2 Small Feature Requests

[buildanax]

I just got the new Sonar today and am enjoying it.  I'm a 30+ year Cakewalk user and I still enjoy it as much as ever.  I use it to  make my living and it pretty much does all that I have ever needed it to do.  Here are 3 wish-list  items for me.  2 of them are midi related and seem like they would be easy to implement, however the 3rd one is audio related and maybe not so easy.

1.  When choosing a Synth icon to use for a plug-in that is inserted in the Synth Rack, it would be nice for the icon you choose for the Synth Rack to also change on the corresponding midi track.  As it is, you have to choose the icon you want for the synth rack, then go to the corresponding track in either the track view or console view and repeat the process.  If there was maybe an option on one of  the "Preferences" pages that would let you choose to "Update track icon when choosing icon for synth rack".

2.  Several generations ago in Sonar you had the option of the "Key +/-" function for transposing midi tracks to be listed in the track view properties along with Volume, Gain, Pan, Input etc.  Suddenly after one of the updates it disappeared from there and can only be accessed via the  track properties of the "Track Inspector".   It would be nice to have the "Key +/-" featured listed again in the options on the "Track Control Manager" page.  It would just save a few clicks plus not have the "Track Inspector" taking up screen real estate..

3.  This one may take some work to accomplish but it you have ever been around a DAW that has it, it is a beauty to have.  Let me say from the outset that if Sonar currently features this I would love to know how to enable it.  Anyway...here goes!  I am not a Pro-Tools user nor a fan, but most of the studios that I play sessions in (I'm a keyboard player and vocal producer in the Gospel genre) use Pro-Tools and I have seen this feature come in handy so many times when sitting beside an engineer and producing a vocal session.   In PT, if you have a track armed for recording, as soon as you hit play it is already in record mode, even if you have not hit the record button.   If you hit "Stop" without hitting the record button, it just dumps what it just recorded and you don't see or hear any difference.  But, if  you hit "Start" and then get to the place where you want to punch in and hit "Record" it shows up on the screen as expected and ends whenever you hit "Stop" or punch out.  That is all normal and expected.  However, (and this is the beauty of this feature)..... suppose you realize that you punched in late and maybe clipped off the beginning of a note or phrase, in PT (and some other DAW's)  you don't have to undo it and try it again.  You can simply drag the edge of the new audio clip to the left and uncover the section before you punched in and the beginning of the word or note that you thought you had clipped is actually there because PT actually started recording as soon as you hit play!  Therefore you could technically drag all the way back to where you actually started the playback and the audio would be there.  I don't know if I have described it in a way that makes sense but it is extremely handy to have.  In a nutshell, recording starts as soon as you hit play but nothing is kept unless you hit "Record".  If the artist starts singing along before you punch in, they may have given you a better performance on a line or two before you punched in.  Instead of sitting there and saying "I wish I had been in record sooner because she sung that line great", all you have do is peel the wave form back to the left and there is the line she just sang because it was recording as soon as you hit play!!!  Again, if this feature is already in Sonar, please tell me how to find it.  

Thanks for letting me make my wishes know.
Danny C

[Starship Krupa]

On 11/27/2024 at 6:10 PM, buildanax said:

in PT (and some other DAW's)  you don't have to undo it and try it again.  You can simply drag the edge of the new audio clip to the left and uncover the section before you punched in and the beginning of the word or note that you thought you had clipped is actually there because PT actually started recording as soon as you hit play!

Nice idea. Pre-roll for the punch-in.

I keep forgetting and run into this while trying to punch in MIDI performances. With MIDI, if you press the keys before the punch, you won't actually record a note on event.

An option to record from whenever you start the transport, not just at the start of the punch, would be useful.

[AxlBrutality]

Yea, the phantom/pre-roll recording has been a lauded and core feature of PT since at least 2007 (since I went to audio school).  While I've never found myself in many situations where I could have used it, it has always seemed to be a popular feature and I've been curious why many popular DAWs still haven't implemented it almost 20 years later (or were very slow to adopt it).

Edited December 11 by AxlBrutality

[Sock Monkey]

After trying about 12 Daw’s I give Waveform the award for best transport control of recording. Rec. / Redo/ delete. 
One click does. It The worst ones ask you if you are sure ?? 
You’re recording a take and you screwed up, hit redo and keep going without further action. Hit delete and it gives you time to re-compose your self and start again.!Simply brilliant! 

[sjoens]

On 11/27/2024 at 5:10 PM, buildanax said:

1. When choosing a Synth icon to use for a plug-in that is inserted in the Synth Rack it would be nice for the icon you choose for the Synth Rack to also change on the corresponding midi track.

If I could add to #1: "Cakewalk" synths automatically insert an icon in the Synth Rack but not on the synth/instrument Track/Strip - would be nice if it did.  The MIDI track I often use a different icon.

[Tim Elmore]

Regarding "pre-roll" recording, I handle it like this:

Leave the Recording Mode set to Sound on Sound:

1. Instead of setting punch-in and punch-out points, just left drag the mouse cursor over the part of the track you want to redo. Then press <Delete> to erase that section.

2. Left click the mouse where you want to start rolling (this sets the Now Time). This can be earlier than the portion you deleted.

3. Hit Record. Recording will start immediately at Now Time. You will hear the undeleted part of the old recording, which does not get erased, but you will be recording alongside it.

4. Keep recording until finished and then stop the transport.

5. You will see the overlapping old and new clips in the Take Lanes display. Choose the best place to transition from the old to the new and edit the clip ends accordingly. You can even cross fade the two clips. This is how I get smooth transitions for instruments that tend to play continuously, such as piano.

Now that I am used to it, this is as easy as using punch points. Some people will prefer to stick with conventional punch points, but you might want to give this a try to see if it does what you want.