Here the compressor is set up more like a level maximiser. If Wall is enabled and set to a maximum level of 0.1dB, no signal will exceed 0.1dB. Turning up the track level causes the compressor to increase the average level, making for a 'hotter' sound.

Our resident Sonar expert shows how Sonar XL v2's bundled CompressorX can be used as a loudness maximiser, how to give your audio files meaningful names and save settings for your MIDI hardware in a project, as well as how to use 'sliced' rhythm clips.

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Craig Anderton

I've now logged a lot of hours on Sonar 2.0, having used it to do a three-minute movie theme and 25 minutes of associated background music. I continue to be extremely impressed, especially with its stability.

I do have one addendum to last issue's Sonar 2 review. Regarding the drum map/editor, I described drum velocity tails as being "nearly invisible". However, that's true only when the tracks are minimised. As in any other view, you can increase the drum editor's track height, which increases the height of the tails (but of course takes up a lot more screen space).

Timeworks Compressor As Loudness Maximiser

The CompressorX plug-in bundled with Sonar XL v2 is, as the name suggests, a compressor -- but you can also use it in a brick-wall level maximisation mode. As with all devices of this type, thoug

Here are a few tips regarding this technique:     When you speed up the tempo, the decay of the previous slice will spill over into the next slice's attack. Generally, this won't be a problem. If it is, just click on the slice and shorten its duration. With slower tempos, gaps will open up between the slices. If the gaps are too abrupt, add a slight decay toward the end of the slices. Processing slices individually can lead to wonderful kinds of mayhem. Change the levels, add EQ, whatever... let your imagination run wild! And that seems like a good thought on which to end this month's column. If all goes according to plan, next time I'll be running Windows XP... which should provide a lot to talk about.

h, it's necessary to exercise restraint, particularly because the controls can be somewhat touchy. By the way, this is a bona fide DirectX plug-in that works with other hosts such as Sound Forge, Cool Edit and Wavelab.

Let's assume you want to maximise a stereo WAV file's level. Import it into a Sonar track, and start with the following CompressorX settings:

Threshold: 0. This takes the compressor section out of the signal chain, so you needn't concern yourself with the attack, release, knee or ratio controls.

Input: 0.0.

Wall: -0.1. This sets the maximum level just under 0 (if a signal hits 0 too often in a file that's destined for CD, it may be rejected on the assumption that the 0 indications are due to overloads). Double-click on the field and type in the value, or shift-drag for fine-tuning.

Enable the Wall's In button at the bottom of the plug-in.

The meter mode isn't crucial; I usually set it to GR (gain reduction) but anything other than Off is OK. The Sonar track's playback meters are actually the most helpful indicators for adjusting the limit

Quick Tips     To change numeric fields in large increments, click on the field and use the square bracket keys. For example, with tempo, these change the value by 10bpm at a time. To change numeric fields in small increments (such as 1bpm at a time), click on the field and use the numeric keypad's + and - keys. To return to the beginning of a tune at any time, type W. To return to the beginning of a tune and immediately begin playback, type Shift+W. To turn off mute and/or solo for all tracks simultaneously, click on the Mute or Solo label in the status bar (the bar that shows disk space left, CPU and disk activity).

er. Right-click on the playback meter, and select the 12 or 24 dB option to focus on the dynamic range's upper end. Now increase the track's Volume control. The average sound will become louder, but because the Wall function is in, the signal doesn't clip the channel level meters as it's clamped to the -0.1 threshold. (Of course, past a certain point, the compressor itself will start distorting internally, even if the channel doesn't clip.) Three or four dBs of loudness maximisation seems like a good compromise between increased loudness, dynamic range and lack of distortion, but experiment with your own material. In any event, the sound will definitely be louder. Just remember -- use this power only for good! Music without significant dynamic range sounds impressive on first listening, but after a while becomes annoying.

Renaming Files In Per-project Audio Folders

Sonar's new file management system lets you store all files for a project in a folder, which is a much more normal way of doing things compared to the old Cakewalk system. However, files you record while in Sonar are assigned the random file names found in the old system. There's an easy way to turn these names into something meaningful, although i

Here are the three main screens involved in receiving SysEx. The front window shows the amount of SysEx data that's been received. The window just behind it is where you initiate the actual request to accept SysEx data, while the rearmost window shows the SysEx banks and the toolbar for managing this data.

t requires a little note-taking. Note that Sonar needs to be closed to do this type of file management.

First, open up the folder containing the files, and write down the original names of all the files whose names you want to change. Then open up each of the files you want to change the name of, one at a time, in a digital audio editor (or Sonar) to determine what they contain. Decide on a new name for each file (for instance AcousticGtr.wav instead of RCwr6d6r.wav). Close the application playing the file(s), then go into the project folder and rename each file. Write down the new name next to the old name on your list.

