Views

SONAR displays your project in windows on the screen that are known as views. You can have many views open at once, all showing the same project. When you edit a project in one view, the other related views are updated automatically.

The Track view

Track view is the main window that you use to create, display, and work with a project. When you open a project file, SONAR displays the Track view for the project. When you close the Track view for a project, SONAR closes the file.

The Track view is divided into several sections: menu bar (at the top), the Navigator pane, the Video Thumbnails pane, the Track pane, the Inspector pane, the Clips pane, the Bus pane, the Browser pane, and the MultiDock.

Figure 7. The Track view.

A. Control Bar B. Inspector pane C. Track pane D. Clips pane E. Video Thumbnail pane F. Browser G. MultiDock

All of the current track’s controls are contained in the Track Inspector, which is an expanded version of the current track’s controls located on the far left side of the Track view. You can hide or show the Track Inspector by pressing I on your keyboard (see Inspectors, for more information).

The Track pane lets you see and change the initial settings for each track. To change the current track, move the highlight using the mouse or the keyboard as follows.

Table 4.  

What it does	Key
Moves the highlight to the next or previous control.	LEFT/RIGHT ARROW
Moves to the same control in the adjacent track, or the next track of the same type if the control only applies to a specific track type (for example, the Patch control only applies to MIDI tracks).	UP/DOWN ARROW
Displays the next page of tracks.	PAGE DOWN
Displays the previous page of tracks.	PAGE UP
Moves the focus to the first track.	HOME
Moves the focus to the last track.	END

The Clips pane shows the clips in your project on a horizontal timeline called the time ruler that helps you visualize how your project is organized. Clips contain markings that indicate their contents. The Clips pane lets you select, move, cut and copy clips from place to place to change the arrangement of music and sound in your project.

The Bus pane shows the buses in the project, and also shows any editing views that are in tabbed (docked) format. The Show/Hide Bus pane button allows you to show or hide the Bus pane at the bottom of the Track view.

The Navigator pane displays a large part of your project so you can see an overview of your song. The Navigator pane displays all of your project’s tracks.

The Track view makes it easy to select tracks, clips, and ranges of time in a project.For more information, see Track view and Configuring the display of tracks in the Track view.

Inspector pane

When working on a project, you will frequently need to access track and clip parameters and mix controls. The Track Inspector and Properties Inspector provide easy access to relevant settings for the selected track(s) or clip(s).

Figure 8. Use the Track Inspector and Properties Inspector to configure track and clip settings.

A. Dock/undock Inspector B. Show/hide Clip Properties Inspector C. Show/hide Track Properties Inspector D. Show/hide ProChannel E. Display area for Properties Inspector F. Display area for Track Inspectors G. Show/hide/configure Track Inspector modules H. Section header bars (click to show controls) I. Show audio output or MIDI settings (Instrument tracks only)

The Inspector pane appears to the left of the Track view, but can also be moved to the right side. There are three separate inspectors:

Track Inspector. The Track Inspector shows mix settings for the current track, bus, or main, and is essentially identical to a channel strip in the Console view. Advanced MIDI settings are also available for MIDI tracks and Instrument tracks. For details, see Track Inspector overview.

Properties Inspector. The Properties Inspector shows properties for the selected clip(s) or track(s). For details, see Properties Inspector overview. The Properties Inspector has two modes:

Clip. The Clip Properties Inspector displays settings for the currently selected clip(s). For details, see Properties Inspector - Clip Properties.

Track. The Track Properties Inspector lets you type a track name, specify an audio track’s AudioSnap render modes, specify the default clip colors, and enter a text description. For details, see Properties Inspector - Track Properties.

ProChannel (Producer only). ProChannel combines compression, equalization, and tube saturation modeling in one convenient processor. ProChannel is available on each audio track, Instrument track and bus. For details, see ProChannel (Producer only).

For more information about the Inspector pane, see Inspectors.

Control Bar

Much of your time in SONAR is spent recording and listening to your project as it develops. The Control Bar contains the most important tools and other pieces of information you will need to record, edit and play back your project.

The Control Bar consists of several modules that each contain various related controls. You can re-arrange and show/hide each individual module, which allows you to only show the functions you need most often. By default, the Control Bar is docked at the top of SONAR’s screen, but can also be undocked or docked at the bottom.

Figure 9. The Control Bar.

For more information about the Control Bar, see Control Bar overview.

The Console view

The Console view is where you can mix the sounds on all the different tracks to create the final mix of your project. While the Track view provides most of the same controls, you may want to use the more familiar interface of the Console view for mixing.You use the Console view to adjust the levels of sound for the different tracks in your project, to change the stereo panning, and to apply real-time effects to an individual track, combinations of tracks, or the final mix.

The Console view contains several modules of controls. There is one channel strip for each track and bus in your project. You can use bus sends to direct certain tracks to special modules that are known as buses.

Figure 10. The Console view

A. Console view menu B. ProChannel (Producer only) C. Pane splitter bars D. Track channel strips E. Bus channel strips F. Main channel strips

As in the Track view, you can change track settings or record new music or sound in the Console view. You may choose to use one view or the other, or the choice you make may depend on which project you are working on.

Other views

SONAR has a number of other views you can use to display and work on your project. To display these view, choose the desired view from the Views menu, or press the view’s keyboard shortcut.

The Piano Roll view shows the notes from a MIDI track or tracks as they would appear on a player-piano roll. You can move the notes around, make them longer or shorter, and change their pitches by just dragging them with the mouse. You can also use the Piano Roll view to display and edit MIDI velocity, controllers, and other types of information. The Piano Roll view also contains the Drum Editor, which allows you to play different drum modules from a single track. For more information, see Piano Roll view.

Figure 11. The Piano Roll view

A. Piano Roll view menu B. Key/Pitch pane C. Note pane

The Staff view displays the notes from one or more MIDI tracks using standard music notation, similar to the way the notation would appear on a printed page. You can add, edit, or delete notes; create percussion parts; add guitar chords and other notation markings; display guitar tablature; display the Fretboard pane; and print whole scores or individual parts to share with other musicians.

Figure 12. The Staff view

A. Staff view menu B. Zoom in/out C. Staff pane D. Editing tools E. Time and pitch locator F. Dock/undock and expand/collapse G. Track list pane H. Fretboard pane

The Loop Construction view allows you to create and edit Groove clips (SONAR loops that “know” the tempo and key in which they were recorded), and export these clips as ACIDized files. For more information, see Loop Construction view.

Figure 13. The Loop Construction view

The Browser lets you find and import various types of content into your projects, including audio and MIDI files, track and project templates, track icons, FX Chain presets, effect plug-ins and instruments. You can drag content and plug-ins directly into tracks.

Figure 14. The Browser.

A. Media Browser B. Plug-in Browser C. Synth Rack Browser

The Event List view displays the events in a project individually, so that you can make changes at a very detailed level. For more information, see Event List view.

Figure 15. The Event List view

SONAR has several other views that are used for very specific purposes.

Table 5.  

View	How you use it
Meter/Key	To change the meter (time signature) or key signature, or to insert changes in the meter or key signature at specific times in a project. For more information, see Meter/Key view.
Big Time	To display the Now time in a large, resizable font that you can read more easily. For more information, see Big Time view.
Markers	To add, move, rename, or delete labels for parts of your project that make it easier to move from one point to another. For more information, see Markers view.
Lyrics	To add and display lyrics for a track. For more information, see Lyrics view.
Video	To display a loaded video file. For more information, see Video view.
Navigator	Manage the Now Time in a project
Surround Panner (Producer and Studio only)	Pan a surround track
Sysx	To create, display, store, and edit System Exclusive MIDI messages used to control instruments and other gear that are MIDI capable. For more information, see SYSX view.
Tempo	To view and edit the project's tempo changes. For more information, see Tempo view.
Step Sequencer	Lets you compose patterns by clicking cells in a grid to turn notes on or off. For more information, see Step Sequencer view.
Matrix	Lets you trigger multiple audio and MIDI patterns, either with a mouse or via MIDI remote control. For more information, see Matrix view.

Zoom controls

Many of the views contain Zoom tools that let you change the horizontal and vertical scale of the view.

Figure 16. Zoom controls

A. Zoom Clips pane out vertically B. Vertical Zoom fader for Clips pane C. Zoom Clips pane in vertically D. Zoom Bus pane out vertically E. Vertical Zoom fader for Bus pane F. Zoom Bus pane in vertically G. Zoom in horizontally H. Horizontal zoom fader I. Zoom out horizontally

The Zoom tools are used as described in the following table.

Table 6.  

Tool	How you use it
Zoom out (Clips pane or Bus pane)	Click to zoom out incrementally, or press SHIFT and click to zoom all the way out
Zoom in (Clips pane or Bus pane)	Click to zoom in incrementally, or press SHIFT and click to zoom all the way in
Zoom fader	Click and drag to zoom continuously

You can also zoom with the keyboard.

Table 7.  

Key	What it does
CTRL+UP ARROW	Zoom out vertically
CTRL+DOWN ARROW	Zoom in vertically
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW	Zoom in horizontally
CTRL+LEFT ARROW	Zoom out horizontally
Hold down Z	Arm the Zoom tool
ALT+Z	Undo the current zoom
ALT+SHIFT+Z	Redo the previous zoom
F	Fit tracks to window
A	Show all tracks
SHIFT+F	Fit project to window
SHIFT+double-click a clip	Maximize track height
F11	Full Screen mode

To undo/redo zoom with mouse buttons

To undo zoom (same as ALT+Z), press and hold down the right mouse button, then click the left mouse button.

To redo zoom (same as ALT+SHIFT+Z), press and hold down the left mouse button, then click the right mouse button.

Auto Zoom the current track

When Auto Zoom is enabled, the current track will automatically zoom and any lanes will be shown at their minimum height, and all other tracks will be minimized. When a new track is focused, it swaps heights with the previously focused track.

Auto Zoom allows you to show more tracks or buses simultaneously as a result of having all but one zoomed out vertically.

Note: When Auto Zoom is enabled, it is not possible to resize individual tracks. All non-focused tracks always have the same track height. If a non-focused track is resized, all others resize with it. All Minimize Strip and Restore Strip buttons are also hidden.

To enable/disable Auto Zoom

Do one of the following:

Click the Track view Views menu and select Auto Zoom.

Press SHIFT+Z.

To specify the default Auto Zoom track height

Resize the current track.

Zooming and scrolling in the time ruler

1.	Point the mouse pointer at the top half of the Clips pane or Piano Roll view time ruler until the mouse pointer looks like this: .

2.	Do one of the following:

Drag up/down to zoom horizontally. Zooming is centered around the Aim Assist line. To zoom faster, hold down the SHIFT key while dragging.

Right-click and drag up/down to zoom tracks vertically. The current track is centered.

Drag left/right to scroll horizontally.

Double-click to show and fit selection (or fit project if there is no selection).

 

Note 1: If multiple time rulers are showing, drag in the top half of the topmost ruler.

Note 2: The Clips pane will stop scrolling while zooming in the time ruler, or if you stop zooming while the Now time is off-screen. To resume scrolling, right-click in the time ruler.

Docking views in the MultiDock

You can dock any view other than the Console view in the MultiDock by enabling a view’s Dock in MultiDock option. You can have as many views open in tabbed format as you want. You can toggle through the different views by clicking the tab of the view you want to see (or use the CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT/RIGHT ARROW shortcut). You can also maximize the pane to do detailed work in a view, or drag the splitter bar at the top of the view to enlarge the tabbed view area.

Figure 17. The MultiDock.

A. Each docked window has its own tab B. Click to the right of the tabs and drag the MultiDock away from the bottom of the screen in order to undock the MultiDock C. Dock/undock and expand/collapse the MultiDock

For more information about docking view, see MultiDock.

Locking views

By default SONAR allows only one instance of each view, but you can lock the contents of most views, preserving the current view by forcing a new instance of the view to appear if necessary. Locking views is the only way you can have multiple instances of the same view open. Only the Track and Console views cannot be locked.

To lock a view, do one of the following:

Click the upper left corner of a window, and choose Lock Contents from the pop-up menu.

If the view is docked in the MultiDock, right-click the view’s tab and choose Lock Contents.

For more information about locking view, see Locking views.

Floating views

When a view is float enabled, you can move it outside of the confines of SONAR. This is particularly useful if you take advantage of SONAR’s dual monitor support. Using dual monitor support, you can keep the Track or Console view on one monitor and “float” other views to the other monitor by dragging them to the second screen.

For more information about floating view, see Floating views and using dual video monitors.

X-Ray windows

The X-Ray Windows feature eliminates the need to constantly minimize, move, or close windows in order to work in other windows. It works by decreasing the opacity of the current window enough so that you can see and work with the window that’s behind the current window. You activate the feature by pressing a keyboard shortcut (default shortcut is SHIFT+X) when the mouse cursor is over a window you want to x-ray. You can choose to X-Ray whichever window is underneath the mouse cursor, or automatically X-Ray all FX/synth property pages in one step (Note: the mouse cursor does not need to be over any plug-in property pages).

The X-Ray Windows feature works on the following windows:

AudioSnap palette

Piano Roll view (when float-enabled)

Plug-in effects and synths

Controller/Surface plug-ins

To select key bindings for X-Ray windows

1.	Use the Edit > Preferences command to open the Preferences dialog box, then select Keyboard Shortcuts.

2.	If you want to use currently unassigned keys or key combinations, scroll through the options in the Key window until the Assigned to field that is just under the window reads Unassigned. It’s a good idea to find two unassigned options that are next to each other or easy to remember.

Note: For best results with X-Ray Windows, avoid using ALT key combinations.

3.	Once you’ve decided on two keys or key combinations that you want to use, select Global Bindings in the Area field, and scroll to the bottom of the list of commands that are in the window below that field.

4.	In the Key window, highlight the key or key combination that you want to use for the X-Ray command, then highlight X-Ray in the function column of the list of commands, then click the Bind button to bind them together.

5.	Now highlight the key or key combination that you want to use for the X-Ray All FX/Synths command, then highlight X-Ray All FX/Synths in the function column of the list of commands, then click the Bind button to bind them together.

6.	Click OK to close the dialog box.

To use X-Ray windows

1.	Use the Edit > Preferences command to open the Preferences dialog box, click Customization - Display and make sure the Enable X-Ray check box is selected.

2.

Make sure that the view windows you want to X-Ray are in the Floating-enabled state: to check this, click the view or fx icon that’s in the upper left corner of a window, and select Enable Floating from the drop-down menu. If Disable Floating is in the menu, then the Floating option is already enabled.

Note: All FX/Synth/Control surface property pages are float-enabled by default.

3.	To X-Ray or un-X-Ray a single window, move the mouse cursor over the window, and press the keyboard shortcut (default is SHIFT+X) for the X-Ray command. The window does not need to have focus (does not need to be the highlighted window).

4.	To X-Ray or un-X-Ray all plug-in windows at once, press the key binding for the X-Ray All FX/Synths command.

Note: If a window has focus, and the window’s Give All Keystrokes To Plug-in button is enabled, X-Ray keyboard commands won’t work.

To Adjust X-Ray Windows Options

1.	Use the Edit > Preferences command to open the Preferences dialog box, then click Customization - Display.

2.	On the General tab, you can adust these options:

Enable X-Ray. Enable or disable this check box to turn the X-Ray Windows feature on or off.

Opacity. Adjust this value by typing in a value, or by clicking and holding the + or - button to adjust the final opacity percentage value that an X-Rayed window reaches.

Fade Out Time. Adjust this value by typing in a value, or by clicking and holding the + or - button to adjust the amount of time that an X-Rayed window takes to reach its final opacity percentage value.

Fade In Time. Adjust this value by clicking and holding the + or - button to adjust the amount of time that an X-Rayed window takes to restore its original opacity.

3.	Click OK to close the dialog box and accept your changes.

To exclude a plug-in from X-Ray capablity

Some plug-ins (very few) use DirectDraw to create their windows. These windows appear jittery when x-rayed.

To exclude a plug-in from X-Ray capablity, follow these steps:

1.	Open the Cakewalk Plug-in Manager: use the Utilities > Cakewalk Plug- in Manager command.

2.	In the Plug-in Categories window, select the category that the plug-in you want to exclude is in.

3.	In the Registered Plug-ins window, select the plug-in that you want to exclude.

4.	If the plug-in is a DirectX effect or an MFX, write down (or select and copy) the CLSID value that’s in the CLSID field at the bottom of the dialog box.

5.	If the plug-in is a VST or VSTi, write down the VST ID value that’s in the VST ID field at the bottom of the dialog box.

6.	Close the Plug-in Manager dialog box.

7.	Open the Xrayexclude.ini file that’s in your SONAR program folder (use Notepad).

8.	At the end of the file, find the [EffectProps View] section.

You will see entries such as the following:

; Waves SSL EQ Stereo

XRayExclude11=1397510483

XRayExclude12={E451379E-F7E1-4E82-98D9-BEB87AC45E90}

9.	Exclude your plug-in by creating a blank line below the last entry in the [EffectProps View] section, and then typing:

;[name of your plug-in, but withour brackets]

XRayExclude[type the next available number in XRayExclude list, but without brackets]=[VST ID number, with no brackets, or CLSID number, with curly braces at start and finish]

For example, if the last entry in the [EffectProps View] section was:; Waves SSL EQ Stereo

XRayExclude11=1397510483

XRayExclude12={E451379E-F7E1-4E82-98D9-BEB87AC45E90}

And you wanted to exclude the Cakewalk FxDelay from the X-Ray Windows feature, after creating a blank line you would type:

; Cakewalk FxDelay

XRayExclude13={985DAF67-589F-4B8D-8BBC-D7AD651B9022}

If there was also a VST version of the Cakewalk FxDelay, you would add another line:

XRayExclude14=[some VST ID number, with no brackets]

10.	Save and close the Xrayexclude.ini file, and restart SONAR to implement your changes.

Screensets

You may spend a lot of time making sure that all the views are laid out on the screen just the way you want. When you save your work, SONAR automatically saves the screen layout along with it. You can create up to 10 screensets per project and freely switch between screensets at any time.

For more information, see Screensets.

 

Next topic: Working on a project.