I set up Session Drummer 3 with multiple outputs and multiple MIDI tracks; in other words, I will have a MIDI track and an audio track for kick, a MIDI and an audio track for snare, a MIDI and an audio track for hi-hat, etc. When I freeze, Sonar makes multiple passes through the song, which takes quite a while. Here are the problems: 1-there is too much trial and error setting the levels so that the frozen audio tracks are at the best levels and 2-the resulting audio tracks don't work independently of the MIDI tracks: soloing the audio solos the MIDI as well and I can't drag-copy the audio to a new audio track. This is way too much trouble and takes too long. Advice?

I don't understand... what is the benefit of doing it that way?

The first benefit is the separation and panning of drums giving it a full sound in the mix. He is then freezing them to save space I believe in order to cut down on cpu usage. Correct Konrad?

I am sorry I don't have advice on an easier way. Rome was not built in a day.

The chief issue here is knowing what the levels are going to be ahead of time so I don't have to wait 15+ mins for Freeze to complete, check every track for levels throughout the song, then make trial and error adjustments, and then do the freeze again. This is just ridiculously slow. As to why I would drag-copy an audio track, that is not important—I am just wondering why I can't do it. Sometimes I want to copy audio from one project to another, or make a duplicate copy for editing while maintaining the original, etc., but the real issue is this slow process for freezing and getting levels right.

oK i AHVE READ WAY TO MANY FREEZE PROBLEMS,I use both midi and wav tracks for drums in session 3,
so far for what I have found ,1.your computer doesn't have enough memory,you need a min 0f 8gb,and a min i5 and a 7200 rpm HD. AND MoST IMPORTANT A REALLY GOOD INTERFACE.
 
All the lower price intterfaces..(drain to many resources from your computer) for a simple 2 in + midi the rolandusb25ex works well
But if you are like most people they want a min 8 in,I bought the tascam 1641 and it drain s like crazy(only open the ports in use.unless your recording a whole band 1 or 2 ports at a time .
 
Now I run a dual i7,with 32 gb of memory,160gb SSD drive as my primary ,1tb 7200 backup drive(esata)
Motu 828mk3 ,motu midi express 128, the 828 processes it self (can also run as a stand alone mixer) takes the drain of the computer.I sampled my drumers kit and use it in session..works great but as wav files the processing is huge.
 
unless you have a large computer setup, limit your drums to midi.don't record long clips just cut and paste.
 
as for other people complaining about freezes..this also applies.x1 pro is a great program but requires a pro rig with it or just linit to short clips .turn off what your not using(especially antivirus or maitenance programs)and the internet.
 
Gary
 
 

Are the freeze levels different from the unfrozen levels? They shouldn't be.

Also 15 min seems way too long for a freeze. 

Sorry... still learning about this MIDI drum stuff. I think I see what you're doing now. You're just taking the separate MIDI tracks of all the kit pieces and turning them to audio files on their own tracks so they can be manipulated as such? I thought that kind of thing was easy but preferable to do in real time. Meh... I guess I'll find out myself soon enough. I'll be attempting exactly that very soon.

1-I have 12 GB of memory and a fairly fast CPU. 2-It takes 15+ mins because with fast bounce/fast freeze turned off, Sonar runs the whole song in real time. With 5 tracks of drums in Session Drummer 3, Sonar makes 5 passes. A three and a half minute song takes 5 x 3.5 minutes plus a few seconds of extra processing. 3-My experience has been that freezing and bouncing does not always result in the same levels. I don't know why. 4-As mentioned before, drag-copy is not the real issue although I don't know why it does not work. The real issue is the time needed to freeze at the right levels. Freezing or bouncing is required before exporting as a WAV or mp3 (as far as I know). Thanks.

Hmm... I always kind of expected those wait times. However can't all the tracks be done at once? I'm genuinely curious here.

Example of the problem: Just bounced an Ivory piano track. The instrument track audio peaked at roughly -16. The bounced version slammed the red.