Hopefully not a dumb question regarding punch recording, but I did some bass session work yesterday at a studio with what must have been ProTools and we did some punch recording on the fly where the engineer would just hit a key on the keyboard to punch me in and hit another one to punch me out. So we weren't setting punch in spots ahead of time - we were just rolling and he would punch me in and out on the fly. One additional cool feature was that wherever he punched the recording actually had a few seconds of recording ahead of the punch and behind the punch so he could scroll edit if his punch wasn't clean.  I was just wondering if Sonar had something like this. Thanks

Use the R key while the transport is in motion.
You can record a little early and stop it a little late, then Slip editing the ends.
 
What your looking for when trying to make a clean splice is the zero crossings point.
 
zero-crossing is a point where the sign of a mathematical function changes (e.g. from positive to negative), represented by a crossing of the axis (zero value) in the graph of the function. It is a commonly used term in electronics, mathematics, sound, and image processing.

Thanks so much. It seems everything I've ever done in Sonar has been from transport in the stop mode and just pressing record and starting. That's great to know that I can just press R with the "tape rolling" so to speak and the recording will start there. I'm assuming the best way to do this is to have the record mode setting as comping?

Wasn't this feature introduced just a few years ago, or does my memory fail? Before that you had to arm the track and you could not start recording on the fly (?).
So it might depend on what version of Sonar you have.

Kalle Rantaaho
Wasn't this feature introduced just a few years ago, or does my memory fail? Before that you had to arm the track and you could not start recording on the fly (?).

I know that starting with the X series (Sonar X1) R could be used while transport was running.
Cant remember if 8.5 did or not.
 
You can also use Punch in recording which in my opinion is a great tool.
Very easy to set up as well. I made this video a while ago but it still pertains.

SONAR has extremely powerful punch options. Please check out this article, it describes all the punch options, how they're affected by the transport mode, something I call "speed punching," etc. 

I'm pretty sure 8.5 did as I will  stand there with my wireless keyboard in my hand while tweeking vocal parts. 
The computer is out of reach. 
I also have a usb footswitch that I assigned the W  R and spacebar to. 
$20-$ 40 

 

toastjam
...One additional cool feature was that wherever he punched the recording actually had a few seconds of recording ahead of the punch and behind the punch so he could scroll edit if his punch wasn't clean.  I was just wondering if Sonar had something like this. Thanks

I'm really not happy with myself when I have Pro Tools envy, but I really wish SONAR did have that feature. Would be really useful. I also covet their Elastic Audio, but that's another thread :)

How it works now, You set punch points / the transport needs to be "Stopped" before you can use punch recording.
That's a PIA. I would like to see a way to hit the R button while the transport is rolling then have it use my punch points. The same way Analog Recorders used to punch in/punch out.

But, you CAN drag the clips to find the best spot. I do this all the time if I didn't punch the best spot. Sonar keeps the original probably until you save and close. Usually just a hair to the left or right fixes any weirdness. 
 
Edit- I see chuck already said this.. ANyhow I find Sonars option are first class. See Craigs link for more.