Hello all,
 
First post here and I just wanted to make some comments about my experience with Sonar X2 compared to previous versions, and also ask a few questions.
 
I started with Sonar 85 and was quite impressed by the mature interface and snappiness of function. A few bugs kept me from using it very much and I moved to Presonus Studio One after struggling with some of the inefficiencies of Reaper. Soon after, X1 was released and I decided to upgrade, as it looked like a vast step in functionality and approach. Indeed, some of the reported functionality of X1 was mirrored in my experience with Studio One.
 
After the upgrade to X1, I was rather sorely disappointed. Despite the vast leap in design, the interface felt clunky, chunky and inefficient. There was a lack of cohesiveness to the experience and I decided to start using Studio One full time. Despite some limitations, I love the simple design and work focus of Studio One.
 
Fast forward to the release of X2 and I was understandably wary. After reading about some of the workflow enhancements and reading about initial experiences from other users, I decided to take the $99 upgrade option.
 
In short: I am not disappointed. Sonar X2 represents a refinement of ideas introduced in X1 that equate to a much tighter workflow. I love the PRV improvements, the grid and snap and just the overall tighter and snappier feel. I think that this is the best Sonar release since my experience with 8.5 and I can well imagine using it full time.
 
I do have some questions though, having come from a different paradigm in Studio One and other sequencers:
 
- I appreciate that Sonar offers a wealth of useful options when entering the export audio dialog, but I also find it confusing. I simply wanted to export the entire mix, but when I thought I had chosen the correct options, I found that it had only rendered one channel. I tried again using one of the presets ("What you hear" I think), but the same thing happened. Eventually I managed to find a setting by trial and error that worked. My question is: is there a specific preset that just lets me export the full mix?
 
- I am confused by the FX Bin and Pro Channel. Having been used to one set of insert slots in other software, is the Pro Channel meant to be an upgrade of the old FX Bin? Should I use it instead of the FX Bin? What does Post do? Where is the Pro Channel located in the insert and send chain in the mixer? I can only seem to add Pro Channel modules to it, but I see screenshots where people are adding other plugins like Tempo Delay etc. What is this about?
 
- I have read that the Console Emu should typically be placed at the start of the FX chain, but a plugin like Stripbus from SKnote is intended for the end of a chain, which seems to make more sense to me. Would it not make more sense for the console emu to be at the end of the processing chain so that preceding FX like EQs and Compressors do not alter it's subtle effects on the signal? In a real console situation, isn't everything eventually mixed through the console anyway, regardless of any outboard effects in between?
 
- What is the timestretch algo in X2? If I have a project running at 120 BPM, but I add a one shot audio sample to the mix that would sound silly at that speed, how can I tell Sonar to keep the sample at its own speed? In Ableton Live, for example, I can specify on a per sample basis which are one shot samples and which are to be timestretched to host tempo.
 
- What are the Preview mixer strips on the mixer? Can they be deleted safely to unclutter the view? And is there any way I can move the mixer strips around to organise them?
 
Thank you !
Steve
 
(edited..stupid Waterfox)

Whoa. That's a lot of questions. You may want to try editing your post in Internet Explorer or Safari- Firefox doesn't capture carriage returns and runs everything together. Let's take these one at a time.

1. Exporting- I think this needs some help in Sonar for sure. Regardless of your settings in the Export dialog box it only exports from the time and tracks you have selected. As such, it's really best to have the start and end of your song be at full measures, so you can set your grid to measures and easily lasso or range select all tracks. You can alternatively hit CTRL+A while in the tracks on the project view, confirm the color of clips has changed to show everything is selected, then hit File->Export->Audio. 

tunekicker


Whoa. That's a lot of questions. You may want to try editing your post in Internet Explorer or Safari- Firefox doesn't capture carriage returns and runs everything together. Let's take these one at a time.

1. Exporting- I think this needs some help in Sonar for sure. Regardless of your settings in the Export dialog box it only exports from the time and tracks you have selected. As such, it's really best to have the start and end of your song be at full measures, so you can set your grid to measures and easily lasso or range select all tracks. You can alternatively hit CTRL+A while in the tracks on the project view, confirm the color of clips has changed to show everything is selected, then hit File->Export->Audio. 

 
Thanks. OP edited in IE for clarity.
 
I did select all the tracks finally using CTRL-A, which did result in a full mixdown. Not intuitive, but I'm Windows savvy enough to realise that it was an option ! Yes, exporting needs work..ok. Hmmm...weird export behaviour ! Not a dealbreaker, but definitely not intuitive.

The Pro Channel is Cakewalk's way of creating an FX bin on steroids. Since old projects use FX bins it is not a replacement. You can choose to use FX bins only, Pro Channel only, or both. It all depends how you work. 

