CAKEWALK SONAR 6 PE (Windows DAW) - NOW WITH CONCLUSIONS!

[Anderton]

The Pro Review of Sonar 5 was very popular, with a high degree of participation from Cakewalk, a lot of visitors from the Cakewalk forums, and we even managed to track down some bugs that were fixed in a rev while the review was still happening...so perhaps not surprisingly, we're back for Round #2 with Sonar 6 Producer Edition.

It's difficult to know where to start; there are a ton of changes, some of them subtle, some of them obvious, and some of them very complex. But I've decided to start with the AudioSnap and ACT (Active Controller Technology) features for two reasons: They're two of the biggest features in this upgrade, and also, there is a great deal of confusion surrounding them. Some people can't get ACT to work at all, some don't "get" AudioSnap -- or can use some of its functions, but haven't had success with others. So this won't just be a "it works, it doesn't work" type of review, but we'll take advantage of the Pro Review format to get deep into how these features work, covering both their strengths and their limitations.

The downside is that this means a more leisurely look at the program; it may be a while before we get to, for example, the very cool VC-64 audio processor. If you want a quick, more traditional review format that goes over the highlights of a large number of features, check out my review in the December 2006 issue of EQ magazine (http://www.eqmag.com). It should be hitting the newsstands any day now, and it's a fairly compact look at the new features and what they mean.

And of course, there's a bunch of information at the Cakewalk web site (http://www.cakewalk.com) if you want information on system requirements, pricing, upgrade policies, differences between Sonar 6 Producer Edition and the less capable/less expensive Sonar 6 Studio Edition.

Meanwhile, let's get this show on the road! As always, questions, comments, criticisms, and pearls of wisdom are not only welcome, but encouraged.

[Anderton]

AudioSnap is basically Cakewalk's answer to Pro Tools' "Beat Detective" and Ableton Live's "elastic audio" feature, but goes deeper than either one -- sacrificing user-friendliness in the process, but conferring additional power.

I believe one reason people have a problem wrapping their heads around AudioSnap is that it's an umbrella term for a variety of different features and functions; there's no one "magic bullet" AudioSnap function. Not only that, but even within a specific AudioSnap function, there may be different ways to accomplish a particular task for different types of material.

There are two main elements to AudioSnap. One element involves DSP-based time stretching, which can be used in a very elementary manner (e.g., stretch a clip to fit a particular length or tempo) or a very complex one, like having an entire tune following tempo changes added after the track was recorded. The stretch algorithms that form the basis of AudioSnap form the basis of all stretching operations, aside from the creation of "groove clips" (done in the Loop Construction window) and the playback of REX files (done with the RXP player).

The other element involves transient detection. This is what allows doing operations like pinning a tempo map to a clip, or pinning a clip to a tempo map. With transient detection, you can do things like build up a tempo map of beats, then tell the program "This transient should represent the start of the first measure, this transient should represent the start of the second measure," and so on. Then you can make the tempo conform to your definitions.

So far so good? Next...

[Anderton]

Clips that you want to subject to AudioSnap operations need to be enabled as AudioSnap clips. This is the same principle as how a vocal clip gets turned into a V-Vocal clip when you want to do pitch correction with V-Vocal, or how a standard clip gets converted into a "groove clip" when you want to do Acid-style time stretching. When you AudioSnap-enable a track, the AudioSnap Palette appears (click on the attachment to see it). This presents the tools available for various AudioSnap operations.

However, it's important to note that the AudioSnap palette also affects clips that aren't AudioSnap-enabled when doing simple stretch operations. Let's investigate this with a specific example.

[Anderton]

For simple stretching operations, Sonar has implemented Cubase-style audio stretching where you can grab the edge of a clip, and if you're holding down the Ctrl key, slip-edit to a particular length.

Click on the attachment to see an example of a drum track being stretched. Both tracks have the same clip, a Discrete Drums drum loop. However, the one in Track 1 has been slip-edited so it lasts exactly eight measures, whereas the one in Track 2 remains unmodified.

Look closely at the clip in Track 1, and you'll note a yellow "banner" across the bottom. This indicates that the clip has been stretched, with the percentage indicating the amount of stretching (in this case, 133%). Percentages above 100 mean the clip has been lengthened, and below 100 means the clip has been shortened.

This is a simple, effective way to get audio to fit specific tempos without having to deal with REX files or creating markers in groove clips. But the sound quality the clip delivers on playback varies tremendously, depending on whether you've chosen an "online" algorithm for real-time playback, or "rendered" for higher quality. I think that not understanding this crucial difference accounts for why some people say the stretching in Sonar 6 sounds fantastic, while others say it sounds terrible. Let's delve into these different stretching options, because it's of fundamental importance when dealing with any AudioSnap operation.

[Anderton]

There are two types of algorithms applied to stretched clips: Those for online, real-time playback, and those for offline rendering. There are two algorithms for online playback, Groove-Clip and Percussion, and four additional algorithms for offline rendering (you can also render using the online algorithms). These are the Radius algorithms from iZotope, which have been licensed to other DAW makers as well. They are excellent, but some of them take quite some time to render, which is why they aren't suitable for real-time playback.

You access the default algorithms by clicking on the AudioSnap Options button to the right of the AudioSnap palette. This causes a dialog box to appear; click on the attachment to see this. Toward the bottom of this box, you'll see the option to specify both Online and Offline algorithms; the screen shot shows the Offline Rendering algorithms drop-down menu.

For the Online algorithms, the Percussion algorithm is (as expected) optimized for percussive material, while the Groove-Clip algorithm seems more effective for sustained material. However, as far as I can tell, the online algorithm applies to all clips that have been stretched. In other words, if you've stretched a drum part and a string part, they'll be subjected to the same algorithm.

But that's why rendering is so helpful, as once a clip is stretched as desired, you can make the stretching permanent by exporting or (more simply) invoking the Edit > Bounce to Clip option. In this case, the stretching will be calculated using the algorithm you specify in the Offline Rendering field.

Hey, how about some audio examples...

[Anderton]

I took the clip that was stretched 133%, and rendered it with several different algorithms. Note that 133% is a significant amount of stretching that really brings out the worst in a stretch algorithm, so using this amount of stretching helps emphasize the differences among the various algorithms by giving what's almost a "caricature" of each algorithm.

Click to download the first example. This uses the Percussion algorithm, which gives reasonably good sound quality -- but the timing is a little bit off on the grace notes, so the rhythm sounds a little sloppy.

CAUTION: When you download these examples, the attachment may have a .PHP extension and not be recognized by an MP3 playback program, such as iTunes or Windows Media Player. Simply change the file's extension to .MP3 and it should play without problems.

[Anderton]

Click to download the second example. This uses the Groove Clip algorithm. Note the flamming and artifacts; these would be far less obvious on something like a string pad, but don't work well for percussive sounds.

[Anderton]

Click to download the third example. This uses the iZotope Solo Bass algorithm, and is a perfect example of choosing the absolutely wrong tool for the wrong job. It flams, stutters, and generally messes up the sound pretty badly.

[Anderton]

Click to download the fourth example. This uses the iZotope Mixed algorithm. This has the tightest, most accurate timing of all the algorithms. It does add a bit of a "phasey" sound (which unfortunately is accented by the conversion to MP3), but at reasonable amounts of stretching, this becomes less and less noticeable.

Bottom line: How you feel about the sound quality of Sonar's stretching depends greatly on using the right algorithm, and recognizing that you're probably not going to get optimum sound quality until you render with the right algorithm for the job.

[Anderton]

A couple comments so far:

Prior to AudioSnap, Sonar supported DSP-based stretching, "Acid-style" slice-based looping, and REX files via a REX file player -- not exactly a miserly selection of stretch options. What's really new in Sonar 6 is the inclusion of the iZotope algorithms, which (as you've heard) can sound very good if you match the right algorithm to the right program material.

The other new element is transient-based pinning to tempo, or pinning tempo to transients, which will be our next focus.

Finally, how do you feel about deviating from the more conventional way or reviewing and doing more of a "review by application?" What I hope is that by analyzing what the program can do, you can decide for yourself whether it's right for you or not. But also, this will hopefully help any people who have the program and feel they need a better understanding of some of the new features.

As always...let us know what you think!

[Keith-Cakewalk]

Hi Craig,

Just wanted to say thanks for the excellent points you made. Looking forward to future posts.

I actually posted earlier but unfortunately the submit timed out so here's a 2nd write.

The choice of renderer both online and offline is critical to getting the results one wants. The key is to try them and give a listen.

In case anyone doesn't know, that choice can be specified globally as well as per clip. Globally, it's in the AudioSnap Pallette Options. Per clip, it's in the clip properties Audio Stretching tab.
By default, clips will use the global options unless you change that clip.

Here's some clarification on when you might use a particular stretch mode. Offline Radius Solo is good for monophonic material. One might think that for a guitar being 1 guitar that solo would apply. It might if you're playing single melodic lines. Throw some rhythm chords at it, and there may be some artifacts. There are three solo modes. Bass, one that's unamed (just called Radius Solo) and Vocal. They roughly equate to being more optimal for low, medium and high frequency bands.

Radius Mix would be more suited for polyphonic material or mixed material. So for the guitar, it might be optimal to split the clip into sections where there's lead lines to process with either the Radius Solo or even Radius Solo (Vocal) and others where Radius Mix applies.

The online methods are faster but may have artifacts depending on content and how far stretched. The Groove-Clip is the Acid style of stretching we've had in Groove Clips for some time. We introduced a new one in Percussion. That one is akin to Recycle. If you compress(shrink) audio with drums for instance, each note still sounds the same duration so polyphony actually increases, just as it would if a real drummer played faster. So for drums, definitely try the Percussion mode first.

For the Beat Detective folks, you can split clips at the transients and move the slices around, etc. I'm sure that will get covered soon, so I'll conclude for now.

Thanks again and have been a long time fan of your work.

Keith [Cakewalk]

[Anderton]

<<In case anyone doesn't know, that choice can be specified globally as well as per clip. >>

Well this is why I like pro reviews, I learn a lot! I knew about specifying clips globally, but didn't realize that the per-clip stretching option overrode the global setting. Thanks for that! Please continue to keep an eye on this thread to make sure I don't spread any misinformation, and thanks for the additional tips. That kind of material is very helpful to all.

[DeeringAmps]

In answer to your question about "review by application" IT'S GREAT!

Tom

[johndefiore]

The "review by application" is a great format.

As far as audiosnap is concerned, has anyone had good results with acoustic guitar strumming? No matter which offline rendering algorithm I try I can't get an acceptable result with a strumming style where the chords and some open strings ring between strum transients. Granted, I haven't spent huge amounts of time with it yet, but I've had good results on vocals, bass, percussion and staccato (e.g. reggae) guitar.

John

[Anderton]

<<o matter which offline rendering algorithm I try I can't get an acceptable result with a strumming style where the chords and some open strings ring between strum transients. >>

That doesn't really surprise me. I've been working on a new sample CD, and recorded a guitar riff that had staccato parts alternating with held chords. It went through a synched delay, so the notes really had to hit EXACTLY on the beat or the clip would end up being impossible to "acidize." Seemed like a perfect job for AudioSnap.

