Getting around

The project is the center of your work in SONAR. A project may contain a number of different elements, including audio, MIDI, video, etc. All of these elements are organized into tracks, clips and events within a project.

Tracks are used to store the sound or music made by each instrument or voice in a project. For example, a song that is arranged for four instruments and one vocalist may have five tracks (one track per instrument, and one track for the vocals). Each project can have an unlimited number of tracks (SONAR X2 Essential supports unlimited MIDI tracks and up to 64 audio tracks). Each track can be made up of one or many clips.

Clips are the pieces of sound and music that make up your tracks. A clip might contain a horn solo, a drum break, a bass or guitar riff, a voice-over or a sound effect like a car horn or telephone ring. A track can contain a single clip or dozens of different clips.

The term Events is used to describe MIDI data that is in MIDI tracks or automation data.

Every project has a current time, known as the Now Time, which keeps track of where you are in a project. The Now Time appears as a vertical line in the Track view and is displayed in both the Time Ruler and Time Display.

Figure 4. A. Tracks, B. Now time, C. Clips, D. Events

The 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.

To show/hide the Control Bar, press C.

Figure 5. Control Bar.

The Control Bar contains the following modules:

• Tools module. Lets you select a global tool and draw resolution.

• Snap module. Lets you configure Snap to Grid settings.

• Transport module. Contains standard controls for Record, Return to Zero, Rewind, Stop, Play, and Fast Forward.

• Loop module. Lets you configure loop settings.

• Mix module. Lets you configure Mute, Solo, Arm for recording, effects bypass and automation playback/recording settings.

• ACT module. Lets you configure how control surfaces interact with effect and soft synth plug-ins.

• Screenset module. Lets you save and recall screenset presets (window layouts).

• Performance module. Lets you monitor CPU, disk and memory activity.

• Punch module. Lets you configure punch record settings.

• Select module. Lets you configure selection settings.

• Markers module. Lets you navigate by markers.

• Event Inspector module. Lets you modify selected clips and events.

• Sync module. Lets you configure synchronization settings.

For more information about each module, see the online Help topic called Control Bar overview.