KVR Audio

Igor 4000 · Post by **Igor 4000** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:02 pm

Sonar 6 sure is looking better and better. I'm wondering how good the midi functionality of Sonar is. I mostly spend time on drum programming and with VSTIs. I also like the new Audio Snap functions for remixing.

Any opinions?

puffer · Post by **puffer** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:17 pm

Audio snap is indeed the balls. If you do a lot of MIDI you can pull the grooves (transients) from audio files and working with the transient pool snap MIDI to them.

Midi_Glider · Post by **Midi_Glider** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:22 am

MIDI functionality is the same as v5, I believe.

Best,
midi.

fandango · Post by **fandango** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:39 am

Yes, it's exactly the same as 5. Having used FL, eXT, etc. the Piano Roll in Sonar feels a bit limited in terms of fast and efficient note entry, manipulation and correction. I'm hoping some of the guys at Cakewalk have a sit down with some of these packages and investigate some streamlining for Sonar's MIDI editing. TBH, it's the constant tool swapping that annoys me the most.

clockradio · Post by **clockradio** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:37 pm

midi manipulation is average in sonar, i don't really like it all that much. however, CAL is a midi macro programming language that can do just about anything to midi - that i love.

torhan · Post by **torhan** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:42 pm

fandango wrote: TBH, it's the constant tool swapping that annoys me the most.

In Piano Roll View, I can do most edits with 1 tool using modifier keys. For example, "D" for Draw Tool. You can use this to drag horizontally, modify start/end times, plus hold down "Alt" to Erase, hold down "Shift" to drag vertically (maintain timing).

Igor 4000 · Post by **Igor 4000** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:10 pm

I'm also coming from FL, which has a great piano roll obviously and that awesome step sequencer. I was very curious if Sonar was comparable.

torhan · Post by **torhan** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:14 pm

Igor 4000 wrote:I'm also coming from FL, which has a great piano roll obviously and that awesome step sequencer. I was very curious if Sonar was comparable.

I just upgraded from Sonar 3, so I'm still not 100% familiar with a lot of new things just yet

But the Step Recording dialog has been improved (from S3). You can jump from track to track (while step recording), notes get drawn onscreen now, you can backstep with or without erasing notes.

Stupid American Pig · Post by **Stupid American Pig** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:39 pm

well I personally find the piano roll in sonar pretty handy with the modifier keys as Torhan mentioned. One of the best parts about the audio snap is that you can snap both audio and midi notes. Extracting grooves is also pretty easy with the Add to Pool option, there is a great tutorial on the s6 dvd. But anyway, the piano roll may take some getting used to if you are coming from FL studio, but its just as useful to me.

fandango · Post by **fandango** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:56 pm

Yeah, I use the 'S' and 'D' keys to constantly switch tools, but I'm wondering why that should even be necessary as a concept. With the eXT/FL model, you always have the default cursor, but it does a multitude of things depending on which control key you are holding down. This means you're never by default in a particular 'mode', but have access to selection, moving, lengthening, transposing, slicing (lovely), duplicating and stretching at any point by holding down variations of Ctrl/Alt/Shift which (imo) are always more easy to sense without looking directly at the keyboard.

Also, if you use a MIDI key hook on your keyboard instead of a MIDI device, you can't use the 'S' and 'D' keys, whereas Ctrl/Alt/Shift modifiers are always available. Not really an issue for me as I use a seperate MIDI keyboard, but something to bear in mind for those on laptops etc.

Sonar midi?