In the normal signal flow all Pro Channel effects happen before the FX bin effects and aux sends. Post changes it so the Pro Channel FX happen after the FX bin effects (still pre aux send.) One advantage to inserting plugins into FX Chains in the Pro Channel is that you can have some Pro Channel FX before normal FX and some after. So it is a more flexible signal chain.

I tend to view the Pro Channel as perfect for FX I am likely to use on all channels (like EQ, console emulation), or on several channels with the same settings. One of the advantages of the Pro Channel is that PC FX can be controlled for multiple channels at once using Quick Groups. (I.e. you can change the EQ settings for all selected channels at once in the Pro Channel EQ by selecting the tracks you want to change, holding CTRL, and changing the settings.) You can't do this with the normal FX bin.

With the Pro Channel you can insert FX Chains as well to use "normal" VST FX inside the Pro Channel. You can choose to use this just as an FX bin (with the ability to save presets that contain multiple plugins just like the normal FX bin.) You can also map controls on plugins in the FX bin to the buttons and knobs in the FX Chain in the Pro Channel for quick access to these controls. The settings you add to the FX Chain can be controlled using Quick Groups too, just like the standard Pro Channel FX. 

Regarding the placement of the Console Emulation it really depends. The change it imparts to the sound is most noticeable when it is added to each track individually, and when you add one to each bus, too. Then you can decide for yourself which model you like for certain instruments, whether you like it better on or off, etc. Remember, CTRL click also works on the bypass buttons and when inserting Pro Channel FX. So if you select all tracks, hold CTRL, and insert the Console Emulation Channel module it will insert for all tracks. Whether you put the Console Emulation first or last really depends. 

To me it makes sense to put it last when running an amp simulator like Guitar Rig or TH2 (and either run the amp sim in the Pro Channel or change the Pro Channel to Post FX.) So for consistency's sake I just run it last on every channel. You could also choose to run it first as many people recommend. Ultimately it is your choice.

Time stretching. 

X2 uses the same Radius algorithms as X1 as far as I know. Sonar is a bit more complicated than Ableton in this regard. Ableton tries to stretch everything to tempo by default unless you turn off that setting in the preferences. Sonar doesn't.

In Sonar there are many different ways to stretch, each suited to the ways different people work. This can make it confusing, but also powerful. In general, these are: 

1. Loops. If you select a clip and hit CTRL+L Sonar will make a loop out of it. (It is best to make sure the clip starts and ends on real musical beats first.) You can then drag out the loop to repeat it.

2. Stretching to tempo. Get used to using the Clip Inspector. Hit I on your keyboard to show the inspector, then on the top of it there are selections for Track, Clip, and Pro Channel. When viewing the settings for the Clip you can choose to have it stretch with tempo changes. You can also specify the original tempo here. (If you select all clips and go here you will change the stretch settings for all clips.)

3. AudioSnap. This is a whole toolkit and needs more real estate to explain in full. In short, this allows you quantize recorded transients to the musical measures and beats in your project for things you recorded to a click or drumbeat that was on tempo. It also allows you take audio that was recorded live and set measures and beats in the timeline, so you could add additional MIDI instrumentation to live recorded tracks. In addition, you can export the detected transients as MIDI data and use that to drive a software synthesizer or drum machine. (This is rhythmic only- it doesn't understand pitch.) You can also choose which kind of stretching algorithm to use with AudioSnap in offline mode. Hit A when a clip is selected to open the AudioSnap options dialog box.

4. V-Vocal. For monophonic material like singing, both pitch and timing can be changed in V-Vocal.

5. Stretching by percentage. If you hold CTRL and drag the end of a clip in either direction it will stretch the clip to fit the new length you stretch it to.

Preview mixer strips. Not actually sure what this is referring to. Most of the views in Sonar can be changed using a set of context specific menus (don't think like the usual Windows "everything is in the top menus." In the Console view, for instance, there is a second set of menus where you can choose what you see. Same with the track view (the default one.)

Myself, I put the Console view in the Smart Dock and drag it up until it takes the full screen. Then I can hit I to show the inspector on the left, B to show the browser on the right, and D to show the contents of the Dock, which is usually my Console view. 

Another useful hotkey is H. This enables you to choose which tracks to show and hide. 

If you want to move tracks or busses left or right in the console view hold ALT and drag the track where you want it.

Hope this helps. :-) There are a lot of good videos on YouTube for a number of these features. Don't hesitate to ask on the forum if you have more questions. 


Peace,


Tunes

tunekicker


Preview mixer strips. Not actually sure what this is referring to. Most of the views in Sonar can be changed using a set of context specific menus (don't think like the usual Windows "everything is in the top menus." In the Console view, for instance, there is a second set of menus where you can choose what you see. Same with the track view (the default one.)