Now open the Sonar project containing the files. It will report each renamed file as missing and list the old name, but don't worry: navigate to the project folder, click on the new file name that replaced the name of the file Sonar couldn't find, and after clicking, the new file name will occupy the File Name field in the Find Missing Audio dialogue box. As the file is already in the project folder, click on Reference File from Present Location, then click on Open. Sonar will advise you of a possible file mismatch. Click on OK to use the renamed file.

Sonar will continue to report missing files for as many files as you renamed. Repeat

The AUD.INI file has a bunch of parameters you should usually leave alone, but there are some exceptions. The PicCacheMB parameter, in the [Aud] section, can be increased to speed up graphics when using lots of groove clips.

the same steps until all files have been located and brought into the project. When you've done this, the project will open, and you're ready to go. Don't forget to save it now that it has the new file names.

Mysteries Of The AUD.INI File

On a recent long tune, as I worked more with the song, the time required to move or edit digital audio clips started to get distressingly long. Just dragging a copy of a clip a measure or two, or scrolling from one end of the file to the other, seemed to take forever. Cakewalk support say that this is particularly likely to occur if you use lots of groove clips in a tune (which I was). The fix is to increase the Picture Cache from its default of 20MB. Go to the Sonar 2 folder (which will probably be on your C drive) and open the AUD.INI file in Notepad. In the [Aud] section, locate the PicCacheMB parameter. Change 20 to 200, save the file, then restart. It definitely makes a difference.

While you have the AUD.INI file open, here's a useful tip that was circulated in my online forum. If you have problems with CPU spikes shutting down the audio engine, go to the [Wave] section of AUD.INI, find the StopIfStarved value, and change it from 1 to 0. Those interruptions will magically disappear.

SysEx In Sonar

Regular readers of this column may recall that I like to send Sonar's outs through a dual ADAT lightpipe interface and mix on a Ramsa DA7 mixer (mostly so I can have good EQ on lots of ch

Making The Big Time Even Bigger     The Big Time feature (accessed via View / Big Time), which shows the current measure or SMPTE time in large type, is pretty useful if you need to see where you are in a tune, but aren't right in front of the computer (for example when you're several feet away, overdubbing your part with a guitar or keyboard). You probably know that clicking in the Big Time window alternates the readout between bars/beats/clocks and SMPTE time, but if you right-click in the window, you'll be able to change the font, point size and colour (style can't be changed, though). For maximum visibility, I recommend the Arial Black font, yellow for the colour, and 96 point size (this is the maximum size you can use, but you'll have to type 96 in the Size field -- the 'preset' font sizes don't go that high). This is also very useful if you're working on audio-for-video projects with a dual-monitor setup: 'float' the Big Time window over to your second screen, and you'll always be able to see exactly where you are at a glance. Even singers in the vocal booth will be able to see where they're supposed to come in if they can see the monitor and you make the Big Time display big enough.

annels). As a result, the DA7 settings are part of the tune, and need to be restored for any subsequent editing or remixing. The same is true for any external gear: you need some way of storing its settings within the Sonar project should there be a need to restore them later on.

Luckily, there's an easy way to do this for any gear that supports MIDI SysEx (System Exclusive) data. Sonar has sophisticated SysEx capture/editing/playback options, but let's keep it simple and just cover how to save SysEx with a Sonar project, and have it reload the SysEx into target instruments when you start that project.

First, patch a MIDI cable between the source device output and the Sonar MIDI input (as selected in Options / MIDI Devices). Then choose Options / Global / MIDI and make sure System Exclusive is ticked. Now choose View / Sysx. This sh

Current Versions     Sonar/Sonar XL: v2.0

ows 8,192 banks of SysEx. A bank could be something like a complete synth setup, a particular program, a mixer preset, or similar. Click on the red arrow to receive SysEx. At this point, you'll see a menu with a huge list of supported synths. If your device happens to be on this list, select it and click on OK. From this point on, the process is pretty much automatic.

If your device is not on the list, select 'You start dump on instrument' and click on OK. A screen appears that shows SysEx reception status. It should read '0 bytes received' followed by the available space for SysEx storage. Initiate the dump on the source instrument -- you may need to dig in the manu

The upper track is the original 125bpm, one-measure drum loop. The lower track has been 'sliced' at each drum transient, and the tempo changed to a more 'urban-friendly' 90bpm. Note how the interval between triggering successive slices is longer, which reflects the fact that the tempo is much slower. As a result, each slice doesn't last as long from a rhythmic standpoint as at the faster tempo.

al to find which button to push to send the bulk data dump. The counter will increment as Sonar receives the data. When the counter stops, the SysEx has been received; click on Done. The toolbar at the top of the Sysx view window is now fully functional. Click on the abc icon to name the bank (always a good idea!).

