each track seperately. You can bounce all the drum tracks at once also. In the source bus\tracks window you will see what is bouncing
. If you select ALL the midi drum tracks and select ssd softsynth (all tracks of course) you will bounce them all at once
HTH