Bass Guitar

I have both Sound Forge and Wave Lab. They both have very professional tools for album assembly and burning CD. Wave lab elements I’ve owned since version 4. It goes on sale for around $75. Definitely the most popular with the professionals. Sound Forge I have scored free because it was always included with Sony hardware like Mini disk players and turntables. Latest version was included with Vegas Pro. But I was curious about my other two that are free. Audacity and Gold Wave. Neither of those have album assemblies or CD burning features. I still use Nero 7 for CD burning. I might have bought it 15 years ago and it still installed to W11. Wave editors can all use the same plug in folders you use for Sonar. But I would recommend using Sonar to split into tracks for each song and add effects if that’s what you’re used to using. Then export using Tracks through entire mix. That way if you name each track it will be added to the exported files.

You need to split the track at the end of each song and drag it down to a new track Say the cassette has 10 songs. You recorded them to one track. add 9 more audio tracks. Start splitting and dragging the each song to its own track. Personally I would have started by recording each song to its own track to save having to do that. That way you can have different processing if necessary for each song. Globally you would add the processing to the Master bus. Actually for this stuff I would have used a Wave editor. Most have CD assembly tools. Im pretty sure Audacity has.

It’s still hilarious how people do Google searches for anything about Sonar and then they end up with the legacy version. I had to laugh when a year ago someone announced that Sonar was available for purchase and posted a link to Platinum.

Yes I should have clarified that. The example is that if you had a section named Verse you can reuse it over and over but it will maintain the tempo of that section from where it was first placed on the timeline.

On a new build after you get all the audio and stuff sorted out I open the VST tab in preferences and add all the none default pathways. I tell it to scan and then set it to manual. Using just a blank project I open the Browser and then open the FX list. There will mostly be just included plugins listed correctly. The rest will be in the “Uncategorized” folder . I Move them as well as I create a few custom folders. I repeat this process for the instruments. I’ve heard of plugins that get mixed up with if they are effects or instruments but I’ve personally never had that happen. Sonars plug in manager is very overly complicated and outdated. After I saw that they fixed that in Next I was surprised to see that it’s still not updated.

What you need to understand is that the Arranger just mostly labels parts of the song. It then creates the list from which you can drag and drop them to a new list to make a new arrangement. Your concept is asking for a feature that is not part of using the Arranger track but of using the tempo track. Arranger sections only manipulate the playback head they don’t contain tempo information. You can use the Arranger to create a typical song by just creating just one of each of the basic parts, intro, verse, chorus and so on. You then build the song using those parts and drag them down to the Arrangement window in the inspector. once happy you can commit to the project and save it. To make verse 2 faster you use the tempo track. It’s all pretty simple for basic music.

Then you have lost a lot of the data from the file. Like tempo and so on. It is important to OPEN a download midi file for it to play correctly. As I tested around 17 Daw’s back over a year ago that was one of my first tests. Will this Daw open and play a GM file. The majority do. Each had its quirks. But many do this with one click. Some you drag and drop but they ask you about GM as well as the other data. Smart!

Ya very clunky. And you need to be an experienced user before you can get that far. Try Cakewalk Next and then you will see how it should work. Very user friendly for newcomers.

My problem started when I first bought the M4 possibly 5 or 6 years ago. I always avoided buss power but the M4 had exactly the right features so I let that one go. But right away it was acting up and I contacted Motu. They said I needed to use a USB 3 port with a C connection. This is is when you learn that the product was designed for a Mac and not a PC So I installed a PCi card with that and all seemed fine. This was my old W10 PC. Time for a new PC and at first I installed W10. I made sure it had the proper USB C ports. But that’s when I started finding that newly recorded audio was distorted. I have to completely restart the computer to fix it. It seems like if the computer had been turned on for a few hours this will happen. Playback was fine. In the meantime I bought the SSL2 which never has this issue but compared to the Motu I don’t really like it much. I also use a Zoom L8. Never any problems with both of those. So so it’s not a computer issue. Last March I had all those issues with Sonar and decided that I would wipe the computer clean and start over with W11. Now the issue has become worse and even playback gets garbled. It’s only happening after the computer has ran for a few hours. But it’s annoying so I just put it on the shelf for now and hopefully they will update the drivers some day. I tried to sell it but got no response here locally. Same problem with the SSL-2.. You can’t even give stuff away around here. Thank goodness for the Zoom.