If you now save the Project, the SysEx data will be part of it. You can do three things with the stored SysEx bank:

Save it to disk as a SysEx file (click on the floppy disk icon).

Send the bank to a target device (click on the black arrow at the left).

Send the bank automatically when you open the project.

Here's how to do automatic bank sends. In the Sysx view, highlight the bank you want to send automatically and click on the Auto Send Bank icon (black arrow and star). This places a check mark in the Auto column for the selected bank. Now save the project file so it contains this additional information, and the next time you open the project, a screen will appear while loading and remind you that the file contains SysEx data that is supposed to be sent automatically to your MIDI gear. To send it, click OK, otherwise click on Cancel. You can disable this screen so it doesn't appear by unticking 'Ask this question every time'. I leave it ticked, though -- sometimes you don't want to overwrite works in progress, and it helps to be reminded you're about to blast new data into RAM.

It's extremely convenient to store all the presets for your outboard gear in the same file as your main data. If you haven't taken advantage of this feature, get into the habit of doing so.

Using Robotik Vocoder With Sonar     I use FXpansion's Robotik Vocoder plug-in a lot, but unlike most plug-ins, a vocoder needs two separate inputs -- one for the carrier and one for the modulator. The plug-in offers two solutions. For DirectX systems you can insert it as a buss effect, the left channel providing one input, the right providing the other. Under VST, there's a far more desirable solution. You can insert the vocoder as a track insert effect for the carrier, and insert a separate plug-in called ExtModulator into the track you want to use as a modulator. As Sonar doesn't 'speak VST', I thought I was locked into the DirectX option. But that's not the case. Using FXpansion's VST-DX Adapter, you can load both Robotik Vocoder and ExtModulator as VST effects (make sure you don't load either one as a DX effect, or it won't work). Make sure you load Robotik Vocoder first, and upon loading the ExtModulator the vocoder's External Modulation indicator will glow yellow to show it's receiving a signal. Once everything's plugged in, trim the modulator's volume if you don't want it to be part of the overall sound -- ExtModulator picks up the pre-fader signal. But if you want to export something like a vocoded loop to audio, matters get a little more complicated. Both channels must be selected, and the carrier soloed. If the modulator channel is not selected, it won't be part of the mixdown, so there will be no vocoder effect (and no signal, either). One more fine point: If you save this setup as part of a file and then open it, the vocoder will not recognise the external modulator, as it must be inserted after inserting the vocoder. Therefore, delete ExtModulator, then reinsert it by right-clicking on the effects slot and selecting ExtModulator from the list of VST audio effects.

Slicing With Sonar

Propellerhead Software's ReCycle is a very cool program that allows high-fidelity time-stretching for drum loops, as well as some other loop types. It does this not with digital signal processing algorithms, but by taking a piece of audio and cutting it into pieces. For best results,

What's Up, Dock?     You can dock toolbars at the bottom of the screen, not just the top. For example, it can be useful to segregate toolbars that get used a lot in a specific project from the 'general purpose' toolbars that apply to all projects. You can also 'float' toolbars anywhere in the program's workspace. By the way, if you want the Toolbar icons to look more like buttons, go to View / Toolbars and untick the box marked Flat Style.

each piece should have a single, discrete sound or group of sounds (such as kick, snare plus kick, bass note, spoken word, hi-hat, and so on). These are then triggered via MIDI, so that if (for example) a particular slice falls on measure one, beat three, it will be triggered at that point regardless of tempo. Therefore, tempo changes don't affect the sound quality, just the triggering time of a section of the original piece of digital audio. 'Sliced', tempo-stretchable stereo files created with ReCycle have an RX2 suffix.

But doesn't Sonar do Acid-style time-stretching? Yes it does, and that's a Go

The Loop and Automation toolbars have been docked at the bottom of the Sonar workspace instead of the top.

od Thing. But it's not everything, and there are times when stretching a file via slicing works better than DSP-based time-stretching. Sonar, however, doesn't support RX2 -- at least not yet. There's a rumour that Cakewalk will soon support RX2 files just to stop me bothering them about it, but until then, here's a workaround.

First import the loop you want to slice into a Sonar audio track and set Sonar's tempo to the same tempo as the loop. Zoom in on the waveform to be sliced, so you can easily identify where the various attacks fall. Turn off quantisation, select the scissors tool, and use it to cut at the very beginning of every significant transient (you can also do this by clicking at the point you want to cut and typing S). That's all there is to it. Now when you change tempos, the slices will trigger at different points to accommodate the change.

 

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