SOUND ON SOUND
Now that Dimension Pro is included with Sonar 8, its time to investigate how to exploit it beyond the usual sample-playback functions.
Is it time to lighten the load on your CPU and put that outboard signal processing hardware to work inside your DAW? We explain how...
Sonar has more facilities than the average DAW for exploiting REX files to their best advantage. We guide you through where to find those facilities and how to put them to use.
Sonar 8 introduced Beatscape, a new Cakewalk instrument designed specifically for the groovily inclined. We dig behind the interface for some tips and tricks you won't find in the documentation.
There's more to dynamics than compression and expansion, and now transient shaping is part of Sonar 8, courtesy of the TS64 Transient Shaper plug-in.
Sonar was one of the first DAWs to take looping seriously — which means that you'll find plenty of tools for making loop-based music easier.
Sonar includes many effects that are useful for bass guitars, and also offers bass-friendly features that help speed up the recording process.
When it comes to the Sonar mixing console, you don't have to simply take what you're given, because there are lots of ways of making it fit your working methods. We explain how, and pass on some handy shortcuts along the way.
Why take two digital audio programs into the studio, when you can optimise Sonar to do many of the common tasks you'd expect to need a dedicated audio editor for?
A walk through the process of composing and processing a drum track highlights how to use various Sonar features and useful shortcuts - some of which you may not have come across before.