Only problem was if I chose an algorithm that worked for the staccato parts (Percussion), then the held chords sounded awful. Similarly, if I used the iZotope Mixed algorithm, which gave good results with the held parts, the staccato parts didn't sound right.

A workaround was copying the part, lining up the staccato parts on one track and bouncing to clip using the Percussion algorithm, then lining up the sustained parts on the other track and bouncing to clip using the Radius Mix algorithm. I then cut away the nasty sound sustained parts on the staccato track, and then nasty staccato parts on the sustained track. It took some effort, but worked.

With something as complex as strumming, though, I think it will be hard to get decent results. Let's see what happens as the review progresses...

[Anderton]

Before going any further, it's worth noting that most of what AudioSnap does is transient-based. In other words, the process analyzes a clip for transients, and draws transients where it finds them. This is important because if, for example, a kick drum hits on every quarter note and AudioSnap finds those transients, you can immediately let Sonar know those transients indicate beats, which makes calculations such as changing tempo much easier.

However, as anyone knows who’s used Cubase’s “Hit Points” feature, tried to slice a REX file in ReCycle, or edit the Acidization markers in Acid or Sonar, transient detection is by no means a perfect science. Sonar has Threshold and Sensitivity controls to let you cut out some of the “chatter” and restrict the selection of transients to rhythmically useful values, but the effectiveness varies with the material. With a straightforward drum part, it’s easy to identify and mark transients, but with sustained material, or material that was not cut to a click track, the process of isolating rhythmically important values is far more difficult.

Click on the attachment to see AudioSnap enabled for a drum loop from Discrete Drums. Note how there's a transient (the light gray line) drawn for every single drum transient; this is a case where transient detection works just about perfectly.

However, not all clips are as cooperative. As a result, manual labor is involved with a lot of material. One thing that helps is adjusting the Threshold parameter with a mouse scroll wheel; it just seems easier than dragging the slider. But ultimately, with "problem" material, you have to tell Sonar which transients matter and which ones don't. For example, if the transient detection process is pretty good except for some extraneous transients that don't correspond to beats, you can disable those transients (they're never really deleted, just disabled so they don't have an effect).

Another approach is if you're, for example, trying to quantize a clip to tempo. If you put transients at the beginning of each beat, it's easy to do this kind of quantization (we'll describe how to do that later on). However, it's unlikely you'll have only those transients; there will be plenty of others. So in this case, you can "promote" the transients that occur on the beat, then set a high threshold that ignores all the other transients (promoted transients are immune to threshold changes and are always in play).

Yet another way to tweak transients is to simply add you own transients right on the beat; the AudioSnap palette has an Insert Transient Marker button.

Now, all this may raise more questions than it answers. However, as we work through some examples in subsequent posts, it should all make sense. And if it doesn't...well, this is a Pro Review, ask your questions and things will be clarified.

[Anderton]

Let's try getting tempo to follow along with a groove, using the AudioSnap feature. Just to make things tough, I'm using a drum loop played by an Actual Human so there are some little variations and timing inconsistencies. The clip is 8 measures long.

The first thing you do is right-click and select AudioSnap Enable. Fortunately, this clip has a prominent downbeat for each measure. What we'll do is "promote" each downbeat, then raise the threshold so that only the downbeat transient markers are active. If all goes according to plan, I should be able to then tell Sonar's tempo to sync up with these.

BUT take it from me, the first thing you want to do is make sure that any tempo changes are erased, and you're dealing with "flat lined" tempo. We can add changes later if desired. If there are already tempo changes, AudioSnap can become hopelessly confused.

So I played through the clip, identified the beats that fall at the beginning of each measure, right-clicked on each one, and selected "Promote." You can also just Ctrl-click all the ones you want to promote, and promote one of them to promote them all.

Next I set the Threshold to 100%. This left only the "promoted" transients. Then I clicked on "Align Time Ruler." I decided to try the "Extract Timing" option, as the clip is pretty short and when this works, it's the fastest way to go. So I selected an "Expected Pulse Duration" of a whole note, but didn't check "Find a steady rhythm" because there's nothing much steadier than a transient at every measure. Click on the attachment to see how this was set up. Will it work? Let's click on "Extract Timing"...

[Anderton]

Bingo! Click on the attachment to see what happened. All the time ruler measure indicators snapped right to the designated measure transients on the clip. Remember, there was no processing of the clip; the clip is the same, it's the tempo map that's changed to accommodate the clip.

There's still a loose end: The clip doesn't end exactly at measure 9, which I'd like it to do. I tried just slip-editing the clip (without stretching) to the beginning of measure 9, but the little silent part was noticeable. We'll attempt to fix this in a minute, but first, let's take a look at exactly how Sonar 6 pinned the tempo to the clip.

[Anderton]

Sonar 6 does this magic by altering the tempo map to "fudge" the tempo between designated transients. Click on the attachment to see the "post-pinned" tempo map. If there had been a transient at, say, every 1/4 note, then the tempo map would likely show smaller changes at every 1/4 note.

Now let's see if we can fix that silent part at the end.

[Anderton]

Okay, I tried a bunch of different stretching techniques to deal with that silence at the end, like splitting off just the end of the clip and trying to stretch it. But ultimately, what worked best was just zooming in really close on the tempo view, and adjusting the last tempo change until the end of the clip lined up exactly with the start of measure 9, then I added a very quick fade...problem solved.

However, although we've proven a point here that you can match tempo to a clip, this isn't a very practical example in some ways. It would be very practical if the clip was an entire tune, because then we'd have a tempo map for the entire tune. But if we wanted to use that clip throughout a song, we would need to copy and paste the tempo map to go along with the clip.

So, if we indeed wanted to use this clip throughout a song, it would make more sense to match the clip to the tempo. That way, we could just copy the clip over and over again, secure in the knowledge that it would line up with the project tempo. There's an easy way to do this that doesn't involve stretching.

First off, because of the pinning-tempo-to-clip exercise we just did, we know the clip's tempo is somewhere around 122 BPM. So, we can "flat line" the tempo, and just tweak the tempo until the beginning of measure 9 lines up exactly with the end of the clip. As it turns out, a tempo of 122.02 causes the beginning of the clip to land at measure 1, beat 1, and the end of the clip to land on measure 9, beat 1. Perfect.

Of course, this doesn't deal with any timing variations that occur within the clip, and suppose we want to use this loop with various electronica loops that have perfect timing. The fact this clip was played by a human creates some flams and inconsistencies that don't work with the "perfect" loops. We now have two choices: We can have the perfect loops follow the human one, or the other way around. For now, let's quantize the humanized loop and make it perfect.

[Anderton]

We'll return to the original clip. The tempo is at 122.02, so the clip lasts exactly 8 measures. We'll re-enable AudioSnap, but this time, we want to catch all transients so they'll all be quatized to the quantization grid.

As luck would have it, the drum hits are well-defined, and I only needed to disable one "false trigger" transient. You can check out the region (beat) between transients by placing the cursor on the transient (or using the Go to Next Transient/Go to Previous Transient buttons to land on a particular transient) then hitting the Audition Beat button. If you audition a beat and you hear an extra hit, you can add a transient at the extra hit. To trap a "false position," you can disable a transient marker and audition the beat that contains the disabled marker. If it's all one solid sound, leave the marker disabled.

Once the transients are defined, you select the Quantize task, then under Actions, click on Quantize. A quantize dialog box comes up; click on the attachment to see how AudioSnap has been set up to do the quantizing operation. Note that the only element to be changed is AudioSnap beats.

This particular clip was triplet-based, so I quantized to 8th note triplets. Now let's click on OK and............

[Anderton]

Success! Click on the attachment to see how the transients are now totally lined up.

At this point, we can select the Clip and render using the appropriate algorithm. I tried rendering with the iZotop Radius Mix algorithm, then undid that and tried the Percussion algorithm. The Percussion one definitely sounded better, so I stuck with that. At this point, the clip has been quantized and rendered, so AudioSnap is out of the picture.

Now, the point of all this isn't to say that you should quantize the living daylights out of everything. The point is that you can if you want to.

But what's more interesting is that you can also quantize to grooves, as well as change the groove of a quantized clip. Before signing off for today, let's take a look at how you can use AudioSnap to change the "feel" of a quantized loop.

[Anderton]

As we just created a perfectly quantized clip, let's "de-perfect" it.

The goal here is to lag the backbeat snare hits (the ones that land on the third beat of the measure) just a bit to give more of a laid-back feel. Again, this is a job for AudioSnap, but a fairly simple one.

Enable AudioSnap on the quantized clip, and turn up the transient sensitivity so there's a transient on at least the backbeat snare hits. Now all you have to do is grab a transient and move it where you want the note associated with it to move. Click on the attachment; note how the snare (indicated by the violet transient marker) was moved back a bit so it no longer falls exactly on beat 1:03, but hits a little bit late.

[Anderton]

Download the attachment to hear an excerpt from the quantized clip. Remember to change the extension from PHP to MP3 if necessary.

[Anderton]

Download the attachment to hear an excerpt from the clip where the backbeat snare lags slightly. Remember to change the extension from PHP to MP3 if necessary.

[Anderton]

So far, so good? Is this all making sense? Anything not clear?

[DeeringAmps]

All clear here!

Thanks,
Tom

[MSaether]

Looking good, Craig.

For users who spend a lot of time with AudioSnap, I highly recommend you learn and use the various keyboard shortcuts listed below. They are sure to speed up the workflow, and you can use the key bindings feature to re-assign the shortcuts if desired (go to Options | Key Bindings and choose the "Track View" bind context).

AudioSnap Enable = F12
AudioSnap Add Transients To Pool = Ctrl+F12
AudioSnap Show Transient Markers = Shift+F12
AudioSnap Go to Next Transient Marker = Tab
AudioSnap Go to Previous Transient Marker = Shift+Tab
Set Measure/Beat at Now = Ctrl+M
AudioSnap Auto Stretch (Follow Tempo) = Alt+F12
AudioSnap Insert Marker = Ctrl+Alt+I
AudioSnap Reset Selected Transient Marker(s) = Ctrl+Alt+R
AudioSnap Delete Inserted Marker = Ctrl+Alt+Backspace
AudioSnap Disable Marker = Ctrl+Alt+D
AudioSnap Promote Marker = Ctrl+Alt+P
AudioSnap Snap to Transients = Ctrl+Alt+N
AudioSnap Audition Beat = Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar
AudioSnap Show Palette = Shift+A
AudioSnap Show Transient Pool = Ctrl+Alt+F12
AudioSnap Select All Markers = Alt+Shift+A
AudioSnap Clear Selection = Alt+Shift+C
AudioSnap Select Moved Markers = Alt+Shift+M
AudioSnap Select Stretched Markers = Alt+Shift+S
AudioSnap Select Disabled Markers = Alt+Shift+D
AudioSnap Select Enabled Markers = Alt+Shift+E
AudioSnap Select Promoted Markers = Alt+Shift+P

These default shortcuts are also listed in the online Help (Help | Keyboard Shortcuts).

