Help: Sonar Pros - Im taking my FL/Ableton/Cubase Knowledge to SONAR 5 - I need to...

[MGTheFuture]

Whats going on ?

I recently got Sonar 5, Im not too familair with it - but i can insert VSTS and got my midi controller and audio figured all out.

Since im very familair with ableton and cubase - i know how the seqeuncer works.

SO i have a few simple questions about some other things that i hope you maybe able to guide me with:


Swing ?

- Fl has a MASTER swing - its just a simple bar u adjust and it applies swing to the whole song or the pattern - is there a way to do this in Sonar 5 ? if so - where would it be located... the help menu ONLY described it..never showed where it was.

Quantize ?
- I know its a midi FX - but whats the proper way to make my quantize set for a recording BEFORE i record....like say i want all the notes i play to snap to the 1/16ths (drums) or something - where would i go to set that before i record it ? or do i choose quantize AFTER the midi is down ?

Timestretch ?
- FL has the best time stretch for me - i put the sample in... drag the waveform to snap to 2 or 4 bars (usually what i work with) And it adjusts its...resamples..or its different algorithms...

Does sonar do this ? from what i done... i put a sample in there - and i made it 16 beats... and it played - but is there a better way to make it more fluid or resample...etc - cuz it doesnt sound so good when i try it my FL way ? like... hard to explain...and is there a way to auto slice beats ?? it looks like acid - so i would think there was a way (instead of me using the slice tool individually)

SNAP?

How do i adjust the snap ?? Becuase once i slice some WAVs..i drag em and they goto the NEXT bar... i need it to move and slide in smaller increments... like 1/4ths and such...or FREE movement.


INSERT FX ?

Where do i goto insert an FX on my audio Channels... and does it chain them ?? as FL does in its mixer...and whats my limit ?? whats ur process ??

Busses ?

ON the mixer i noticed the VST channel...of the audio and the midi that controls that...

I noticed the audio and other midi channels.... then to the right I see 3 Buses...main send and subgroup ... what are these 3 used for ? and on the far right i see my soundcards volume ? Whats what - or what do you u adjust in order for what ? lol if that makes sense.


Umm - thats all i can think of..... let me know your thoughts and process

thanks

 

[MGTheFuture]

Since making this thread - i learned how to adjust the SNAP of the sequencer - now my problem is when i move a slice over... it pushes the other slices WAY Out the way...how do im ake it so that i can drag a clip and itll just move where i want and overlap whats in its way - instead of pushing it way across the screen..lol

 

[trez260]

Since making this thread - i learned how to adjust the SNAP of the sequencer - now my problem is when i move a slice over... it pushes the other slices WAY Out the way...how do im ake it so that i can drag a clip and itll just move where i want and overlap whats in its way - instead of pushing it way across the screen..lol

sounds like you need to adjust your "snap to grid options" or "nudging" option. havent seen sonar 5 but i assume the layout is fairly similiar to 4 with that being the case you should be able to make that adjustment by doin the following:

1. if you look just above your listing of tracks (either audio or midi, just where it list track 1, track 2,etc.) there should be 10 lil boxes. in this row the box on the far right, kinda looks like a calendar in my opinion, that should be your "snapt to grid" option" it'll have a lil drop arrow right next the lil calendar looking grid. click that arrow and it'll option open the snapt to options. on the left side of the window you'll see 5 radio buttons and a check box at the very bottom. select radio button that states "absolute Time" which will then open two drop down boxes. one should be listed with the "1" in it and that's fine, if it's a different number, change it to one(1.000). the next is where you'll select either "seconds","frames" or "samples"..select "samples" i also have the check box at the bottom checked. you may also have a "move to" radio button and a "move by" radio. i have "move by selected. that should solve your problem.

also, go to "options" then "global" and click the "nudge" tab, make sure all the settings are set to absolute time and for 1 millisecond.

 

[2_nice]

i haven't been on the net recently so i didn't even realise that sonar 5 was out i will probably wait a few months to upgrade tho.....

