Jyri T.
And to have the s-shaped fade curve as an option...

This tip shows how to create an S-shaped curve that is much more flexible than a "canned" S-shaped curve where you can't adjust the horizontal or vertical weighting. Also, the subject of adding an S-shaped curve to the fade options was already addressed. A post that simply repeats another's post doesn't help those coming to this thread for tips.
 
I would prefer that this thread remain a "Tip of the Week" thread rather than have people try to treat it as a "Feature Request of the Week" thread, for several reasons:

• There are already places for feature requests, including places where people can vote on them.
• The Bakers don't monitor this thread, other than a few who want to see what crazy tip I come up. It's a waste of time to post a feature request in a place where no one in a position to implement a feature request will see it.
• Feature requests "clutter" the thread. Periodically, I delete non-tip comments to make the thread more compact so it's easier to browse. Comments that aren't related to discussing or providing a tip get deleted at that time anyway, because people don't come to this thread to read feature requests. I also delete the "nice tip" comments as well, although they are very helpful initially in terms of gauging interest in a particular tip type.

 
Of course, I'm always interested in feedback on what types of tips people find most useful.

Anderton
I use the S curve in Vegas all the time for overall fades in both video and audio tracks, but the method presented in the tip is more flexible because it's easy to "weight" the fade by moving the middle node. While I don't need to weight an overall master song fade often, it's very helpful with clip automation - like when you want something to linger with a slow fade, then leave quickly; or jump down rapidly to a level, then fade out slowly from there.

Absolutely - I do that all the time. You can create some complex curves that fit the needs of a given clip/song even without the S option, but there are also times where the generic -6dB log would be a handy thing. Not trying to get into the feature request side of it, just discussing things in the context of your "tip."
 
In my experience, when dealing with a master that already has a naturally decaying final note (say, a guitar holding the last chord), more often than not the slow curve is much more effective at retaining the original contour of the decay if that's what you're after. The S-shape (weighted to fit, of course) is better at creating a natural-ish sounding decay from a sound without an existing decay, or when you need that natural decay to fade more quickly because of noise issues (as in, a guitar with heavy distortion, where as the note itself fades, the noise floor becomes more apparent).

kudos

Anderton
 
 
I would prefer that this thread remain a "Tip of the Week" thread rather than have people try to treat it as a "Feature Request of the Week" thread, for several reasons:

• There are already places for feature requests, including places where people can vote on them.
• The Bakers don't monitor this thread, other than a few who want to see what crazy tip I come up. It's a waste of time to post a feature request in a place where no one in a position to implement a feature request will see it.
• Feature requests "clutter" the thread. Periodically, I delete non-tip comments to make the thread more compact so it's easier to browse. Comments that aren't related to discussing or providing a tip get deleted at that time anyway, because people don't come to this thread to read feature requests. I also delete the "nice tip" comments as well, although they are very helpful initially in terms of gauging interest in a particular tip type.

 
Of course, I'm always interested in feedback on what types of tips people find most useful.

 


Whoops, sorry man! (now where's that embarrassed face emoji?). You can delete away, I'll repost in the appropriate forum
 
But as far as what kind of tips are most useful to me, exactly these kind that show techniques  or tips for using specific Sonar features, rather than more general production techniques (although those are also useful) The one from two weeks ago was great, just some lesser known shortcuts for navigating through different automation functions. Also, the humanizing hihats tips were great (and the article on the topic that you linked in another thread was pure gold.)
 
Thanks for sharing all this stuff.
 

rmfegley
Whoops, sorry man! (now where's that embarrassed face emoji?). You can delete away, I'll repost in the appropriate forum.

No problem, I do try to keep this thread a little more under control because in the "first generation" of tips, people found it difficult to browse or find relevant comments if there were too many posts. It was easy to deal with posts containing additional info - I'd just go back and edit the original tip to include the comments, with attribution.
 
It's all good, I'm just giving a gentle reminder this thread has a lot in common with a database.

Anderton
This tip shows how to create an S-shaped curve that is much more flexible than a "canned" S-shaped curve where you can't adjust the horizontal or vertical weighting.

I see. Sorry.
 

Anderton
the subject of adding an S-shaped curve to the fade options was already addressed.

 
I didn't know that, sir. I'm truly sorry.
 

Anderton
A post that simply repeats another's post doesn't help those coming to this thread for tips.

 
I do agree. I'm utterly sorry.
 

Anderton
I would prefer that this thread remain a "Tip of the Week" thread rather than have people try to treat it as a "Feature Request of the Week" thread.

 
You are right, sir. I'm bitterly sorry. I got carried away. I won't let that happen again.
 
PS. Think Monty Python before you get angry at me... .

But I could be arguing in my spare time.  
 

I've already used this tip four times today since I read it.  I used it on the Strings Master Bus to fade out strings not only at the end of the song, but at the end of sections or major phrases.
 
For the ends of sections or phrases, the last node is not -INF but minus -20, or whatever sounds right in relation to the initial volume. -INF is, of course, perfect for the end.
 
A natural string fade done under direction of a conductor is not as easy to fake as it would seem, and this helps a lot.
 
When I was first learning studio stuff working with an experienced produder, he taught me to fade manually buy pulling Master down gradually to about halfway, and then moving quickly the rest of the way.  Oddly, it did not occur to me to use this Fast+Slow curve technique when programming fades, so this is very helpful.
 
However, now that I see this is a repeat, I am really mad and am going to erase this off all my tracks.

Week 147: The Gourmet Flanger
 
I’m always looking for ways to get the “tape flanger” sound of "through-zero flanging" without tape. The differentiating aspect of through-zero flanging is that when the delayed and straight signals are out of phase and at the same delay time, they cancel to create a split-second of silence. Although the Sonitus Modulator offers a Tape option that approximates this sound, you don’t have control over how the Tape option works—with real flanging, tape motion was always somewhat variable; more often than not, the tape would sort of stagger around the through-zero point. So can we get an even more realistic tape flanging sound with SONAR? Of course we can!
 
The setup is a little complex, because we need to take the audio we want to flange and send it to two buses, or the same Patch Point in two Aux Tracks (as in the screen shot below). Note that with Aux Tracks, Input Echo needs to be enabled. Each Aux Track has a Sonitus Modulator effect, with one set for a constant 0.1 ms delay (labelled as the “Reference” track, which is also set out of phase), while the other “Flanger” track is set to sweep so it goes up to a lesser amount of delay than the zero-crossing point (in this case, 0.01 ms). Therefore, the signal cancels once when it sweeps up through the 0.1 ms delay point, and again when it sweeps back down through the 0.1 ms delay point. You want the interval between these two times to be fairly short; however you can lengthen this by increasing the Reference track’s delay parameter.
 

 
The Mix controls should be set to 100% delayed signal for the maximum effect. The Flanger track’s Depth control determines how low the flanger goes. 3-5 ms seems about right, but feel free to increase this for a wider-range effect that gets more into the chorus/delay range. Also, try different LFO waveforms. My favorites are the Triangle and Peak / Dip waveforms.
 
But wait…there’s more! Turning off the Phase button on the Reference track produces a different timbre that’s also useful, but the signals don’t cancel at the through-zero point, so they create a volume increase. In that case you might want to lengthen the Flanger track’s Delay parameter to avoid the through-zero point. I prefer the out-of-phase sound because it sounds more like “classic” flanging to me, but at least you have options. You can also experiment with increasing the amount of feedback; just remember to keep the levels identical.
 
And that’s it for gourmet flanging, so...bon appétit!

Thanks, Craig. This looks intreresting -- guess I'll have to try it out to see how it sounds. I'm assuming I could save this as a track template? If so, would ALL of my settings be saved?