Cheers,

Morten Saether [Cakewalk]

[Anderton]

Thanks Morten, that's useful info. I've learned some of them, but haven't committed them all to memory yet...

[Keith-Cakewalk]

Hi Craig,

Nice workflow cases.

What really excites me about this feature is the ability to breathe life into projects by giving robot drums some humanity. Sooo much nicer on the ears. We hear so much today on the radio that is locked mindlessly being quantized with all the life out of it that I can't even stand listening for more than 30 seconds. With this feature though, I've heard several projects from people using AudioSnap and you don't even realize that AudioSnap was used. It's just fun to listen to.

Now as far as your alignment with the end of the clip... There's a really easy way to nail that. Just make sure the snapper is set to clip, click the now time so it's right at the end of that clip. Then, use the Set Measure Beat at Now and type in the measure and beat it is. It will most likely even guess the right number from the get go. Then, you don't have to play with the tempo to get it to line up. Similarly, you could have done that by dragging the clip so it starts on the measure you want, use the Set Measure Beat at Now at the beginning of it to create a tempo anchor. Then, use the same command on the end, and you have an instant indication of the tempo for that clip. No guessing, back and forth, etc.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, you can use Set Measure Beat at Now with MIDI. So, that means you can freely play on your MIDI keyboard, then later go in and mark the measures and beats to line up the ruler. For some people/styles, it's way easier to do that than the Fit Improvisation method.

Enjoy!

Keith

[Anderton]

In the Pro Review thread on the Konnekt 24D, I was asked about latency of the drivers, and the lowest latency you could get without clicks and pops. To "even the playing field," I opened up new projects with no other tracks or plug-ins, and adjusted the samples in the Konnekt 24D applet. The following are the lowest latencies I could achieve with reliable results:

Cubase 4: 128 samples
Ableton Live 5.0.3: 128 samples
Acid Pro 6.0: 128 samples
Tracktion: 64 samples
Guitar Rig 2 (stand-alone mode): 128 samples
Sonar (ASIO): 256 samples
Sonar (WDM): 256 samples

At 128 samples, Sonar was close to acceptable, with just occasional clicks and pops, but was still unuseable. For all programs it was the same computer, same interface, etc. Are there any "magic bullet" check boxes or parameters I should try using with Sonar to bring its latency down to the other programs?

I must say I was impressed by Tracktion's ability to operate reliably at 64 samples, but I'd settle for being able to get 128 samples with Sonar!

[Anderton]

I'm copying a post from the Sonar forum from Cakewalk's John McCarty. I was having problems with some devices showing up as MIDI instruments, even when I specified "Configure as Synth" under plug-in properties. Turns out this is a known bug; here's a workaround until the fix appears:

1. Open the "Cakewalk VST" registry key in a registry editor:
{HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cakewalk Music Software\Cakewalk VST\}

2. Find and select the affected plug-in's file name under the "Inventory" key

3. Select the "isSynth" value and set it to '1'

4. Restart SONAR and this plug-in will show up as a VSTi

[Matt Hepworth]

Craig, thanks! That's really laying it out well and it's helping me follow along with AudioSnap. A couple "What the?!?!" questions have been answered.

Excellent work!

[Anderton]

First of all, Keith's trick about going to the end of the clip and setting the desired measure and beat for the now time works perfectly. It's a nice time-saver, to say the least, when you have a loop and aren't sure what its tempo is.

He also mentioned something I've alluded to, which is being able to quantize to grooves. Although there's a quantize to groove tool if you want to quantize to a specific groove, the Quantize to Pool feature is the main tool for quantizing one part to another.

The "pool" is a collection of transient markers from one or more clips that basically determine a "master quantization grid" for a project. Clips can then be quantized to this pool of transient markers.

For example, suppose you have a drum loop that was played by an actual human with a great feel, and you play a rhythm guitar part along with it. You can AudioSnap-enable the drum part, adjust the Sensitivity and Threshold controls to create transients on the hits (as well as disable hits you don't want to be part of the pool), then click on "Add Transients to Pool." Click on the attachment to follow along with what we'll be covering.

The upper track is the drum loop with transients added. These have all been added to the pool; look along the bottom of the screen shot, and you'll see these transients extend below the next track down and form dotted lines on the clips view background.

The lower track is a rhythm guitar part that has also been AudioSnap-enabled and has transients at the beginning of each chord. Again, looking along the bottom, you can see that some of these transients match up perfectly with the pool (hey, my timing's not [i]that[/] bad!), but others do not. What we'll do next is quantize the rhythm guitar part to the drums.

[Anderton]

Now the stage is set, as it were, and quantizing to the pool is simple. I clicked on the rhythm guitar part to select it, selected "Quantize to Pool" as the task, then clicked on the "Quantize to Pool" button. Done! Click on the attachment to see the final result.

Note how the rhythm guitar attacks now line up perfectly with the pool, and therefore, with the drum part. On playback, the rhythm guitar part didn't sound that great due to the stretching, so I selected the iZotope Radius Mix algorithm and rendered the rhythm guitar part by Bouncing to Clip. The offline rendering did its job, and the guitar sounded just fine.

Incidentally, as you might expect, you don't have to quantize right to the pool; there are quantize strength sliders, and you can also set a "distance from pool" parameter that causes notes further than a certain distance from a pool not to be quantized (there's also a slider for "fine-tuning" this window). It's really quite cool.

Again, though, let me emphasize that the more complex the part you're quantizing, the more likely you'll need to do some manual labor. For example, AudioShap added some transients in the middle of sustained chords; lowering the sensitivity got rid of too many desired transients, so I went in and disabled the unneeded transients by hand so they wouldn't be shifted to a pool transient.

[Anderton]

And I should at least provide an audio example, right? Attached is and audio example of the post-quantize to pool guitar part; note how it lines up perfectly with the drums.

Before we get off this topic, remember that the pool of transients can come from any clips, and in any quantity. For example, the pool could consist of transients that hit only at the beginning of each measure, and you could quantize the bass track so that only notes within 1/16th note of the beginning of each measure are quantized -- making sure the measure start attacks hit right on the beat, but everything plays as it did originally.

Now it may seem like a lot of work to do this kind of processing, but as always, just because you can doesn't mean you must. Yes, you can use AudioSnap to quantize everything to everything, but I think its real value is as a problem-solver.

For example, I have a bunch of loops from Dr. Walker's "Cologne Cyclez" sample CD that really kick butt, but most of them use swing. I found a bass line loop that would have worked perfectly with it, except it didn't have swing...but with Quantize to Pool, it did!

[Keith-Cakewalk]

Originally posted by Anderton
At 128 samples, Sonar was close to acceptable, with just occasional clicks and pops, but was still unuseable. For all programs it was the same computer, same interface, etc. Are there any "magic bullet" check boxes or parameters I should try using with Sonar to bring its latency down to the other programs?
[/B]

I assume it was the same sample rate so same latency.
44,100 2.9 ms
48,000 2.6 ms
96,000 1.3 ms

However, was the bit depth set similarly? In the Global Options, Audio Data tab, try different settings for the file bit depth. If the test file you're using is 16-bit, matching the Import and Render depths may help.

Another setting to check is the I/O Buffer size. You'll find it on the Audio options dialog, Advanced page. For some systems, better performance can be gained with a lower value, others need a higher value.

Keith

[Anderton]

Well, well, well...I tested Sonar 6 with the Creamware SCOPE interface and got reliable operation over ASIO at 3 milliseconds, and with the E-Mu 1820m at 4 milliseconds, also with ASIO. This was a somewhat more complex testing environment that the other tests, as it had a few drum tracks and an AmpliTube2 plug-in.

Therefore, it seems that issue is related to the driver in the Konnekt 24D. I'll follow up on this in the Konnekt 24D Pro Review thread so as not to hijack this one.

[abzic]

Hi all
Great info here! I wonder if I can create the pool from a midi track.
Thanks
Andres

[Bud Ice Man]

No, you can't, you must render to audio first. This is the one area in which Beat Detective is up on Audio Snap, but rendering is really easy, so...

[Anderton]

AudioSnap also has a REX-like function in that it can slice a clip into individual beats (by beats, I don't mean quarter-notes necessarily, but individual slices of sound), then quantize the start of each beat (each of which is now its own clip) to the grid or the pool. The advantage to doing things this way is that no stretching is required to do quantization. The disadvantage is that you need to have beats with fairly clean breaks in between; also, after quantization, a beat might move forward a bit and if the next beat doesn't move, there may be a gap between the two. Whether or not this matters, of course, depends on the particular material.

This basically works like the other AudioSnap functions we described: You set up the transient markers so that each beat begins with a marker. You don't want any markers in between beats. Then, you click on the "Split Beats into Clips" button (the one that looks like a pair of scissors). This splits the clip at each transient marker; click on the attachment to see the clip after it's been split.

[Anderton]

Now you can quantize the beats. Remember, each one is essentially a clip, so what we want to do is quantize the start of each clip to our desired quantization grid.

Click on the attachment to see how this is done. The crucial part is that under "Change," you must select "Audio Clip Start Times" and not select anything else to change. Also, note the "AutoXFade" parameter. If a clip moves forward into the end of another clip, you can have them crossfade automatically over a certain period of time. The screen shot shows 20ms, but for the clip shown here, I changed it to 5ms as the clip was a relatively percussive guitar part with chords stabs.

[Anderton]

We're almost there. Click on the attachment to see the final result. You can see the start of each clip is now perfectly aligned with the beat, but also notice the small gaps and crossfades.

At this point I cleaned this up a bit by eliminating the "silent" spaces (they actually had some noise) and doing a quick fadeout each beat. As I wanted to convert this into a single clip, I selected all the clips and did a "Bounce to Clip." I then slip-edited the end so the end landed exactly on the beat, and bounced again. Perfect! I had my loop.

[Anderton]

I spent quite a bit of time last night after posting this creating some guitar loops, and came to the conclusion that the "Split beats at clips" functions is the most squirrely of all the AudioSnap functions. One problem was that splits would sometimes occur even at transient markers I'd disabled. Another was that sometimes the reverse would occur: Splitting at clips would split in one or two places, but not at markers that had been promoted.

There may be some pilot error involved, but I'll be working with this function some more so if it's a problem at my end, I should figure it out...if not, I'll file a bug report. Bottom line was that for the most reliable results, it was usually best to right-click on each marker where I wanted a split, and select "Split Beat."

[johndefiore]

Originally posted by Anderton
I spent quite a bit of time last night after posting this creating some guitar loops, and came to the conclusion that the "Split beats at clips" functions is the most squirrely of all the AudioSnap functions. One problem was that splits would sometimes occur even at transient markers I'd disabled. Another was that sometimes the reverse would occur: Splitting at clips would split in one or two places, but not at markers that had been promoted.

