Step Sequencer 3.0 features

I was disappointed by Step Sequencer 2.0 on the release as it doesn't support ".wav / .mp3" samples but only MIDI from Instrument Plugins. Another thing is  it doesn't route EACH OF THOSE SEQUENCED MIDI to the CONSOLE VIEW(unlike in FL Studio) for proper individual mixing and mastering. My Dream STEP SEQUENCER 3.0 

 **Must Support .wav / .mp3 sample for some of us who prefer Audio recorded drums than Midi ones. 

 **Must be able to be routed to the Mixing Console Individually as in (Kick on channel 1, Snare channel 2, hihats on channel 3, etc) even if they come from a single PlugIn like Session Drummer. Must be able to route on the Mixing console not PLUGIN MIXER which ALWAYS lacks serious Manupilation.

 **Must be more like a serious Drum Machine, it must be able to Manupilate Audio Samples on the Sequencer like what Ableton's Live and Fl Studio offer, not just arrange then ur done, noooo. 

 **Must be able to mix MiDI and Audio like taking maybe a Kick, Snare and Hihate from Session Drummer and Clap & Open Hihat from my external .wav / .mp3 samples. Of course with All of those Having their Own CHANNELS on the Main Console Mixer.

**keep the size it is at even if it has the capabilities of Native Instrument's Battery but it must keep the current small size just more and more features implemented. 

I'm guessing this is a troll.

Bottomline (for those aside from the OP who care about such things) is that what it sounds like what you want is much more than a step sequencer.  What you want is more along the lines of a program like Geist which is more of a combination sequencer/sampler/ drum machine.  or perhaps a better comparison would be an MPC type sequncer sampling drum machine. That would be cool, but certainly not something I would expect from something labeled as s simple step sequencer

harmonic




**Must be able to be routed to the Mixing Console Individually as in (Kick on channel 1, Snare channel 2, hihats on channel 3, etc) even if they come from a single PlugIn like Session Drummer. Must be able to route on the Mixing console not PLUGIN MIXER which ALWAYS lacks serious Manupilation.

Audio isn't supported, maybe the matrix might help there..... If I'm understanding you correctly this one however is perfectly possible. You just need to adjust the drum map accordingly, i.e. map the kicks to channel 1, snares channel 2 etc. then set up midi tracks for receiving on those channels accordingly.

If using session drummer set up a track per channel and then use session drummers mixer to change a sounds output channel again routed to separate audio tracks.

I whole heartedly agree with the OP's first sentence.

Implementing this one feature would be invaluable to those of
us that produce electronic music, though not exclusively.

Ok, ok (cause Ive been pondering ways to this within X1). Now that we,ve said our wish list about Step Seq.er, with everything as it is now. What are some options for getting that MPC style workflow? How do you you guys go about Chopping a sample out of a bigger piece of music, trimming that sample, manipulating it, and fianlly seq,ing it within a groove. 
Cause I see this (along with notation features which i havent really used yet, but feel the pain of others on here that need it) as a miss area of opporuntiy for sonar x1, cause the mpc style of workflow is ingrained in electronic music and to not have an answer for that within your own product is missing the boat. 
  

bump...

cause the mpc style of workflow is ingrained in electronic music and to not have an answer for that within your own product is missing the boat

 
So why not use the product tht has your needs met then?  
 
Not trying to be mean, but I would rather more energy go into making Sonar a better and better DAW, including knowing when and how integrating third party plugs/samplers gets the product there, without making it really mediocre at everything!
 
I can chop and manipulate audio samples. We have a plethora of drum sequencers that do evrything the OP requested, (and a snap to grid built into the track view for plopping down drum hits into different tracks) and we have a great DAW for mixing and mastering the finished product.
 
What we don't have is instant gratification in a no learning curve GUI. What we do have is a stable midi and audio platform that can do many things well. But it's a professional tool, not a phone app!
Peace
 
Brian

Lol@no an iphone app...classic

@Stonehouse: I understand where your coming from.  And I am and do reseach other options (plugins) to use. And by no means do I want cakewalk to waterdown X1. Geist and batt are on my short list, I was more asking if X1 producers is all you had at the time; what would be your process be to emulate the mpc workflow (was a question aimed at sharing tips and tricks with other X1 users).

ps: cakewalk can only make X1 mediocre by releasing mediocre products. A plugin or tool that emulates (just as they did with the ssl mixing board) an object thats ingrained in music making can only make your product better. Do they need to house clean bugs, sure! All DAWs makers do. Can other tools, plugins and or process used in X1 be looked again for fine tuning, Of course...we just happen to be talking about drums, sampling and seq.ing.....(p ps: nothing mean taken from it, in fact the app comment gave me a good laugh here at work...needed that..)

nothing mean taken from it

 
Glad for that! Sometimes I come off a little short-ish!
 
Brian

:) me too...get told that all the time, so I understand. No worries...LOL.

I use to use logic and thats how I would simulate that workflow. load in thew sound source I wanted to sample from (on a track). Select, cut, repeat. Export as audio to use in whatever plugin i fancied that day. But now with me switching to sonar Im noticing that the plugin workflow and overall term. is what is different, so I was just piggy backing off of OP to tap users that experience with these plugins then I do.

linplug's RMV is the dogs' for this sort of stuff

add Maschine.