Most of the other Daw’s will open a midi file and ask you if you want to assign GM instruments. In 4 seconds you’ll be playing the file. If you desire to use the song you drag and drop better instruments and replace them. Example this is how Cakewalk Next will work. Fast, no need to understand why. Sonars first problem is that it creates only midi tracks , not instrument tracks. So it’s a lot of extra moves to insert instruments and now drag the midi data there or re assign outputs. Actually Cubase is the only other Daw I know of that also does that. A 16 track project can become 32 tracks. Messy and clunky. I even prefer Waveform which opens a midi file just like Sonar with no instruments but you can quickly drag them to the track because the track will become an instrument track automatically. Fast and tidy. But you do need some knowledge of what midi instruments to use. It’s pretty easy to get the TTS-1 back. All you need is a n older CbB download of the full installer from before the Fall of 2023. That or any old version of Sonar going back like 20 years ago. The TTS-1 was never updated because it is DX. I think what seemed to happen was Roland totally forgot about it until Bandlab decided to now charge money. It wouldn’t have been included with the code from Gibson.

Sonar is possibly one of the only Daw’s that no longer supports GM playback. Funny thing is that Cakewalk Next does. Next has a way better system of handling midi files. Go figure. When you open a midi file in the new Sonar it will only populate the project with midi tracks but there is no GM instrument included anymore. I replace that with SynthFont A fully supported GM player available for around $20. Synth font.com The just released a ton of updates This is what use to play download midi files synthmaster.com But you can also replace some stuff like the bass Drums and electric piano and strings with the SI instruments. It’s a total PITA however what is involved to actually do this in a tidy way when other Daw’s do this That’s why I often use the synth master player.

Yes @Glenn Stanton I’ve noticed that too but with Google Chrome. So the activation issue might not be something that Cakewalk can avoid. So that brings us back to why we need a licensing option for those who depend on their software to earn an income. This same issue has also happened with S1. They have an optional subscription plan and some of those people are having trouble. I bought a full license so not a problem for me.

Im just seeing threads started that the poster is complaining that out of the blue Sonar asked them to sign in. At very inconvenient times. In theory you should never have to do anything until your membership expires but seems not to be the case for everyone. Staff mentioned that they are working on a solution.

I don’t think this is possible. The ASIO control panel rules the buffer setting. At least that’s been the case for every audio interface I’ve ever used. The OP screenshot shows a fairly large buffer setting already. It seems like that’s not the issue anyway. I’ve always used 256 as my default buffer and will lower it only on the rare instances where I use TH U live when recording. If I get audio glitches at 256 then there’s a hog plugin involved. I freeze the offending Synth or if it’s an effect I Bounce the track.

Nothing to do with features. I am speaking about the topic we cannot discuss. A professional cannot show up with a paying client sitting there while they attempt to open the software. It won’t open because of a glitch in the authorization process. This is not me but there has been quite a few posts about this. I have also seen this complaint in another Daw forum that has a subscription option. It is why one very popular Daw dropped the subscription only option. The other situation is with live shows where there’s no internet and your Daw decides that it is time to re authorize. Sure it’s up to the user to prepare ahead of time to avoid this issue but it’s a situation that won’t happen if you use software that you own.

Sonar is simply not finding it Open your VST settings and then add the location and rescan.

Do you have a punch in set somewhere down the line? That’s the first thing I check cause it’s always the problem.