There may be some pilot error involved, but I'll be working with this function some more so if it's a problem at my end, I should figure it out...if not, I'll file a bug report. Bottom line was that for the most reliable results, it was usually best to right-click on each marker where I wanted a split, and select "Split Beat."

I had similar experiences with "split beats at clips". Sometimes it refused to split at all the beats, just picking a few that it liked. I tried to get a Cakewalk employee to show me what I was doing wrong at the AES show, but everything worked flawlessly there when I tried it on their system (of course). The funny thing is that it's working fine on MY system now and I don't know what's changed. Anyone else having issues?

Regards,

John

[Keith-Cakewalk]

Apologies for that behavior.

We've identified a few issues with split beat that we'll be addressing in a future update. For now, clear your selection after doing the first split before doing the next ones.

Keith

[tekrytor]

A quick question regarding Sonar 6.

Can I get the same recording and playback transport control features using my GNX4 (or similar units) in Sonar 6 that I enjoy with ProTracks Plus?

Thanks,

[Anderton]

That's an excellent question! I suggest you go to DigiTech's GuitarWorkstation.com (http://www.guitarworkstation.com/Tutorial17/tutorial17.htm) site, where there are instructions on how to install the DigitechRPX.dll plug-in for control surfaces (you can download the plug-in from there as well). It should work with Sonar 6 (it worked with Sonar 4 just fine) as long as Cakewalk didn't change the control surface plug-in format. I'll try this myself, but you might get a chance to check this out before I do...if so, please report back and let us know.

[tekrytor]

Thank you Craig,

Actually, I asked because I am considering upgrading to Sonar 6 (do not own it yet) and GNX compatability would be a definate PRO factor in my decision making process. But without owning Sonar 6, I can't just try it out myself.

Your excellet review process here is also a factor, I've been a spellbound reader of yours since the 70's with your GP columns and your "Electronic Projects for Musicians" book, etc; so your reports in this forum are highly influential for me.

So, keep on keepin' on! It's great to know YOU're trying what we're buying before we buy, too! Especially at the higher end of the market.

If I might add, it's also refreshing to see that Cakewalk is actively online here. Too many companies are missing the boat by avoiding popular user groups for their products. Another PLUS for Sonar 6! My upgrade to Sonar 6 is not far off at this rate.

tekrytor
Steve M

[Anderton]

My hard drive died awhile ago, and although I didn't lose any data thanks to backing things up (that was a close one), I needed to re-install my programs from scratch. I hadn't re-installed the GNX4 software yet, so your post gave me an excellent excuse :)

As I was a little rusty on the details of installation (I installed when I first got the GNX4, and it stayed on there until the drive died), I went to the tutorial I did on hands-free recording with Sonar, and downloaded the control surface plug-in and the command to register the plug-in. (This is all documented in the tutorial.)

I installed the USB drivers, and the "beta" ASIO drivers. (These have been beta for years now, so I doubt they'll ever be updated. They work, but you can't adjust the latency; you're stuck with 10ms. However, this may not matter, as we'll see.) Then I set up "DigiTech Hands-Free" as the control surface, and it fired right up -- hitting the record footswitch created the track, record-enabled it, and started recording... the Stop and Undo functions worked, in fact the whole thing worked right up to spec. That was quite encouraging, I must say!

There are a couple things of which you should be aware:

1. When hands-free creates a track, it record-enables the track but does not enable input monitoring ("input echo"). Therefore, you'll probably want to set a mix of the guitar with effects, and the return from Sonar via USB. That also gives you zero-latency monitoring, as you're hearing the guitar while you play it rather than through Sonar.

2. If you hit the GNX4 Stop footswitch after recording, recording for the track is disabled. But if while recording you hit Play, that's equivalent to hitting stop except recording is not disabled. If you then hit Record again, you'll continue recording in the same track, as another layer. This is a handy technique if you want to build up a ton of sounds in one track.

Anyway, thanks for asking me about this...setting it up reminded me just how cool it is to use the GNX4 as an interface with hands-free recording options.

[Anderton]

One more comment: Yes, Cakewalk is active here, but in all fairness it's because I always solicit manufacturer input as part of a Pro Review.

A more accurate indication of Cakewalk's activity is in their forums at the Cakewalk web site. I must say those forums are very impressive, both in terms of the quality of the users (they've solved several knotty problems for me) and Cakewalk's responsiveness. Obviously there will always be people who want specific features or who have specific problems that can't be resolved, but Cakewalk does own up to problems and tries hard to track down the sources, and by and large users give them major props for that.

[MSaether]

Originally posted by tekrytor
But without owning Sonar 6, I can't just try it out myself.

Hi Steve,

You can download a fully-functional trial version of SONAR 6 from the Cakewalk web site (http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/kb20061101.asp). The DigitechRPX.dll plug-in that Craig linked to should work just fine in the SONAR 6 trial version.

Best regards,

Morten Saether [Cakewalk]

[Anderton]

I’d like to wrap up AudioSnap (although you’re welcome to ask any questions concerning it) so we can move on to the other features in Sonar 6. I’ve been spending some time with AudioSnap, and have started to use it without obsessing too much – for example, I was working on some guitar loops, enabled AudioShap, and rendered with the iZotope Mix algorithm without even bothering to tweak any transients. It worked, and sounded, just fine.

There are a couple other features worth noting. One is that the "look" of the transient markers reflects their status: Disabled, promoted, selected, moved but not stretched, moved and stretch, user marker that was added manually, and so on. A particularly interesting feature is that the marker head changes color to indicate how close it is to maximum stretch (there’s a limit of 25% of the original length to 400% of the original length).

An even more important feature takes advantage of the Auto Stretch feature. When I heard about this, it seemed too good to be true so I gave it a pretty deep test when I reviewed Sonar 6 for EQ magazine. Basically, it allows AudioSnap-enabled clips to follow tempo changes, just like REX or Acidized files; enable AudioSnap before making tempo changes, and the clips will follow along. It will take you some time to render a lot of clips if you’re late in the game of doing a project and decide to add tempo changes, but hey, it works!

You can also right-click on the AudioSnap palette’s title bar and adjust transparency. So, you can adjust AudioSnap parameters while seeing the results on a waveform “below” it – cool. Click on the attachment to see transparency in action; this shows full transparency. I’d like to see this option added to more windows, particularly soft synths that take up a lot of space, and the transport.

[Anderton]

Unfortunately, you can’t add MIDI events to the pool. But there are still some MIDI tricks. These are mostly holdovers from previous versions, but integrated into the AudioSnap function.

One new MIDI feature is the ability to quantize to the pool, which you select in the Snap to Grid dialog. This makes it easy to have synth bass, for example, groove along with a drum pattern.

The other MIDI options relate to extracting grooves from audio, then quantizing to those grooves (the grooves can also be saved, and you can load grooves that are included with S6). You can also “write” the groove as MIDI notes, which can be very, very convenient if you want to do drum replacement.

[Anderton]

The more I work with AudioSnap, the more facile I become with it – and that’s important, because how you’ll use AudioSnap depends on the material, and the desired end result. There’s no doubt it can be confusing, even daunting, at first. But as you gain experience, you’ll start recognizing what type of material likes what kind of algorithms, whether transient markers are placed properly, and the like.

But let me emphasize this is not a “one size fits all” solution. REX files and Acidized files also perform well for time-stretching, so what AudioSnap really does is provide more stretching options. And even within AudioSnap, there are different options like cutting a beats vs. moving transients. And don’t overlook just slip-editing a clip to make it match a particular length; that’s often the simplest and easiest way to go.

Musically, I don’t know how much I’ll use this feature; I try to keep the timing natural in a project, although I’m sure there will be times when it will be easier to reach for AudioSnap to fix a glitch than recut a part. However, in terms of creating samples and loops, AudioSnap has already proved its worth over and over. Overall, AudioSnap is such a rich feature with so many potential applications that I’m pretty sure I’ll still be finding out subtleties about it months from now.

Again, feel free to ask any questions; meanwhile, I plan to tackle the VC-64 channel strip…it too is pretty deep.

[Anderton]

One thing you can’t accuse Cakewalk of is the “not invented here” syndrome. When they needed to do stretching, they adopted Acidization and incorporated a REX player. When they needed some decent signal processing plug-ins, they turned to Sonitus and acquired the Sonitus:fx plug-ins. They looked to FXpansion for a VST wrapper, Voxengo for a convolution reverb, and when they wanted to get involved in soft synths, called on the talents of Réné Ceballos.

So now they’ve re-skinned the Kjaerhus Golden Channel, adapted it for 64-bit operation, and voilà – the VC-64 channel strip. Good call: Kjaerhus’ effects are excellent, but being a small operation, the company has never gotten the props it deserved.

I was a little put off when I wanted to read the manual for it (yes, I’m the guy who actually reads manuals; you access it by clicking on the “Manual” label just above the VC-64’s Gain control in the lower left) and couldn’t find anything on the Main Section in the contents page. This is important, as it descirbes how the inter-module routing works, as well as the main controls. But it really is there: Click on the manual’s “Index” tab, then double-click on “Routings.” Scroll upward to see the rest of the manual’s documentation on the Main Section.

The VC-64 is a multifunction audio processor that is reasonably kind on your CPU. Its roster of effects includes a noise gate, de-esser, two compressors, and two equalizers; click on the attachment to see the plug-in's GUI. Each equalizer has four stages of multimode equalization (parametric, low shelving, high shelving, low pass, and high pass).

Yes, Sonar already has most of these functions from the Sonitus effects. But whereas they’re designed to be neutral, the VC-64 is designed to add “character” and color the sound in a subjectively pleasing way, as well as add more functionality thanks to the ability to do internal routings of the various effects. This is a big deal – after giving a brief rundown of each section, we’ll get into some of the applications made possible by the different routings.

[Anderton]

This is one of the simplest modules, consisting solely of a “power” button, Threshold control, Decay Time control, and meter. Click on the attachment to see its control set. As a result of the simplicity, you can’t set a particular amount of gate attenuation (the only choice is off or on; it's not possible to have, say, -20dB of attenuation in the off position), nor can you set an attack time for “attack delay” effects.

However, in addition to gating noise, the processor does offer a useful "effect": “Tightening up” percussive sounds. Set a relatively high threshold and short decay, and you can reduce leakage in drum parts, as well as reduce high-hat/tom/cymbal decays. With full drum/percussion loops, you can sometimes set the threshold high enough to leave the snare and kick sounds intact, but remove lower-level percussive sounds.

Granted, a noise gate isn't all that exciting, but it's useful and this one works just fine.

[Anderton]

I was very happy to see that the VC-64 includes a De-Esser, as it doesn't seem to be a very common plug-in, and I often have the need for one. As it turns out, this one works very well..."lack of De-Esser" problem solved.

In case you're not familiar with the concept, a De-Esser is basically a frequency-selective compressor. The Frequency control sets the frequency above which compression occurs, while the Threshold control sets the level needed to trigger compression. Click on the attachment to see the available controls.

