Bristol_Jonesey


There is another good reason to start all projects at least a measure or 2 in - Midi.

I don't know if this still happens or whether cakewalk cured the problem (sometime after 6PE?) but if your project starts with any kind of Midi, it was common for notes starting at 01:01:000 not to sound. Sonar would take a few msec to get everything buffered properly so the recommended solution was to start at 02:01:000 - or even later.

I've been doing this for so long now it's second nature

Yup. Between this and wanting organic song starts on guitar (during the count in and before the first beat of bar one) is exactly why I came up with the song markers work around solution above. No missed midi notes, no hard truncated analog instruments starts. And, the song markers (as detailed above) make the bar/measure counts easy without having to do math in my head to offset. 

@gearandguitars Good idea using dummy colored clips to make sections more visible, but why don't you also use proper markers in the timeline?

The way i get around this for midi projects that use synths with keyswitches and non-metered field recording intros is by entering a meter change at the beginning of the song to 2/16 or 2/32 and then just back to standard measure after the first short bar.  This is also the only thing that helps me use audio snapping at a later point consistently. 

The reason I like to use this kind of workflow is that my markers never seem to paste when I copy a section, but the midi guide clips do.  Then, especially with x2's new lasso feature, selecting a section to copy is VERY easy.

JoseC.


@gearandguitars Good idea using dummy colored clips to make sections more visible, but why don't you also use proper markers in the timeline?

Using proper markers just always felt a little clumsy for me (personally). The method I've detailed in my link just works better for me because I can see the entire part of the song, and if need to, I can move it as a whole unit while arranging. Using the method I've detailed, the markers actually move with the parts as opposed to be fixed to specific measures and needed to be moved separately. 


I have nothing against Sonar's native marker's, but this particular solution works better for me in that I can have an off set prior to measure one, and easily see/move/navigate around the parts. 


Horses for Courses I suppose. 

swamptooth


The reason I like to use this kind of workflow is that my markers never seem to paste when I copy a section, but the midi guide clips do. 

I've had the same experience with Sonar's markers. 

gearandguitars

swamptooth


The reason I like to use this kind of workflow is that my markers never seem to paste when I copy a section, but the midi guide clips do. 

I've had the same experience with Sonar's markers. 

I've never understood why there is a markers checkbox in paste special if the markers never paste. I guess this is a situation where understanding is highly overrated. lol.

If I'm doing 4/4 stuff, and I like my measure numbers to "add up" or work in groups of four measures/bars, I create four measures that are just a quarter note long, that is 1/4 time sig.

That way, I'm not waiting forever for my song to start but my song starts at measure five and from then on my measure numbers stack up.

Also, for me, I used that delay to the start of the song to send all the necessary MIDI messages to all my MIDI hardware.

The reason I like to use this kind of workflow is that my markers never seem to paste when I copy a section, but the midi guide clips do.

I've had the same experience with Sonar's markers. 

I've never understood why there is a markers checkbox in paste special if the markers never paste...

Markers paste ok for me.  I rarely ever need to paste these though, but I have often done it accidentally after forgetting to untick "Markers" in the Copy dialog box.  On the other hand, copying automation is something that doesn't always work for me.