When I record a MIDI synth passage, then view it in the Step sequencer, notes that sustain longer than the grid resolution appear as a series of adjacent notes with 2 or 3 blue "Velocity lines" (my term) in the little note boxes. When you set the drop-down to "Velocity" only the first note has a blue velocity "column" on the grid.
The notes play like a correctly sustained note.
How do I create or edit a sustained note of this sort in the StepSeq grid?

First, enter notes in each little box, for the length you want the note to sound.  If you have a few of them to do, you can just click and drag across to the right to fill each one in.  Sometimes a couple get missed this way, but you can just go back and click on the empty boxes, filling in the holes.

Now, go back to the first box for the row you want to create the sustained sound.  Hold down the ctrl key while dragging across all of the notes you want to connect together, and this tells Sonar that you want it to sound as 1 long single note.

If you end up with a couple of the little boxes missed,or want to add to the end to extend it, just add boxes as needed and hold the ctrl key down and drag over whatever you want to add to what was already done.  It will just add in the new notes to whatever you already had connected.

If you want to split up something into multiple notes, just right-click on the boxes you do not want to have played anymore.

That's all there is to it.

Bob Bone

I also posted this elsewhere, but since you are a Step Sequencer user, I thought this might help you too.

I was really bummed out when trying to set note ranges when working on a given step sequencer clip, as I was reentering all of the note numbers to re-position the range displayed (entering notes for a higher group of notes than the default).

I accidentally discovered that there is a SUPER easy way to get this done, that is WAY faster than as had described it above.

Let's say that the default lowest note displayed is midi note 47, but you want to have the lowest one set to 60,and then have all the notes above go up from there.

The easy way to do this is to:

1.  Click once on that lowest note.
2.  Repeatedly click at the top, on the 'X', which will delete 1 note every time you click the 'X'.  Remove all notes but 1.
3.  Now, set the note number for the last remaining note to be the lowest note number you want to work with,for this particular clip.  Do this by double-clicking in the note number and - for this example - set it to 60 and hit enter.  This will change it to a 'C' on note 60.
4.  Now, click repeatedly on the '+' sign at the top to insert notes.  Every time you click,Sonar will now automatically add a note above the one you started with, and each one will be 1 midi note above the one before - chromatically creating an entire range of notes starting from whatever note number you created as the lowest one in the target range.

This can be done in literally just a few seconds, and for me this is a HUGE time saver.

Hope this helps too,

Bob Bone

Bob:
Thank you.

Could you explain more simply what it is you're trying to do in your second post? I've only used the StepSeq for drums and am looking to try it for other instruments.

And BTW, How did you figure out the first technique?

If you were inquiring as to how I figured out the ctrl and drag - I found it in the documentation - it was called ' merge' which I think is a silly name for it, as the rest of the planet calls it a 'tie'. 

On the 2nd post - I do a lot of precision note recording, using the Step Sequencer, for lots of keyboard tracks, as I want folks to be able to transcribe things accurately.  I do this mainly for some specialty projects I am working on.

I am a keyboard player, and have played since I was 5, which is now almost 49 years.  I have a GREAT passion for progressive music, and am in the process of putting together MIDI versions of some classic progressive tunes.  I want to make these just as PERFECT as I can, and so I use the Step Sequencer for a lot of the more intricate playing.

When you record drums, using a drum map, the notes are already laid out for you, the kick is on the right note, snare, etc.

When I record piano parts, there is no map, and depending on the particular measure, the range of notes will vary widely.  This is PARTICULARLY true for playing by someone like Keith Emerson, who is a BEAST and often does complex double-handed arpeggios across multiple octaves.

Because of this, I want to be able to set the range of notes that I am working with, for each such measure, so that I am in the correct set of octaves for the notes in the measure.  One measure I will be in a span of notes from C3-C6, and the next measure maybe in the span of C4-C7.

Sooo, to do this I used to plug in each note number, which took forever.

In the course of a post for a feature request that I put out there, as I was constructing some example for the post, I accidentally discovered that if I deleted all the notes but one, then set the note number to the lowest in my target group of notes, then simply clicked on the Add a Note button ('+' sign), a whole bunch of times, I could SUPER quickly add all of the notes I needed for that clip, saving ENORMOUS amounts of time.

Now, using that technique, I can REALLY fly through constructing midi clips using Step Sequencer.

I hope that explains it better, along with the 'why' of doing it.

Bob Bone

it was called ' merge' which I think is a silly name for it, as the rest of the planet calls it a 'tie'.

 
Personally I prefer "link", which was the term used by Moog on their hardware step sequencers back in the late 60s.
 
The reason steps are merged (or linked) rather than "tied" is probably the same reason that step sequencer steps are called "steps" rather than "notes".
 
It's a description of the actual sequencer function, because playing a note is only one function of many that may be assigned to a step. For example, many step sequencers can be used to run sequences to do things other than play a succession of notes (e.g. control cutoff, resonance, LFO depth, whatever) - it's quite possible to run musically useful sequences that never trigger a note.
 
Sonar's step sequencer is actually in some ways rather limited in those kinds of functions compared to some hardware sequencers, though more powerful in other ways. Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Your point is valid on there being additional things other than notes - I suppose there room for debate on what to call the new functionality that goes beyond notes.

I think though that the documentation dropping a musical term that has been in place for a couple hundred years gets in the way of anybody with a musical background from having any clue as to what to search for to find help context on achieving something like a musical 'tie'.  

Perhaps if BOTH terms were briefly explained, or perhaps an explanation as to why Sonar would seek to incorporate what used to be known as a musical tie in to some larger concept - like merge - that would have helped.  It is, sadly, not what was done.

I have no objection to whatever terminology applies to new technology.  I DO have a bit of an issue with completely dropping any connecting help context as to why the terminology has changed.  It makes it next to blind luck to find help on things, such as musical ties, which remain quite current as a concept, not to mention their several hundred years of existence.

Beyond whatever our differences on this are - I did happen to find the steps to achieve a musical tie in the documentation, albeit under a different term, and the thread poster can now successfully go do what they were trying to do.  My posted response was in answer to him asking how I managed to find the help context that I posted - bolstering my thought that somewhere in the doc having the two terms explained a bit better.


Bob Bone

Terminology notwithstanding: Bob, I appreciate your direction and am tying /linking away.

Well, Widetrack that IS good news.

I was hoping this thread was because someone wanted help with doing something.  Glad to see that it helped you.

Bob Bone