As with the Noise Gate, this is a "just the basics" De-Esser with no bells and whistles. But that doesn't mean de-essing is all it can do. Aside from de-essing vocals, I’ve found this useful to tame overly-prominent high hats in dance music drum loops, as well as bring down the “buzziness” of distorted signals with lots of highs.

[Anderton]

That's not a typo, I indeed said compressors, not compressor.

As expected, each compressor has the usual complement of controls: Bypass, Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Decay, Output Gain, and Input Gain (so you can choose how hard you want to "slam" the compressor if you're so inclined). There's also a cool-looking analog meter that can show input, output, or amount of gain reduction. I will say that I'd prefer three bar graph meters that showed all three parameters at once, but presumably that wouldn't look very "vintage." Click on the attachment to see the compressor GUI.

Note that the same interface serves for both compressors. You select the compressor you want with the C1/C2 buttons toward the buttom, and each has its own "power" switch (turn off any compressor you're not using to save CPU power). Be careful that you've selected the correct compressor before you start tweaking; I'd like it if there was a subtle change to the interface (e.g., different knob colors or background lighting on the VU meter) between the two compressors so it would be more obvious which one was selected.

But in addition to the usual controls, there are some non-standard controls. One button gives optical or VCA compression curves, and a clean (“smooth”)/warm switch for different sonic characteristics. I found these to be the kind of buttons where you just try one option or the other, and decide which one you like best.

There’s also an auto attack/release button; this feature isn’t unusual, but it’s given an unusual name (“PDE”) so you may not recognize it. Also note that the compressors can be thrown out of phase if desired. Dumb idea? Not at all - you'll see why later :)

[Anderton]

Why dual equalizers? To take advantage of various routings that put them in series, parallel, in the path of EQs to perform frequency-selective compression, and so on.

As with the compressor, both EQs share a single UI; click on the attachment to see the EQ controls and curve graphics. You select the EQ you want to edit with the E1/E2 button, and like the compressor, the same caution applies about making sure you have the right EQ selected before you start tweaking knobs. The power button is available for both EQs, so you can turn one off and one on, both on, or both off.

There are four parametric stages per EQ (with Gain, Freq, and Q controls) as well as your choice of five responses + bypass: Highpass, lowpass, high shelf, low shelf, and parametric. Note that the Q control is active in the shelf and lowpass/highpass modes. It controls the "gentleness" of the curve in the shelving modes, and adds a resonance bump (yes, just like a synth filter) in the lowpass and highpass modes.

The Constant-Q button is an unexpected asset. In a nutshell, a filter with a constant-Q response has sharp notches and broad peaks, whereas one without constant-Q has equally broad (or narrow) notches and peaks. Turn on constant-Q if you need to make deep, narrow notches to get rid of unwanted frequency anomalies yet allow for relatively broad boosts, or turn it off for a more natural sound.

The Range buttons have no effect on the sound, but alter the range of the graph by setting the vertical axis to ±5, ±10, or ±20 dB. As you generally want to use the minimum amount of EQ possible, I recommend setting this value to 5 as it makes subtle equalization settings easier to see. Wide ranges (as found on most EQs) can induce people to boost or cut more than they really should so they can “see the curve."

[Anderton]

The VC-64's "big feature" that makes it stand out from simpler plug-ins is that it offers multiple signal routing presets - series, parallel, and side-chaining options. For example, compressors can be “patched” in series or parallel, and side-chaining is also possible within the channel strip to allow for frequency-selective compression. (I realize that the latest VST spec allows for side-chaining, but it's going to be a while before that's commonplace and besides, it's convenient to have that ability within a single plug-in.)

Clicking on the routing window steps through the various options, but you can also right-click on it and select one of the ten options from a pop-up menu. Click on the attachment to see the various routings.

As to what you can do with these different routings, let's look at a few typical applications.

[Anderton]

As to applications, let's look at the Parallel Compression routing first. This patches all effects in series except that the output splits through two compressors in parallel. Parallel compression is handy for when you want to do a fair amount of signal squashing, but still need a sense of dynamics; for example, one application is drum compression where you still want to retain percussive attacks.

Click on the attachment to see two compressors set up in parallel. Note that you can't see both compressors simultaneously in the VC-64 - I cut and pasted the GUIs for the two compressors into a single piece of artwork.

The compressor on the left provides heavy “squashing.” Typical settings for drums would be Threshold –20 dB, Attack 0.1 ms, Release 100 ms, and Ratio 10:1.

The compressor on the right adds in a lightly compressed signal. Start off with Threshold at –6 dB, Attack 10 ms, Release 150 ms, and a Ratio of 1.5:1. Finally, use each compressor’s Gain Out control to adjust the blend between the “super-squashed” and “lightly squashed” sounds.

A variation on this theme is to use the Two Band Compression routing. This is similar to the Parallel Compression routing, except that an equalizer precedes each compressor so you can tailor the frequency response of what gets compressed. For example, with guitar, you might want to notch the midrange on one of the channels and apply significant compression to bring up the pick noise transients, as well as the “boom” from an acoustic guitar’s body. Or, you could compress the midrange to bring up the notes.

Although you could use this routing as a primitive multi-band compressor, we're only talking two bands. Besides, the Sonitus multi-band compressor can do “real” multiband compression over up to five bands, so in this case the VC-64 would be more about creating effects rather than being a "true" multiband compressor.

[Anderton]

One cool application for the Two Band Compression routing doesn't actually involve any compression at all (just bypass them), but takes advantage of the EQ being in parallel - and being able to throw one of them out of phase - to create a really meaty, rich wah-wah effect.

On one of the EQs, turn the phase switch on, and bypass all of its stages so that its response is flat (the bypass button is the straight line in among the buttons showing the various possible curves). On the other EQ, select a bandpass response for one of the stages (the other ones should be bypassed). Set the Gain for this stage to about +8dB, and Q to about 8. Sweep this equalizer’s Frequency control to hear the wah-wah effect.

It should sound much more dramatic because with a standard parametric response, frequencies above and below the peak pass through at their “flat” amplitude. Including a second out-of-phase stage cancels frequencies above and below the peak, which emphasizes the peak.

[Anderton]

The "Mix and Master" routing option patches the equalizers and compressors in series, giving the equivalent of an 8-stage parametric EQ. But I find this setting more useful for compression than using massive amounts of EQ, as the Sonitus EQs pretty much do all you need for taming lots of "rogue resonances" in a signal.

Patching two compressors in series, and using light amounts of compression with each, produces a very "gentle" compression effect that definitely narrows dynamics, but does so without sounding overly unnatural.

Click on the attachment to see typical settings for the two compressors. Again, I've used a paint program to show the UI for each compressor simultaneously. If you used these settings with only one compressor, you wouldn’t hear much of a difference at all. But put two in series, and the effect seems to “multiply.” For example, I used these settings for bus compression on a jazz recording with drums, piano, and bass. Like classical music, you really don’t want to do a lot of dynamics processing with jazz; but the subtle compression helped make the music sound more “live” and present. In this case, I also used the Optical and PDE settings.

[Anderton]

With this routing, you can equalize and compress the two sides of a stereo signal separately. Although the Noise Gate and De-Esser affect both sides of the track equally, past these two modules, the signal splits to an EQ/compressor pair: The E1 equalizer and C1 compressor affect the left channel, while E2 and C2 process the right channel.

This can be extremely handy when restoring old stereo tracks (including stereo program material), particularly because you can automate the control settings. For example, if an instrument is too prominent in the left channel and unbalances the stereo mix, you can bring in compression (or EQ, or both, depending on what does the job best) to tame that instrument only while it’s playing.

[Anderton]

This is what the VC-64 calls "sidechain compression," and provides frequency-selective compression. In this routing, equalizer E2 taps the signal after compressor C1, and its output serves as the control for compressor C2.

In other words, instead of compressor C2 listening to its output to determine when to initiate compression, it listens to the filter. Thus, if the filter passes only high frequencies, then only high frequencies will be compressed.

However, remember that unlike compressor sidechains, which typically have a high pass filter to do de-essing, there are many more filter options in the VC-64. For example, suppose you’re applying sidechain compression to drums. If you set up a high shelf boost, then the high end will be compressed. But if you use another band of the VC-64’s equalizer to add a low shelf cut, then the low frequencies will actually sound expanded compared to the rest of the drums.

[Anderton]

The Parallel Compressor routing allows for a lot of special effects if you set one compressor for an out of phase response. Click on the attachment to see typical settings for a compression effect that gives a heavy "sucking" sound.

The settings are pretty crucial here. With compressor C2, set the following parameter values: Attack 10ms, Release 224ms, Threshold 0dB, Ratio 1:1, Gain Out 0 , and Phase should be set out of phase (lit). For the Gain in, start at around -10dB.

Compressor C1 uses the following values: Attack 10ms, Release 224 ms, Threshold -20dB or so, Ratio 2:1, Gain Out 0dB, and Phase should be set in phase (not lit). Set Gain In to 0dB. If you think about these settings, C1 is quite compressed, while C2 is not really compressed at all.

The next step is to adjust C2’s Gain In control. Fully counter-clockwise, you’ll hear that “super-squashed” drum sound used by the Beatles, Traffic, and others – the effect that sounds like the cymbals are being sucked into a vacuum. Turn the Gain In control more clockwise, and as it approaches 0 dB Gain In, the sound will come closer to resembling expansion. Continuing to turn the control clockwise reduces the “special effect” element, and the track will sound more normal.

This effect helps show the extent to which the VC-64 is an "overachiever."

[Anderton]

The VC-64 comes with a bunch of very useful presets you can choose from the Presets field, but of course, you can also save any presets you create. Just use the VST drop-down menu and choose “Save Preset.”

However, matters are complicated somewhat because a preset can have an “A” and “B” set of parameters. (This is what you use for doing comparisons; for example, if you’re using the "A" set of parameters, clicking “Copy” will copy the parameters to the "B" set of parameters.)

Saving a Preset saves both sets of parameters, but closing the host (or the plug-in) will cause the preset to “remember” the currently selected parameters only. When recalled, these will be placed in "A," regardless of which set you were using when you closed the host or VC-64.

Also note that no matter how much editing you've done, you can recall the original preset parameters by clicking on the Recall button.

[Anderton]

As with AudioSnap, it seems like the best way to get across what the VC-64 can do is to use some concrete examples. It's one thing to know that a module can put two equalizers in parallel; it's something else to know you can use that to make a bitchin' wah-wah sound.

Overall, this is one of those rare "magic bullet" plug-ins that sounds good on just about everything, if you're willing to take the time to find the routing that works best for you. For example, with acoustic guitar, not compressing the high frequencies can bring out a vibrant, present sound; while with drums, you can thicken them up big-time if that's your thing. Bus compression? Sure! You can use subtle amounts of compression to give the entire mix a little bit of a "lift."