Go to Sweetwater and open the filters and scroll down to see the options for in/out. From there you can compare all the choices available for that configuration. There’s lots of 4x4 interfaces. But it’s not clear if that is what you need? You mentioned sending your tracks out to a mixer? Possibly you then need additional outputs? 4 is pretty minimal. I made this video almost two years ago featuring 2x2 interfaces but most of the brands also have lots of in/ out connections. The main point is that when you ask for recommendations all you will get is a handful of people telling you what works for them. That’s a very small part of going about your research. Even watching all the dozens of reviews on YouTube is only to be taken with a grain of salt. This is because each person has different needs. You need to make a list of the features that are important to YOU! The inputs and outputs are definitely important. 2 headphone jacks? Add that to the list and you’ll quickly eliminate 3/4 of the choices. I used Sweetwater for my research because they list the majority of lower priced consumer products. Beyond that you are adding zeros to the price. I also recommend that once you’ve chosen the one you like before you buy it go to the manufacturer website and make sure that they have updated drivers and also see what the free goodies are. You might choose one interface over another just because it was $40 cheaper and then find out the other one came with $300 worth of software. If all the pictures on the Webpage are Mac computers be careful about the drivers. We call them Mac-centric. In the end I bought the SSL 2 mostly because all the reviews said it had the best pre amp in that price range. It is a disappointment because the headphone volume is way too quiet. And I don’t really hear any difference in the sound quality. I mostly use my Zoom L8 because it has the best drivers and lots of connection options. I want to use the Motu M4 but sometimes it craps out and is distorted. It seems it’s related to the USB power.

And it does green screen so I can put myself in a first class recording studio to impress viewers! And it’s absolutely free! Unlike Sonar which is not actually free. The word free means you are free to use this forever without strings attached. Real free software like Audacity, Handbrake, OBS studio, Waveform, VLC media player, WinAmp, Foobar and on and on can be downloaded. Installed and will work forever without having to be Nagged or re authorized. I call anything other than that a Demo. A temporary use app that might stop working.

I watched the video you posted. There’s no dialogue so I had no idea what it was about? There’s little text boxes but they are very brief and they are too small a font to read , kinda like Sonars new graphics 😬 At least I see what you’re trying to do. It seems the workflow that I think you are using would be very time consuming. I know you are tired of me still recommending the method ( posted in my video)! that is pretty much standard for all You Tube Creators. But it is really a fast way to produce content which you can do in real time. Example is that video took less than an hour because I just opened OBS studio, open Sonar and the other apps and started talking into my Mike. I usually take the time to write a script but its is not going to stay posted. I shot the raw footage and dumped it into Vegas. Clean it up and Render. Not sure what you mean by OBS GUI? I’ve never even noticed it? Remember it is not a video editor it is a video / audio mixer. Its job is to access all your cameras, your computer screen as well as mixing all available audio sources.

I use the Free Ample P bass lite. Yes seems like it was recorded ( the samples) possibly using a Tube Amp so it definitely has a fuzzy sound. But in a mix it sounds pretty good to me. Other things come to mind is that you are creating way too much sub bass. Open the Pro Channel EQ and the fly out spectrum graph. That or Span.

OK so that’s a possibility why the OP had no sound from the Loopback. Software mixers are great but they add another layer to the audio system. With my 6i6 I often had to reset to the factory defaults to get my audio back. Anyhow he’s got it working using yet another layer so we’ll leave it at that.

Hey @Will. question, seeing as you have the Focusrite, Do you have to set up anything special in the Control app? As in there’s a mixer channel for the Loopback that can be muted etc? At no point has the OP confirmed that they tried the same settings as I used and had no problems. The clue that it could be the Focusrite mixer app is they are claiming that they can’t get audio out of Sonar.

Didn’t anyone read my post? It worked fine for me with both “Motu Loopback mix “ as well as “SSL2 Loopback Mix. “ They show as input options in Audacity as well as all other Audio apps. Sonar is using ASIO and Audacity is using WASAPI. In your screenshot of Audacity Im not sure if one of those translates to that choice. Im using the Audio settings found in Preferences not that shortcut you are using. Sorry my only Focusrite is a 1st generation 6i6 so no Loopback. It is possible that there is something in the Focusrite control panel GUI that needs setup.

@Starship Krupa. @David Baay Yes I get your point but I sort of draw a distinction between helping users use and learn the software and troubleshooting crashes. I too have always found helping others users will teach me more about the software. Im on 3 Daw forums currently. It was one thing that the company never released any official tutorials during the 6 years of free Cakewalk. I see in the Next sub forum the AI assisted staff replied that this was coming soon. Notice how the hundreds of YouTube creators disappeared overnight the minute Sonar went subscription. They won’t have that sort of success anymore because all the other Daws all have official tutorials made by Staff members. Here’s hoping that over time Sonar will become better supported by Bandlab and see some marketing to put it back on the map.