CHAPTER 1

SONAR BASICS

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Some terms used throughout this book are specific to SONAR and so a little

explanation will make life much easier for you as you work your way through it.

I’ll keep it simple and expand on things as the book progresses but for now here

are a few things you should know . . .

The Main Track View

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THE FOCAL EASY GUIDE TO CAKEWALK SONAR

TrackPane

ClipsPane

BusPane

This is the View that you’ll use most and it’s split into several areas as you can see.

Each main Pane can be resized by dragging the splitter bars when your cursor is

held over it and looks like this ( ). Here’s a brief description of each one:

1 The Track Pane: This is where the controls for each Track are situated.

The type of controls can be selected by clicking one of the tabs at the

bottom of the View ( ) in order to see All controls,

Mix controls, FX (effects) controls and I/O (Input and Output) controls.

I tend to use the All settings most.

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2 Clips Pane: This is where the

Clips, both audio and MIDI

can be seen and edited. The

song cursor (or Song Position

Pointer) moves through this

Pane as the song plays

(this is referred to as the

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SONAR BASICS

Inspector

current Now Time) and appears as a

vertical line with this flag at the top ( ).

3 The Bus Pane: Can be shown or hidden by using

this button ( ) and contains all current Buses

as defined by you (Aux Buses, Subgroups, etc.).

4 Inspector: This is a channel strip for the currently

selected Track, Bus or Main Output either audio

or MIDI (the one that’s the most recently

highlighted) and it can be configured to show

various features by use of the buttons at the

bottom. It looks like this for audio and this

for MIDI.

It is opened and closed by using this button from the

tools at the top of the Track Pane ( ).

Audio clip

MIDI clip

Audio MIDI

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5 Toolbars: These can be shown

or hidden, rearranged and

dragged to float anywhere on

the screen or docked at the

top or bottom of your screen.

Toolbars without any edit

boxes can also be docked at

the left or right of your screen.

To make selections use the

View�Toolbars menu to open the Toolbar Options dialog.

6 Navigator: An overview of the current Project’s contents with

a resizable box (the Track Rectangle) that can be used to update what’s

visible in the Clips Pane.

It is opened and closed using this button from the tools at the top of the

Track Pane ( ).

7 Video Thumbnails Track: Shows thumbnails of any currently loaded

video file and is opened and closed using this button from the tools at

the top of the Track Pane ( ).

8 Tool selector: Tools most commonly used for editing and

showing/hiding parts of the Track View. Hold your mouse over

a button to see what it does and its associated shortcut key( ).

9 Time Ruler: Shows the current position in time. The format can be

changed by right-clicking on it and selecting another option from

the Time Ruler Format choices. Any inserted Markers are also shown

here.

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THE FOCAL EASY GUIDE TO CAKEWALK SONAR

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10 Controls in the Track Pane.

These show the type of Track. Audio . . .

or MIDI . . .

and enable you to Mute ( ) Solo ( ) and Record Arm ( ) the Track.

( ) This type of readout after playing an audio Track is the maximum signal

level reached. It can be reset by double-clicking on it.

As you progress you’ll use other Views and tools associated with them but to

start with it’s best to keep things simple. If you’ve previously recorded using tape

for instance then get used to how this translates into digital recording first so

that you feel familiar with the controls before diving into soft synths or other

alien topics.

Many options are obtained by right-clicking on specific areas, such as a Clip, and

in general SONAR should be quite intuitive to anyone who is familiar with the

Windows environment but if you’re entirely new to all of this then don’t be put

off by the learning curve just make sure you can handle your computer before

adding digital sound technology into the pot!

The extensive use of images in this book should help you on your way so if you

don’t quite understand the terminology just take a look at the pictures as it will

probably become clearer when you do.

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SONAR BASICS

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Undoing

SONAR has the ability for you to undo

many operations providing you haven’t

closed the Project down. You can use

the common Ctrl�Z keyboard shortcut,

click the Undo icon or choose Undo

from the Edit menu. To go back several

levels you should go to the Edit menu

and select History, then you can choose

which point you want to go back to,

highlight it and click OK. You can even

set the maximum number of levels that you can Undo!

Saving

The Save options are the same as most Windows-based applications but

SONAR will allow you to save in several specific formats. Note that the Normal

type of file doesn’t contain your audio

if you back it up. You should use

Cakewalk Bundle files to make proper

backup copies of your songs as these

will contain all necessary files and data.

Tool Tips

A very helpful facility are the Tool Tips which appear when

you hold the mouse cursor over a button or control. This will

generally provide information about the item and also

display the default keyboard shortcut.

Toolbars

A wide selection of Toolbars are available to cover many aspects of SONAR but I

suggest that you don’t clutter your screen up with too many of them initially as

they can be confusing. You will need some however and I’d suggest the following.

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THE FOCAL EASY GUIDE TO CAKEWALK SONAR

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Standard

Provides all of your essential Windows style tools ( ).

Transport

You’ll need this to control the Playback, Recording, Rewind, etc.

( ). It also contains an audio engine trip ( ) which may

cut out if overloaded and a panic button ( ) which can be clicked to release

stuck MIDI notes. A larger version of the Transport Toolbar with more

functionality is available if you prefer it.

Views

Fast access to alternative Views such as the Piano Roll or mixing Console

( ).

Tempo

Access to quickly change Tempo ( ).

Markers

When Markers ( ) are inserted you can change

their names and times, jump to any one and also set a Project’s Pitch here.

Loop

Enables you to play back a defined area continuously, useful for editing

( ). This button ( ) sets the loop to the current time

selection.

Position

You can quickly jump to the beginning or end of the currently defined area or

drag the slider to move around your song ( ).

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SONAR BASICS

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Metronome

Set various parameters for metronome use including count-ins

( ).

Common terms and what they mean – They may be different colors

but in general:

A mono audio Clip looks like this.

A stereo audio Clip looks like this.

A MIDI Clip looks like this.

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THE FOCAL EASY GUIDE TO CAKEWALK SONAR

Values may be changed by typing in a new value ( ) or using the

spinners ( ).

To change the name of a Track or Bus in the Track View double-click it and type

in your new name ( ).

To change the name of a Track or Bus in the Console View

double-click it and type in your new name.

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SONAR BASICS

A soft synth is a software version of a synthesizer such as the Native Instruments

version of the DX7 hardware synth called FM7.

It could also be a software device that is designed for a specific job such

as a sampler or drum synthesizer that only exists in software and has no real

hardware counterpart at all.

Don’t forget to make use of the Help system in SONAR and always register the

software so that you are eligible for technical support should you need it.

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