It's true - I have no idea what I'm doing and it's pissing me off. I need help and the help directory is vague and clouded. Background - I'm doing sound design for a film we just shot and I'm being forced to use producer x1 so far, I hate it with every fiber of my being. Premiere was working just fine and I know it well. Problem 1 - Every time I hit the space bar to stop playback, the "thing" ( i don't even know what it's called) goes back to the marker it started. Well, that's a problem because I need to edit at THAT spot. is there anyway to disable this? I can't search for an answer because I have no idea what I'm searching for. I know there are plenty of people who love this program, but I have no idea what I'm doing and was told "figure it out. Oh, and be done with the whole thing by sept 1." Thanks for letting me vent.

Transport bar

Either Shift+Spacebar or Control+Spacebar (one or the other, not at DAW to test) will keep the Transport bar where it is when you hit stop.  There is also an option to change the default behavior. 

Having had to learn ProTools, I can relate to you and feel the pain of learning a new program.  The help file is very informative once you know what your looking for.  This forum and the many knowledgable people in it, are a good source as well.  Good luck on your venture and feel free to ask when you get stuck

You can find this option at the top of the track view (the window you're working in)

options -> on stop, rewind to now marker


Premiere's nice. But it's really more for clipping film and not for soundediting.
Once you've gotten to know Sonar I'm sure you'll find that it's much better for sound design than Premiere.. :) But it's always frustrating being forced to work in a software you've never used, especially when there's a deadline on the horizon..

Just come back to this forum whenever you get stuck and we'll try and help you out.

The 'thing' is referred to as the 'Now Time'

Thanks all. 1 down 99 to go. Oh, and a **** ain't one.

a few other things that can be helpful, since you're working on a film:

• change volume/pan for individual clips:
  you can change volume and pan for individual clips by selecting the "clips"-button on the track and selecting clip automation - gain / pan
• applying effects to separate clips:
  if you want to use a vst-plugin on just one clip on a track (maybe eq on a voice or a speaker simulator ect), right click on a clip and select clip effects bin. a grey box pops up. right click the box and choose the effect you want to apply on the clip. after this you get a little lable at the top left corner of the clip that says FX. just click this to get the grey box back, if you want to add more effects or edit the one you've already inserted.

Something also worth trying, but that might be a bit too much in this early stage of learning is to..

• ..Create a folder for each scene in the movie and put all related tracks in the folder they belong.
• Output all tracks in the different folders to separate buses
  By doing this you can easily and fast change the volume for whole scenes wich makes it easier to match them (volume-wise) to other scenes

Oh, and while I'm here. I've been combing the help directory but I swear something is up with mine, like it's not all installed or something, but is there a way to scrub by frame? Being as I'm matching audio to video the 23.97 option would be great. I just ordered a MC Transport Controller from Euphonics so when that gets here it will make life easier, but in the next week I can't just not work. In premiere i would use the left and right arrows. Anything like that? Thanks again

to scrub audio clips, use the numeric pad 

7, 4 and 1 is left
9, 6 and 3 is right

Hi dinosquirrel,

Welcome to the Sonar forum.

First of all, I would like to point you towards the PDF file that comes with Sonar X1 when you "purchase" it. It is called "Sonar X1 Reference Guide." Now don't worry, I am not expecting you to trawl through its 1850 pages. But there is en excellent chapter which covers "Controlling Playback," and starts on page 171.

I'll cover some of the points here, that I think you need to control how the "Now Time Cursor" (that's the vertical line that indicates the part of the project is paying) and the "Now Time Marker" (which is the green triangle at the top of the Clips Pane, and sits in the Ruler section).

Here is a snippet from the guide:-

To change the Now time marker behavior

On the Track view Options menu, clear the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the
Now time marker move to follow the current Now time when you stop playback.

Or

On the Track view Options menu, select the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the
Now time snap back to the Now time marker when you stop playback.

Note, you should see the Track Options Menu just at the top and to the left of the Track View window.

Also, it is worth pointing out that, you can leave the "On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker" selected, and instead of just pressing the space bar to start/stop playback, you can do the following:-

As you already know, pressing Space Bar simply starts and stops playback, and with "On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker" selected, the Now Time Cursor will return to the Now Time Marker position. If you have only just opened your project, or have rewound to the beginning of the project then the Now Time Marker will be at the start of the project.

You can, by left clicking in the Clips Pane, re-position the Now Time Marker.

If you wish the Now Time Marker to be positioned at the Now Time Cursor position, when playback is stopped, hold down CTRL while pressing Space Bar. The Now Time Marker will be at the position it was at when CTRL + Space Bar was pressed. You can now just press Space Bar to start playback from that point, and each time you then stop playback by pressing Space Bar, it is to that point it will return.


It is worth mentioning that you can change the Ruler settings at the top of the Clips Pane to any combination of Measures, Beats and Ticks (M:B:T), Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Frames (H:M:S:F—also called SMPTE), Samples and Milliseconds. This is done by clicking on the little + sign at the far right corner of the Ruler.


I think that should get you going again. Any more questions, please do nor hesitate to ask.

cheers

andy



By the way... I took so much time researching and typing this that I am going to post it anyway, even though seven posts have just jumped in before me lol

Greetings; Putting in some learning time up front could really pay huge dividends for you -- Sonar X1, like other DAWs, are very deep programs that make it possible to accomplish many different things in many different ways. I have hotkeys setup to make it easy to choose on the fly whether to have the cursor stop where it is, or return to the beginning, when i hit 'stop.'
 
There's alot of good tutorials in video or bookform that can take you through X1's features in a fairly efficient way. In the video and books section of the Cakewalk store (link is above) there are several great resources; feel free to PM me and i'll be happy to share my experiences with the ones that i've used.
 
Regards
Glenn