Myself, I put the Console view in the Smart Dock and drag it up until it takes the full screen. Then I can hit I to show the inspector on the left, B to show the browser on the right, and D to show the contents of the Dock, which is usually my Console view. 

Another useful hotkey is H. This enables you to choose which tracks to show and hide. 

If you want to move tracks or busses left or right in the console view hold ALT and drag the track where you want it.

Thanks. In the default Mixer view, there are two Preview channels, named A and B. Not sure what these are for. I put my smart dock on my second monitor so that i always have a view of the sequencer. I'm not big on shortcut keys normally.

tunekicker


Time stretching. 

X2 uses the same Radius algorithms as X1 as far as I know. Sonar is a bit more complicated than Ableton in this regard. Ableton tries to stretch everything to tempo by default unless you turn off that setting in the preferences. Sonar doesn't.

In Sonar there are many different ways to stretch, each suited to the ways different people work. This can make it confusing, but also powerful. In general, these are: 

1. Loops. If you select a clip and hit CTRL+L Sonar will make a loop out of it. (It is best to make sure the clip starts and ends on real musical beats first.) You can then drag out the loop to repeat it.

2. Stretching to tempo. Get used to using the Clip Inspector. Hit I on your keyboard to show the inspector, then on the top of it there are selections for Track, Clip, and Pro Channel. When viewing the settings for the Clip you can choose to have it stretch with tempo changes. You can also specify the original tempo here. (If you select all clips and go here you will change the stretch settings for all clips.)

3. AudioSnap. This is a whole toolkit and needs more real estate to explain in full. In short, this allows you quantize recorded transients to the musical measures and beats in your project for things you recorded to a click or drumbeat that was on tempo. It also allows you take audio that was recorded live and set measures and beats in the timeline, so you could add additional MIDI instrumentation to live recorded tracks. In addition, you can export the detected transients as MIDI data and use that to drive a software synthesizer or drum machine. (This is rhythmic only- it doesn't understand pitch.) You can also choose which kind of stretching algorithm to use with AudioSnap in offline mode. Hit A when a clip is selected to open the AudioSnap options dialog box.

4. V-Vocal. For monophonic material like singing, both pitch and timing can be changed in V-Vocal.

5. Stretching by percentage. If you hold CTRL and drag the end of a clip in either direction it will stretch the clip to fit the new length you stretch it to.

So, say I have a number of field recordings without any pitch or tempo, as such. If I have a project in the host running at 60 BPM, but naturally want the field samples to retain their clarity and original characteristics, should I just drag and drop them into X2 and not do anything further with regard to stretching?

tunekicker


The Pro Channel is Cakewalk's way of creating an FX bin on steroids. Since old projects use FX bins it is not a replacement. You can choose to use FX bins only, Pro Channel only, or both. It all depends how you work. 

In the normal signal flow all Pro Channel effects happen before the FX bin effects and aux sends. Post changes it so the Pro Channel FX happen after the FX bin effects (still pre aux send.) One advantage to inserting plugins into FX Chains in the Pro Channel is that you can have some Pro Channel FX before normal FX and some after. So it is a more flexible signal chain.

I tend to view the Pro Channel as perfect for FX I am likely to use on all channels (like EQ, console emulation), or on several channels with the same settings. One of the advantages of the Pro Channel is that PC FX can be controlled for multiple channels at once using Quick Groups. (I.e. you can change the EQ settings for all selected channels at once in the Pro Channel EQ by selecting the tracks you want to change, holding CTRL, and changing the settings.) You can't do this with the normal FX bin.

With the Pro Channel you can insert FX Chains as well to use "normal" VST FX inside the Pro Channel. You can choose to use this just as an FX bin (with the ability to save presets that contain multiple plugins just like the normal FX bin.) You can also map controls on plugins in the FX bin to the buttons and knobs in the FX Chain in the Pro Channel for quick access to these controls. The settings you add to the FX Chain can be controlled using Quick Groups too, just like the standard Pro Channel FX. 

Regarding the placement of the Console Emulation it really depends. The change it imparts to the sound is most noticeable when it is added to each track individually, and when you add one to each bus, too. Then you can decide for yourself which model you like for certain instruments, whether you like it better on or off, etc. Remember, CTRL click also works on the bypass buttons and when inserting Pro Channel FX. So if you select all tracks, hold CTRL, and insert the Console Emulation Channel module it will insert for all tracks. Whether you put the Console Emulation first or last really depends. 

To me it makes sense to put it last when running an amp simulator like Guitar Rig or TH2 (and either run the amp sim in the Pro Channel or change the Pro Channel to Post FX.) So for consistency's sake I just run it last on every channel. You could also choose to run it first as many people recommend. Ultimately it is your choice.

Sounds complex ! No wonder I like the more limited approach Studio One takes :) I know where everything is there.