The VC-64 provides that missing "vintage" element that Sonar never really had. In terms of the upgrade itself, consider the Kjaerhus equivalent lists for around $200, so you can consider the $200 upgrade fee from Sonar PE to Sonar 6 PE to pay for the VC-64, and everything else gets thrown in for free.

I'll post a few audio examples shortly.

[Anderton]

Customization may seem like a bogus feature compared to things like AudioSnap, the VC-64, and ACT. Yet ultimately, it can make a big difference on how you work.

However, you should be aware of three main factors before getting too deep into customization:

1. You’ll be non-standard. This may matter if you’re working in several studios with Sonar, or if you read articles where tips are based on performing specific steps. If your menus aren’t set up the same way, the article might make no sense.
2. You’ve probably spent some time learning Sonar, and you have the existing defaults already figured out. Customization is like a “self-imposed learning curve” as you’ll have to learn all the new things you’ve done.
3. The people at Cakewalk are pretty sharp, and a lot of the defaults make sense. Be careful that any customizations don’t make the program more difficult or confusing to use!

[Anderton]

While simple, this is one of my favorite customizations and one of the most effective. Although you can customize existing toolbars, the really important aspect here is you can create up the three custom toolbars. You can show, hide, and float these as you would any toolbar.

The main thing I used this function for was to create a single toolbar with all the most important functions that I use, and in the process, I was able to get rid of all the other toolbars, thus reclaiming some screen space, and minimizing clutter. For example, do you really need a button for “Open File?” I open the file and that usually begins a multi-hour odyssey where I really don’t need to open another file again. Besides, I just use a key command anyway.

Customizing toolbars is pretty simple. You right-click on any button in a toolbar you want to customize (you can select a user toolbar by going Views > Toolbars), choose customize, and a dialog box opens up. Click on the attachment to see the dialog box in action..

The left pane lists the available toolbar buttons, while the right pane shows the buttons in the currently selected toolbar. You just add or remove buttons using the “Add/Remove” buttons, and drag a button up or down to change its position relative to the other buttons.

You’ll also see an item marked “separator” in the screen shot. This lets you add spaces between groups of buttons, which I find very helpful as I like to group buttons based on functionality.

As to what makes up my “all in one” toolbar, here’s the list going from left to right:

Rewind
Stop
Play
Record
Now time
Run/stop audio engine
Reset MIDI
--3 separators—
Tempo
Insert tempo
--3 separators—
Open AudioSnap palette
--3 separators—
Controller/surface
Controller/surface properties
ACT learn
--3 separators—
Enable/disable automation playback
Enable/disable automation record
Clear all automation write enables
--3 separators—
Mute/unarm all tracks
Solo/unarm all tracks
Arm/unarm all tracks
--3 separators—
Loop on/off
Loop start
Loop end
Set loop points to selection
--3 separators—
Set punch points to selection
--3 separators—
Default groove-clip pitch
--3 separators—
Metronome settings
--3 separators—
Automation snapshot

Of course, this is what works for me...you might use a different set of functions more frequently. But that's the whole point: set it up, as Shakespeare once said, "As you like it."

Note that you can also reset any toolbars you modify if you get in too deep. Overall, this may seem like a fairly small function, but I find it extremely helpful in putting my most-used options one click away.

[abzic]

Probably you all friends following this review know about kjaerhus but, just in case, here I have some info to share with you. They have available for free download at www.kjaerhusaudio.com a nice VST plugin collection. I installed them all in Sonar5PE last night and I was pleased with the simplicity, sound and included presets.
The collection is made of:
1. Classic Chorus
2. Classic Compressor
3. Classic Delay
4. Classic EQ
5. Classic Flanger
6. Classic Master Limiter
7. Classic Phaser
8. Classic Reverb
9. Classic Auto-Filter

Andres

[Anderton]

Okay, here we go...this one is called "Leadfoot" because, well, it'll be obvious. The very beginning has the VC-64 bypassed, then the super-heavy kick comes in. This one routes the EQ in front of two compressors in series, with a big boost in the kick region.

Remember -- if this downloads with a .PHP suffix, remember to change it to MP3 in order to hear the file.

[Anderton]

This one is very similar to the previous example, but the EQ range has been shifted to the snare. Listen to just how much the overall sounds changes just by changing this one parameter.

[Anderton]

This uses the "Special FX" patch mentioned earlier, for a really squashed drum sound. Note the "sucking cymbal" sound at the beginning.

[Anderton]

Okay, back to customization.

Customizing menus is always a bit of a dangerous thing, as you may move a little-used function out of the way and later on, when you actually need it, forget that it’s even there. Fortunately, you can create and save entirely different menu layouts. So, you can experiment with one layout, try another, or if you’re defecting from another sequencer, set up the menu layouts like your previous host. (This complements the ability introduced in a previous version of Sonar to load different sets of key commands that match different hosts.)

Another useful aspect is that you can transfer your menu layouts (for example, if you use Sonar on a laptop, or if you work in another studio that uses Sonar, you’ll probably want the same environment). There’s no export function per se; you need to look in the Menuxml folder (Drive C: > Program Files > Cakewalk > Sonar 6 Producer Edition > Menuxml) for the desired menu layout file, copy it, then transfer it over to the same folder in the target version of Sonar.

It’s not hard to modify layouts. You go Options > Menu Editor, choose the menu you want to modify (you can even modify context-sensitive menus – cool), then show and hide the various menu items. Click on the attachment to see the dialog box.You can also re-order individual menu entries by dragging and dropping…it’s really quite painless. You can even re-order the left-to-right roster of menus.

So where to start? I began by creating a custom version of the default menu. First up: I never use Record, Stop, and Play from the Transport menu because it’s much easier to use a shortcut or click on a toolbar button. Poof! They were gone, and I ended up with a much trimmer Transport menu. I also grouped Views into MIDI and Audio views. Granted I usually use key commands, but this made the Views menu much more compact.

By the way, if you customize to the point of confusion, you can always get back the original menu set, named sonardefaultmenus.xml. And if you’re as resistant to change as major label record companies, you can even load up a menu set that’s just like Sonar 5.

[Anderton]

I'll be posting more, of course, but here's a gentle reminder that it's totally cool to ask questions...and people from Cakewalk are monitoring the thread, so if I can't answer a question, they probably can.

[simple]

This may be a little off topic - but here goes...with Sonar (and other similar programs) now offering so many good quality effects, how do you feel about hardware DSP solutions (such as the Creamware Scope system) - are they becoming obsolete at this point?

Also, I am interested in hearing about the Session Drummer 2 instrument that is included in Sonar 6 - is it a useful tool and how is the quality of the sounds and patterns?

Finally, I am a big fan of Ableton Live and am really just taking a look at Sonar as a possible alternative that may offer me something more (especially now that Sonar offers additional time stretching capabilities). What is your take on how these two compare?

[Anderton]

Originally posted by simple
This may be a little off topic - but here goes...with Sonar (and other similar programs) now offering so many good quality effects, how do you feel about hardware DSP solutions (such as the Creamware Scope system) - are they becoming obsolete at this point?

Also, I am interested in hearing about the Session Drummer 2 instrument that is included in Sonar 6 - is it a useful tool and how is the quality of the sounds and patterns?

Finally, I am a big fan of Ableton Live and am really just taking a look at Sonar as a possible alternative that may offer me something more (especially now that Sonar offers additional time stretching capabilities). What is your take on how these two compare?

I still find systems like SCOPE, E-Mu, TC Konnekt, and other "DSP assisted" products helpful with complex projects, because they take a load off the CPU. IMHO computers aren't quite to the point where you can do big projects entirely natively, without using track freeze or doing the occasional premix.

Session Drummer 2 will be covered soon.

As to Live, it's a brilliant program. But I consider it more of an "instrument," whereas Sonar is pure DAW (although I don't have Live 6 installed yet). I use Live for live performance, and Sonar for studio recording. You can download trials of both, making it easy for you to decide if you prefer the "gestalt" of one over the other.

[1manband]

Originally posted by Anderton
I'll be posting more, of course, but here's a gentle reminder that it's totally cool to ask questions...and people from Cakewalk are monitoring the thread, so if I can't answer a question, they probably can.

I was wondering about the side channel capabilities in the VC64. I read that you mentioned it had the capability, but I was wondering how to set that up exactly (to, for example, trigger the bass with the kick and such).

I was also wondering how you felt about Sonar's midi editing in general. There has been a bit of debate in the Sonar forums and (I think unfairly) Sonar has been getting a bad rap. So, in your definitely expert opinion, how do you feel about it?

BTW, I love these reviews and have been hanging on every word. It's so much more than just a review. It really turns out to be an in depth tutorial.

[Anderton]

I was wondering about the side channel capabilities in the VC64. I read that you mentioned it had the capability, but I was wondering how to set that up exactly (to, for example, trigger the bass with the kick and such).

Side-chaining is internal to the VC-64 and the track; you can't side-chain from a different track. So for example, you can have frequency-selective compression of the drum track based on audio from within that drum track itself, but not based on audio from another track.

I was also wondering how you felt about Sonar's midi editing in general. There has been a bit of debate in the Sonar forums and (I think unfairly) Sonar has been getting a bad rap. So, in your definitely expert opinion, how do you feel about it?

Sonar's MIDI editing has not been improved at the same rate as its other elements. However, I don't find it lacking -- just a bit inelegant. That said, as Cubase 4 seems to be the main competition for MIDI and I just installed C4, let me get a little more familiar with what C4 offers before I comment on the extent to which Sonar has kept up with, or fallen behind, the "MIDI mainstay."

[Anderton]

Sonar has had a synth rack for a while, but the one in S6 is a major improvement. Its goal seems to be to present a condensed version of what’s happening in synth-land, sort of a “soft synth’s greatest hits” so you can do a lot in terms of instrument manipulation without opening up a bunch of GUIs. It does this by centralization crucial controllers, setting automation options, freezing and unfreezing, selecting programs, and more.

The Synth Rack is resizeable within reason, so you can stretch it wider if you want all your controls to be in a single row, or narrow it so that the controls “overflow” to another row if the first row gets filled. Click on the attachment to see the synth rack, with four synths loaded, and resized so there are several rows of controls.

However, this screen shot also shows that not all synths are created equal in terms of the synth rack. The Cakewalk TTS-1, for example, won’t let you see its programs; also note that all the synths have controls assigned, except for the Cakewalk TTS-1 – because it doesn’t allow the new style of Cubase-like read/write automation that's new in S6. (You’ll see R and W buttons for automation in the track view for the TTS-1, but as far as I can tell, they don’t do anything. However, you can control several parameters via standard MIDI controllers.) Furthermore, because the TTS-1 doesn’t support RW automation, you can’t treats any of its parameters as assignable controls, as you can with the other synths.

You also can’t count on choosing programs from within the Synth Rack, either. From what I can tell, programs will appear for synths with MIDI-oriented, defined sets of preset programs (like the Korg M1 soft synth, as shown), but if your synth has a more dynamic, freeform way of choosing programs that’s not MIDI standard-friendly, they won’t. So, in some cases, you will indeed need to go to the synth GUI.