Swing
for swing i program drums using the paint tool alot (q is the shortcut in the piano roll) so i paint in my hats by going q8 and then my snare by going q2 and get swing on my kicks by going q6p (shortcut for a sixteen triplet note) (this is just an example of how you could go about getting a common boom bap swing beat with straight snares and 8th hats)

Quantize
quantize is done after you record midi (right click in the piano roll a dsrop menu appears and you quantize from there) (note with mfx you can use quantize in real time if you want)

Timestretch
you can do the same thing in sonar if you can do the maths and sonar has a good timestretching algorithm also good pitch shift... similar time strectching to in fruity loops could be done with sonars acid like groove clip functionality (by changing the number of bars your clip is same as fruity loops) the more recent versions of sonar have had really good functions in this department

SNAP
hitting n in the main window turns snap off. you can change the snap to settings to whatever you want. (down to 32nd 3rds)

INSERT FX and busses
unlimited effects in the track fx bins.
unlimited open bussing shit so it is easy to run effects in parallel also and do different panning shit etc...

setting up subgroups and a master channel and shit is easy with the busses as they are freely assignable

 

[MGTheFuture]

sounds like you need to adjust your "snap to grid options" or "nudging" option. havent seen sonar 5 but i assume the layout is fairly similiar to 4 with that being the case you should be able to make that adjustment by doin the following:

1. if you look just above your listing of tracks (either audio or midi, just where it list track 1, track 2,etc.) there should be 10 lil boxes. in this row the box on the far right, kinda looks like a calendar in my opinion, that should be your "snapt to grid" option" it'll have a lil drop arrow right next the lil calendar looking grid. click that arrow and it'll option open the snapt to options. on the left side of the window you'll see 5 radio buttons and a check box at the very bottom. select radio button that states "absolute Time" which will then open two drop down boxes. one should be listed with the "1" in it and that's fine, if it's a different number, change it to one(1.000). the next is where you'll select either "seconds","frames" or "samples"..select "samples" i also have the check box at the bottom checked. you may also have a "move to" radio button and a "move by" radio. i have "move by selected. that should solve your problem.

also, go to "options" then "global" and click the "nudge" tab, make sure all the settings are set to absolute time and for 1 millisecond.

I seen some of this what you are talking about - what it fixed was the fact that i can now drag the clips anywhere on the seqeuncer...but its still pushing other samples way out the way... that may be the nuge thing ur talking about..thanks alot for the info...

the quantize and snap i have working now.

Yeah i adjusted the nudge - and each time i bring one sample/slice next to each other - it jumps way across the grid....

i haven't been on the net recently so i didn't even realise that sonar 5 was out i will probably wait a few months to upgrade tho.....

Swing
for swing i program drums using the paint tool alot (q is the shortcut in the piano roll) so i paint in my hats by going q8 and then my snare by going q2 and get swing on my kicks by going q6p (shortcut for a sixteen triplet note) (this is just an example of how you could go about getting a common boom bap swing beat with straight snares and 8th hats)

Quantize
quantize is done after you record midi (right click in the piano roll a dsrop menu appears and you quantize from there) (note with mfx you can use quantize in real time if you want)

Timestretch
you can do the same thing in sonar if you can do the maths and sonar has a good timestretching algorithm also good pitch shift... similar time strectching to in fruity loops could be done with sonars acid like groove clip functionality (by changing the number of bars your clip is same as fruity loops) the more recent versions of sonar have had really good functions in this department

SNAP
hitting n in the main window turns snap off. you can change the snap to settings to whatever you want. (down to 32nd 3rds)

INSERT FX and busses
unlimited effects in the track fx bins.
unlimited open bussing shit so it is easy to run effects in parallel also and do different panning shit etc...

setting up subgroups and a master channel and shit is easy with the busses as they are freely assignable

thanks alot for that info....

the swing im referring to tho is a actually capability in midi in FL...is automatic.

and i still not sure what the sub groups and busses do just yet...

 

[2_nice]

i am not exactly sure of what you mean by 'automatic swing'
but i can assure you sonars midi sequencing capabilities are worlds beyond fruity loops as far as intuitiveness and fast access to more indepth editing in the piano roll. (fruity loops is capable but i think you will find sonar faster to use if you use it correctly with keyboard shortcuts etc.)
at the same time as a sonar user i would recommend checking out other daw programs suck as cubase nuendo etc. before you commit to sonar you may find them more suitable (it is nearly random i think which interface 'grabs' different people)

all the things you talked about are easily done in sonar...


and using fruity loops in sonar as a dxi is really easy.......