Skylight
Skylight introduces a next generation workspace and presents a new level of simplicity by providing an intelligent interface that moves beyond contemporary, single-window design and layout clutter. You can hide, dock, collapse or expand any of SONAR’s views instantly.
Figure 6. Skylight. A. Control Bar, B. Inspector pane, C. Track pane, D. Clips pane, E. Video Thumbnail pane, F. Browser, G. MultiDock.
The main components of the Skylight interface are as follows:
Track view. Manage tracks and arrange clips and events in your projects.
Inspector. See all vital track and clip information in one logical and quickly accessible location.
Control Bar. Access crucial functions quickly and clearly with the modular Control Bar. Editing tools are global and centralized in one location.
MultiDock. Dock and instantly access any number of SONAR’s views into one combined area.
Browser. Organize all content in one, easily managed place with full drag and drop functionality. A simplified Synth Rack makes it easier to work with more instances of virtual instruments in your projects.
The Track view
The 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. To switch to the Track View, choose Views > Track View or press ALT+1.
Figure 3. The Track view. A. Track pane, B. Clips pane, C. Video Thumbnail pane, D. Navigator pane.
The Track view is divided into several sections:
The menu bar (at the top).
The Track pane.
The Clips pane.
The Bus pane.
The Navigator pane.
The Video Thumbnails pane.
All of the current track’s controls are contained in the 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 Inspector by pressing I on your keyboard.
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.
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.
At the top of the Track view is the Video Thumbnails pane, which displays individual frames of an imported video clip. The time interval between displayed frames is determined by the zoom level you choose. If you zoom in far enough, you can view each individual frame of your video.
The Console View
The Console View is where you can combine the sounds on all the different tracks to create the final mix of your song or project. 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.
To switch to the Console View, choose Views > Console View or press ALT+2.
Figure 7. 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
The Console view contains the following main elements:
Menu. Use the menu to configure channel strips. You can filter the display of specific channel strip types and modules within channel strips.
Track, Bus and Mains panes. The Console view has three separate panes: the left most pane contains track channel strips, the middle pane contains bus channel strips, and the right pane contains main channel strips. You can drag the pane splitter bars to resize the panes.
Channel strips. Each track, bus and main in the project is represented by its own vertical channel strip. Use the channel strip controls to mix and process tracks, buses and mains.
Modules. Controls in channel strips are grouped into modules that can be shown or hidden.