However, it’s helpful that the synth rack won’t show anything you can’t work with. For example, look at the TTS-1: It doesn’t have the Read/Write automation buttons, and under presets, it shows No Preset.

[Anderton]

This is my favorite aspect of the synth rack, so let’s dive into it before getting to the more utilitarian features.

Click on the attachment. Note the Assign Controls button toward the right side of the rack (the screen shot shows the one for Pentagon I being selected). Some Cakewalk synths appear with controls already assigned, but in most cases you’ll need to assign them yourself. But what’s really slick is there are two ways you can assign controls.

The touchy-feely method. For this you click on the Assign Controls button, and the instrument GUI shows up. Just move the parameters you want to assign as controls, and when you’re done, click on the Assign Controls button again. A dialog box shows up that says “X parameters were touched during learn. Are you sure you want to assign these controls?” where X is the number of parameters you moved. Say yes, and the parameters show up as controls along the bottom of the rack. Very cool! There’s one caution, though: Although the dialog box talks about parameters being “touched,” you can’t just click on a parameter; you actually need to adjust it.

The left-brain method. Right click on the Assign Controls button, and a pop-up menu appears with all the parameters that are available for assigning as controls. This is a little slower going, as you select each parameter individually.

Okay, we have a bunch of controls…now what?

[Anderton]

Right-clicking on a knob brings up a bunch of options; click on the attachment to see them. Most of these will be familiar if you’ve worked with automation in previous versions of Sonar.

Controls can be made part of a group, so you can move edit multiple parameters with one controller motion. Furthermore, you can set a start and end value for each control, and these can be independent for each control in a group. For example, you could group two filter cutoff controls but have them move oppositely when controlled, or have one cover its full range but have the other cover a narrower range. You can of course remove a control from its group, or clear an entire group, as well as set a “Snap-to” setting for the control – the value the control will assume if you double-click on it. Why would you want this? Simple: You’re doing automation by moving controls in real time, and you want to be able to jump instantly to a particular value. Moving a knob will likely overshoot or undershoot the value, so by using Set Snap-to, you can hit that value right on the money.

If you haven’t delved into groups before, this is powerful stuff, especially if you get into the Group Manager. This lets you choose a particular group and decide whether the controls will move in an absolute or relative fashion with respect to each other, but you can also swap start and end values, change the group color (although why you’d want to escapes me). All this grouping stuff isn’t new in S6, but it’s always worth mentioning.

Before moving on to remote control, you can also delete a control, or reassign it to any other available parameter. Note that this can bring up a pretty huge list of parameters with some instruments.

[Anderton]

This is pretty easy: Just right-click on a control, select Remote Control, and a Remote Control dialog box shows up – click on the attachment to see it. You can specify a controller, but it’s a lot easier just to wiggle the controller of your choice, and click on Learn.

If you’re getting a sense of déjà vu, that’s because this is all very much like the way Console View lets you break out plug-in processor parameters as sliders, which you can also group, assign to remote control, etc.

BTW we're not done with the synth rack yet, but it's getting late around here. Catch you later with more goodies, because there are more implications to what we've covered so far than you might think...

[Anderton]

Here is some great information from Mike (http://www.i5pmusic.com, user name Infinite5ths) over at the Sonar forum. One of their forumites was having problems with the z3ta+ presets showing up in the Synth Rack, and as Mike has "cracked the code" for how to make presets appear properly in the synth rack preset fields, he answered specifics on the z3tz+ but covered other synths as well. I think y'all will find this as useful as I did. Take it away, Mike...

In Sonar there are basically three ways to save plugin presets, depending on the type of plugin and its programming features.

1) What I call the DX/DXi style -- stored in in a combination of Registry keys and files on the HDD
2) What I call the VST/VSTi style -- stored in Program files (*.fxp) [individual presets] or Bank files (*.fxb) [banks of multiple programs -- usually 128 of them]
3) Proprietary systems -- which can use the Registry or files in the HDD or a combination of both. The Sonitus plugins have a proprietary preset manager. You access it using the gray "Preset" button in the Sonitus GUI (usually between the "Reset" & "?" buttons)

The Synth Rack preset dropdown list only shows only what I call the "DX/DXi style" plugin presets. [I think it has to do with the fact that the Synth Rack GUI needs the Registry entries in order to be able to show a list of presets. VST/VSTi style presets don't have the Registry entries, and proprietary systems each use their own method of storing preset info. So the Synth Rack GUI is currently unable to "find" them.]

Unfortunately, the 'presets' that you find in banks A-F in Z3TA+ are actually VSTi style programs and banks. If you click on the Programs and/or Bank button in Z3TA+ you'll see that it saves & loads *.fxp and *.fxb files. This is true for both the DXi and VSTi versions of Z3TA+.

[Incidentally, I only use the VSTi version of Z3TA+ because it has advertised parameters which allow ACT control, automation envelope assignments, etc. in Sonar. The DXi version doesn't appear to advertise any parameters -- at least not in my installation. So you can't use the Assignable controls feature in the Synth Rack, you can't use ACT with it, and so forth.]

The situation in Rapture is similar, except that the the internal "presets" are actually SFZ format "Program" files. The internal Rapture Program browser is custom designed to browse these SFZ files, which are stored in a specific place on your HDD. [Unless I'm badly mistaken, there are no Registry entries for these SFZ programs.]

OK...so here is the confusing part. For ALL plugins (DX/DXi and VST/VSTi) in Sonar, the toolbar at the top of the plugin GUI has three items used to store DX/DXi style presets within Sonar:

1) The black drop-down list at the far left
2) The disk icon button (Save preset using the name currently showing in the drop-down box)
3) The X icon button (Delete the preset currently selected in the drop-down list)

IN ADDITION TO THESE THREE ITEMS, all VST/ VSTi plugins also have a "VST" button that brings up a menu which allows you to save VST/VSTi style presets (*.fxp & *.fxb).

So if you want your presets to show in the Synth Rack, you need to call up each preset or program within the plugin (using whatever system the plugin interface is designed to browse), then type a name in the black drop-down list at the top left of the GUI window and click the disk (save) button. Do this for each individual preset you want to show in the Synth Rack Preset menu. You may need to then shut down Sonar and restart...but the next time you insert a synth, all of it's DXi style presets should show up in that Preset menu on the Synth Rack GUI.

P.S. I'm not sure if my terms "DX/DXi style" and "VST/VSTi style" are 'correct' or not; but they at least help me to keep the preset/program/bank types sorted out in my head.

One other note: The Sonitus plugins can be a bit confusing, in that their internal proprietary presets have already been duplicated in the DX/DXi style presets drop-down list. Somebody at Cakewalk evidently went to the trouble of doing (for the Sonitus plugins) what I just described a couple paragraphs ago, and integrated the resulting DXi presets into the Sonar/Sonitus install.

I tried Mike's suggestion about saving presets and lo and behold, they show up in the synth rack. It's a lot of work, though; I hope Cakewalk comes up with a way to make this preset conversion process easier!

[Infinite5ths]

Hey Craig! Thanks for posting this info.

I did some more testing early this morning and found some more info. It turns out that the Sonar 6 Synth Rack (and the Sonar 6 plugin GUI preset list) is aware of some *.fxb presets, as well as some presets that are programmed into a plugin DLL file itself. I've continued to update the thread, including the post that you quoted here.

I wanted to post the link so that folks can follow along in this saga. It's a bit more tricky that I originally thought -- in part due to some of the updates in Sonar 6. Several of these updates I failed to notice until just this morning.

So here is the link to the Sonar forum thread:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=915277

[Note: The procedure I originally gave for creating presets that show up in the Synth Rack DOES still work in all cases. However, it appears that there are some other options for populating the preset dropdown lists. The options vary based on the plugin. See the thread link above for details.]

[Anderton]

Thanks Mike! BTW check out the 12/06 editorial in my Sound, Studio, and Stage forum, which is about the concept of "open source manuals." You're mentioned in there :)

[Infinite5ths]

Oh...WOW!! You're gonna make me famous. ;)

[Poigle]

Great review,
can we still look forward to some coverage of the ACT features?
cheers,

Poi

[Anderton]

YES! I apologize for the delay, I've been in Japan and just got home...to broadband and my landline both being down :(

I'll be back soon. I wrote up quite a bit about Session Drummer 2 while I was away, that will come next to get back into the groove, and then ACT.

Again, my apologies.

[Anderton]

Let's wrap up the rack before moving on to Session Drummer 2.

You can load a synth icon for each element of the rack. I'm not sure how valuable that is, as the synth name shows in the title bar, which you can't hide anyway. It does make for some nice eye candy, but I found the included icons tend to be hard to read. So I made some of my own that involved zooming in further, so that any features are more easily identified, and including part of the name. Click on the attachment to see some of the custom icons; the upper two came with the program, and I did the lower three.

Like the track icons, these need to be 96 x 96 pixels. Most of the time I ended up with slightly larger icons, and reduced them in Paint Shop Pro.

[Anderton]

We'll close out the rack section with the buttons located toward the right. These pretty much duplicate functions found elsewhere, but of course, the whole point is that they're conveniently folded into the synth rack. Click on the attachment to see the buttons.

The top four buttons are Mute, Solo, Freeze synth, and Thaw synth. It's worth pointing out that when you freeze a synth, you get to see its audio in the synth audio output track. That can be pretty handy.

The lower four buttons are Automation Read, Automation Write, Assign Controls, and Show/hide controls. If you've populated your rack with a lot of controls, you'll appreciate the show/hide option.

Incidentally, one thing I've noticed since the previous post about assigning controls is that with some synths, after assigning controls using the "touchy feely" method, some instruments wouldn't let me add more controls but if I restarted Sonar, I could. In another bizarre situation, calling up Velocity to assign controls brought up Rapture.

What all this implies to me is that yes, there are still a few rough edges in various aspects of Sonar. Here's to the next update...

Next: Session Drummer 2.

[simple]

How is the Perfect Space Convolution Reverb? How does it compare to the SoundForge Acoustic Mirror?

[Anderton]

Perfect Space was actually included for the first time in Sonar 5.

I haven't used Acoustic Mirror in years...I'm actually not that huge a fan of convolution reverbs (yet!), I like the "impressionistic" sound of algorithm-based types. Having said that, though, I think the quality of a convolution reverb relates mostly to the impulses you use. Great impulses give you a great reverb :) IMHO the difference between impulses is much bigger than the difference between reverbs.

[highpressur]

Bump

[simple]

I am still interested in hearing about the Session Drummer. How does the functionality compare to something like BFD. Also, how good are the bundled sounds (surely they can't compete with BFD, but I am interested in whether or not they are good enough to be useful)?

[johndefiore]

I like session drummer 2, but it's limited until they bring out the promised expansion packs. (Unless you want to do a lot of the work yourself.)
I think it sounds pretty good, especially if you separate the outputs and process individually, but I'd also be interested in hearing comparisons to some of the other products out there like EZdrummer, BFD, Jamstix, etc.

Regards,

John

[Anderton]

Well, another delay...sorry guys, I live in the mountains of New Mexico, and I'm sure you heard about the Big Storm that hit the West. We got snowed last Thursday, and I wasn't able to leave the house until yesterday (Wednesday) when we were finally able to find someone to plow the driveway. To say this has set me back is an understatement! I'll be back soon with more posts.

[johndefiore]

Originally posted by Anderton
Well, another delay...sorry guys, I live in the mountains of New Mexico, and I'm sure you heard about the Big Storm that hit the West. We got snowed last Thursday, and I wasn't able to leave the house until yesterday (Wednesday) when we were finally able to find someone to plow the driveway. To say this has set me back is an understatement! I'll be back soon with more posts.

No worries, Craig, we have until October or so before SONAR 7 comes out ;)

Happy New Year,

John

[Anderton]

Session Drummer 2 actually has very little to do with the MIDI FX-based Session Drummer in previous versions of Sonar. The original was basically a way to string together MIDI files into a drum part, whereas Session Drummer 2 (SD2) is a drum machine that can serve as a tone module, respond to “canned” MIDI sequences to lay down a quick backing track, and even allow a small measure of real-time improvisation. Some have compared SD2 to Groove Agent, but SD2 doesn’t have GA’s “intelligent” pattern generation of tracks and fills; it’s up to you to provide the intelligence.

SD2 is divided in three parts. Click on the attachment to see the basic layout. The top-most section is where you select SD2 programs, choose MIDI patterns, or populate individual pads with sounds (“instruments”) if you want to create your own kit, or modify an existing one.

The middle strip consists of virtual “pads” for the 10 drum sounds, along with the all-important cute little icons for each drum. You can change these icons, by the way, as well as the overall look if you’re feeling adventurous – in fact, you’ll note that I’ve increased the background contrast, color saturation, and hue compared to the stock “look” to make for a “brighter” overall look. Okay, it’s not particularly tasteful, but it does get the point across. We’ll cover how to make these cosmetic changes later on.

The lower section is a fairly conventional mixer for the 10 sounds, with mute, solo, volume, pan, width (more on this control later), and tune.

Before going any further, though, a few people have remarked in forums that SD2 comes without documentation. That’s actually not true, although like the Pentagon I, SD2’s manual is not part of the online help. There are two ways to call it up:

1. Click on the instrument itself (e.g., the logo, the mixer section, or the like) and type F1. Note that this won’t work if you click on the title bar or some part of the window; you have to click on the instrument itself.
2. Go C: > Program Files > Cakewalk > VstPlugins > Session Drummer 2 > Documentation > SessionDrummer2.chm, and double-click on it.

[Anderton]

An Instrument is the basic sound you’ll hear when you hit a pad. SD2 includes a bunch of samples – kicks, snares, cymbals, percussion, toms, and hats. But you can also load your own samples in the WAV, AIFF, or Ogg Vorbis formats (mono or stereo, 8-32 bits, any sample rate – SD2 doesn’t care). You can also load multisamples in the .SFZ format (we’ll cover how to make your own multisample files shortly), as well as simply drag samples on to the pads.

One thing that’s not obvious about the pads is that in addition to the clicked pad being outlined in orange, the velocity varies depending on where you click on the pad. The lower you click, the lower the velocity.

A Kit is a collection of instruments with accompanying mixer settings; S6 comes with four kits using 350MB of samples. A Program, the highest member of the SD2 food chain, is a Kit along with 8 MIDI patterns.

[Anderton]

SD2 comes with several Programs, so let’s check them out. You open up the Program browser by clicking in the Prog field (clicking on the PROG triangle instead brings up program management options; one of them is load, and you can use that instead if you want). You load a kit by double-clicking on it. Click on the attachment to see the browser in action.

Once the kit is loaded, you can click on the pads to audition sounds. However, each pad can represent several sounds, of which only one is the “audition sound” (e.g., you hear it when you click on the pad).

To audition the MIDI files, first you need to click on a pattern (A-H), then click on the SD2 transport play (arrow) button. The files that come with SD2 tend to be short, so if you want to get your creative juices go, it’s a good idea to click on the loop button (the infinity symbol) so you don’t have to keep re-triggering the patterns.

You can also load MIDI files into the pattern buttons using a similar browser concept as loading programs: You just click in the MIDI field (or click on the MIDI triangle and select Load Pattern), then navigate to the desired MIDI pattern. SD2 comes with its own patterns, which you can find at C:Program Files > Cakewalk > VstPlugins> Session Drummer 2 > Contents > Patterns. However, a really great place to find additional patterns is at C: > Program Files > Cakewalk > Sonar 6 > Sample Content > MIDI Groove Clips > Smart Loops, where there are a bunch of files created by Frank Basile. (You can find additional MIDI loops under C: > Program Files > Cakewalk > Sonar 6 > Pattern Brush Patterns, but these don’t seem to be designed with SD2 in mind. You can drag them into a MIDI track to trigger the drums, although you may need to reassign notes to have them actually do something useful.)

You can’t drag MIDI loops from the desktop or other location into SD2’s MIDI file slot locations, but you can drag the MIDI notes from the file used in a slot to a MIDI track. To do this, click on the one of the file slots (A-H) to select it, then in the MIDI field, you drag the dificult-to-see Note symbol with the + sign into the MIDI track. Frankly, I don’t see why you can’t just drag from the slot instead of dragging the note, but…whatever.

Also regarding patterns, it’s convenient to be able to select patterns on a random-access basis by clicking on file slots and having them play. But note that you can’t record these selections as automation or note data; you still need to drag the file data over to MIDI tracks individually. In case you wondered whether this is just a question of enabling the ability to record MIDI data generated by software synths (a new feature in S6 designed to accommodate instruments like Groove Agent), this isn’t the case. Even after enabling MIDI output for SD2, nothing showed up in any track as MIDI or automation data.

Fortunately, there is another option that accomplishes pretty much the same thing: The patterns can be triggered from an external MIDI keyboard, and you certainly can record the MIDI keyboard notes. The eight patterns are triggered by MIDI notes 27-34, with note 24 providing the stop playback function. (Incidentally, note that there’s an error with the documentation provided for SD2: Although it gives the right note numbers for triggering the various patterns, the note names are wrong. The “Stop pattern” command is C2, and the patterns are triggered by the notes D# through A#.) This makes improvisation with patterns a relatively simple affair.

[Anderton]

As alluded to earlier, it’s worth noting these are not your normal pads. For one thing, some respond to more than one MIDI note. Pad 3 (nominally for hi-hats) can have a different sound on five different notes (22, 26, 42, 44, and 46 in case you wondered), as can pad 10 (perucssion). Out of these, one is chosen as an “audition note” – the one that will play if you click on the pad. You can find all the information about which notes trigger which sounds, and the various audition notes, in the documentation – it’s under the first section (“To Load a Program”) in the chapter “Loading Programs and Instruments.”

The collection of acoustic-oriented sounds that comes with SD2 is okay, but not munificent. Fortunately, you can load your own samples. To do this, you right-click on the pad where you want to load the sample; you’ll see the available notes for the pad, and the currently selected sample shows up in the PAD field. Click on the attachment to see how the different notes show up for a pad, as well as the Load and Unload instrument options.

Now it gets a little complex, because when you load a single sample (either through right-clicking or by dragging over a sample), that’s the only sound that will play back when you play any of the notes available for that pad. For example, with the hi-hat example given above, if you load a tom sound into the pad, any of the notes associated with the pad will trigger the tom sound – that’s it. You need to create a multisample-friendly SFZ file to take advantage of these additional notes.

After making any tweaks, you can save in a variety of ways. If you click on “Pad” in the Pad field, you can save a Kit. If you click on “Prog” in the Prog field, you can save a Program. And in the dimly-understood world of “What the heck is that Presets thingie at the top of the window good for?”, you can save a “Preset” (VST .FXB file). This seems to save the same thing as a Program – kits, MIDI patterns, the whole ball of wax.

[Anderton]

As we’ve seen, SD2 can load individual samples, but it’s more interesting – and challenging – to create multisamples with velocity control. To do this, it’s necessary to understand how to program the SFZ file format. If you’re a Sonarian, though, this will serve you in good stead as you will also be able to create sample sets for other Cakewalk instruments, like Rapture and Dimension Pro. So let’s diverge a bit from the “review” path, and move into “tutorial-land” for a bit.

Although programming in SFZ-speak is uncomfortably like computer programming, don’t worry! It’s not that difficult. One of the great things about SFZ files is that you can open them in notepad, and do some reverse engineering. This makes it easy to create templates into which you can simply drop sample names.

However, one crucial aspect is making sure your folders and paths are in order. For example, suppose you want to create a multi-sample with three different kick samples, taken from a sample CD or DVD (in these examples, I’m be using the ones from Bunker 8 Drumatic Percussives collection of samples).

1. Go C: > Program Files > Cakewalk > VstPlugins > Session Drummer 2 > Contents > Kits. Here you’ll find numbered folders named with particular drum sounds, like Bass Drums, Snares, etc. With each of these, you’ll find one or more SFZ files, with accompanying folders of samples to which these SFZ files point.

2. Create a folder within the Kits directory. I called it “1001 - Dance Kicks.”

3. Create a folder within this folder that contains the samples you want to use for your multi-sampled drum sound. I used the Atomic_Jah_Kick_Lo.wav sound from the Bunker 8 collection, along with two variations I created (Atomic_Jah_Kick_Mid.wav and Atomic_Jah_Kick_Hi.wav). These added progressively more “grit,” created using PSP’s Vintage Warmer plug-in, to the original file. I named the folder “AtomicJah.”

4. Now open a file in Notepad. Give this a name that resembles that of the folder containing the samples (e.g., “AtomicJah.sfz”). Make sure you use the .SFZ suffix instead of the usual .TXT.

5. Now let’s start writing the code. Comments are handled by adding // in front of a line (this is like the REM tag in front of lines written in BASIC – you can put anything after that, and the computer won’t recognize it as part of the program). Adding comments is very helpful if you want to document a particular sound, and believe me, you do! That way when you come back to the file later, you’ll remember what you did. Here’s my comments field:

// --------------------------------------------------
// Atomic Jah Kick Drum Sample Set
// From the Big Fish Audio Bunker 8 Drumatic Percussives sample DVD
// “Dance Kits 01” folder
// --------------------------------------------------

// Dance Kick Drum 1

[Anderton]

6. Next, it’s time to specify the key note to trigger this multisample, and the loop mode – which being a drum sound, will be one shot. This line is preceded by the <group> label. Here’s how you would enter the line:

<group> key=35 loop_mode=one-shot

7. Now specify which velocity range a sample will cover by specifying the low velocity (lovel=) and high velocity (hivel), and the sample path used for that range. This line is preceded by a <region> label. Note in the example below that “sample=” gives the name of the folder holding the sample (which again, should be in the same folder as the accompanying SFZ file), with a “\” indicating the path to the sample itself. Like so: