Saving project files

SONAR offers you many options for saving your work. To investigate these options, click on the File menu and choose Save As. This opens the Save As dialog box. Before doing anything in this window, the first thing you should do is select Project Files in the Go to Folder list. Even if it already says Project Files, click it anyway.

You will notice this window looks very familiar to the Open dialog box we looked at earlier in this tutorial. The Save As dialog box navigates files much in the same way as Windows does. If you would like to read the finer points and in-depth information about using this window, click the Help button. For this exercise, we are going to look at the different types of project files you can save with SONAR.

Take a look at the drop-down list labeled Save as type. Click the Save as type arrow to see a list of supported file formats. Let’s look at these different files formats now:

Normal. This is the first option listed and the most common format used for saving project files. Choosing this will create a Cakewalk Project file with the .cwp file extension. It is important to remember that Cakewalk Project files do not actually store any audio data, but rather reference audio files from where they are saved on your computer’s hard drive. You can choose where the audio files are stored by using the Audio Path field in the Save As dialog box.

Template. Template files are used as a starting point for new projects. Templates can store layout information about your project, such as how many audio and MIDI tracks there are and which Output ports they are assigned to. For more information about using templates, see Templates.

Cakewalk Bundle. This format is typically used when transferring projects to other people or other computers. Cakewalk Bundle files use the .cwb file extension and are similar to Cakewalk Project files. The main difference is that Cakewalk Bundle files actually contain all of a project’s audio data. Cakewalk Bundle files are much larger in size than regular Cakewalk Project files because they contain all of the audio data for a project, so try to avoid using this format unless you need to move a project between computers. When opening a Cakewalk Bundle file, SONAR will “unpack” the embedded audio data and save it to a new audio folder on your computer.

MIDI. This option lets you save a standard MIDI file of your project. MIDI files do not contain any embedded audio or references to external audio files, so any audio data in a project will be discarded when you save a MIDI file. MIDI files can be either Format 0 or Format 1. