Go to Edit > Preferences > Project - Surround to select a surround format. Choosing a surround format sets the number of speakers your project is using, and lets you choose a specific sound card output for each speaker. Here you can also choose parameters for bass management, and for downmixing, which means converting a surround mix into a stereo mix.
The group of sound card outputs that you choose in Edit > Preferences > Project - Surround make up the “Surround Main.” The
Surround Main becomes a choice on the
Outputs menus of tracks and buses as soon as you insert a surround bus into your project. You won’t see a “Surround Main” output module in the output modules section of the Console view, because it’s just a term for the group of sound card outputs you choose for surround mixing. The pan control on any track or bus that outputs to the “Surround Main” controls which hardware outputs receive the signal that the track or bus sends to the “Surround Main.”
Sonar saves the surround settings you choose in Edit > Preferences > Project - Surround with your project, including your downmixing parameters. If you have some particular settings you might use again, you can save a group of settings as a preset (except for downmixing parameters—you can change these, but they aren’t saved in presets). To save a group of settings as a preset, type a name in the
Presets field and then click the
Disk icon that’s to the right of the field. When you want to use this preset in a project, just choose it from the
Presets drop-down menu.