I was disappointed by Step Sequencer 2.0 on the release as it doesn't support ".wav / .mp3" samples but only MIDI from Instrument Plugins.

 
Perhaps because it's a MIDI step sequencer and MIDI is not audio.
 

Must Support .wav / .mp3 sample for some of us who prefer Audio recorded drums than Midi ones. 

 
You can load your own samples into Sesssion Drummer should you want to, also into Dimension Pro. You can even paste individual samples into audiotracks should you want to.
 

Must be able to route on the Mixing console not PLUGIN MIXER which ALWAYS lacks serious Manupilation.

 
???? You mean you want the MIDI from the step sequencer to be output to a MIDI track in the console? That's what it already does. If you mean you want the audio produced by a soft synth acting on MIDI instructions from the SS to go to console audio tracks, it already does.
 
If you want e.g. kick on MIDI channel 1, snare on MIDI channel 2 etc. then take a look at drum maps in the help/manual.
 
You have noticed that Session Drummer has multiple outputs haven't you? You can send each drum to a separate audio track if you wish. If fact that's what many people do all the time.
 

Must be able to mix MiDI and Audio like taking maybe a Kick, Snare and Hihate from Session Drummer and Clap & Open Hihat from my external .wav / .mp3 samples. Of course with All of those Having their Own CHANNELS on the Main Console Mixer.

 
Session Drummer outputs audio, not MIDI.
 
I suspect you've not entirely understood the difference between MIDI and audio.

keep the size it is at even if it has the capabilities of Native Instrument's Battery but it must keep the current small size just more and more features implemented. 

 
This is such an impossible demand (what would the interface look like?) that I almost begin to suspect I smell a troll at this point.
By the way - if I wanted to work in something as limited and limiting as an MPC, then I'd use an MPC. Any of the major DAWs can do everything an MPC can and far, far more.
 
(edited for typos - I never spot them until well after I've posted - duh).

What TLW posted is outstanding.

I would only add this; the step sequencer is for inputting MIDI notes what you do with those notes is up to you. Its a form of PRV. It is not an MPC. One can say that X1 can do everything an MPC can using the tools it offers. But its up to you to learn about them.

Fully understanding MIDI is what you need to get your head around. 

I hope you carefully read TLW's post Harmonic.  

Why, thank you John. Though re-reading it I wonder if I was a little harsh...
 
I sometimes wonder if those of us old enough to have been using synths back in the 70s or, in my case, very early 80s, had it easy in a way.
 
When we first encountered MIDI, hardware, physical instruments meant it was relatively simple to understand - "so MIDI note messages press the keys, and continuous controller 1 sort of makes the mod wheel turn, but all without me having to touch the instrument.....".
 
The difference between MIDI and audio was obvious - MIDI being what goes into and comes out of 5-pin MIDI sockets, and audio being what comes out of jack sockets.
 
We also tended to have fewer synths, fx, mics, amps etc. and tried to know them well because they were all we had - the cost of a brand new Korg MS-10 or Gibson+amp approached the cost of a decent second-hand small car in the UK, and as for a Moog Model D.....
 
If we wanted to record, then unless extremely affluent and able to afford to spend thousands on desks and recorders and the space they need, we hired studio time and let someone else worry about how to wire everything up and make it work.
 
Nowadays DAWs throw beginners in at the deep end - a huge range of synths (with very deep programming facilities) and effects, all the tracks you could ever need etc. without a huge financial outlay. Which is a good thing, as is the huge amount of information about how to record, mix and master that simply wasn't around back then.
 
The downside is that what we learned gradually over a couple of decades or more as technology developed and dropped in price has become compressed by modern DAWs into an intimidating learning curve for beginners (who, understandably, "just want it all to work so I can make music"), and everything being "in the box" has blurred the distinction between MIDI and audio which can make things easier, but can also make it harder to initially grasp what's going on in terms of signal and data flow.
 
Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Why, thank you John. Though re-reading it I wonder if I was a little harsh...

Harsh? Your style is straight forward. Not harsh.


I don't know how easy we had it. It took me quite a while to learn MIDI. I read books on it and studied it. Audio was always around. We all grew up with it. MIDI was a concept that didn't have a lot of information on it. There was no internet then. You had to seek it out. Most people never heard of it. Some musicians didn't no what it was. It exploded in the 80s but but still a very uncommon thing to see around. Sonar X1 Studio and Sonar Producer are professional level DAWs. No one is throwing a newbie into them without their acquiescence. 


I think one should start with a much simpler program and than after time figure out what they need to progress; what is lacking in what they have and what program will better fit their growing needs. But this takes knowledge of what it is they are working with. That knowledge comes with effort.  

What tlw wrote was spot on.  The OP and EQ want the step sequencer to be something it is not. It's purely a step sequencer.  Nothing more or less.  The MPC is a full fledged sequencer, sampler and drum machine. Your best bet for MPC style production is to get an MPC.  There are plenty of software options that come close. Get FL studio or if you want something that works within Sonar Geist is awesome. The step sequencer is designed to do one task, sequence midi data like an old style step sequencer.  The rest of the features can pretty much be found in the individual components the step sequencer is controlling.  if you need more powerful sequencing features beyond wha ta step sequencer can offer, um, the big fancy DAW you paid for already has that.