jackasspenguin
OK, watch this youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8OaMQ0N9Gc
How is it that this guy can simply import an audio clip into the project change project tempo and the clip automatically follows? I watched this video a few times and I don't really see any magic going on here.
The clip isn't groove enabled either!
Watch again carefully starting at 1:20 - 1:36. You will notice that Groove Clip looping was enabled. Also note that if you zoom full screen, even at the start of the video, you can see the edges of the clip (loop) are slightly cut off and not perfect right-angles, another indication that Groove Clip Looping is already enabled.
Some loops have data written into them that indicates their original tempo, how many beats, key/root note etc. If the data is written into the loop Sonar will automatically enable Groove Clip Looping when the loop is imported. For example, import a loop from the Power FX folder in the Sample Content directory and it should automatically have Groove Clip Looping activated. Some wave editors such as Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit Pro) will allow you to view the data internally encoded into wave files.
The video starts with the audio already imported so we do not know whether he has activated Groove Clip Looping or whether Sonar did but none the less it is enabled. Also note that in the beginning of the video the tempo in Sonar is identical to the known tempo of the clip therefore it will be interpreted better and will of course loop well. Not saying you should do that, just indicating that clearly this video was "set up" somewhat in advance for ease of demonstration. That may be fine for someone trying to sell their services but not so fine for a viewer such as yourself. I'm certainly not motivated to pay a teacher that chooses to leave out such "trivial" steps... (note your confusion).
Some programs like Reason, Abelton and Acid are designed more specifically with looping in mind and therefore may try to loop audio when imported. Sonar is more of a DAW so frequently when users import audio they do not want looping automatically enabled. As far as I know there is no default to force all audio imported into Groove Clip mode, possibly in X1 but not in 8.5.3 which I use, and really it wouldn't be a good idea anyways. Well, not for me anyways as I import far fewer loops than audio which requires no looping.
In reality all you have to do is activate the groove clip looping on the drum loop you import and that takes but a second or two. If Sonar does not interpret the loop properly you may have to manually set the number of beats.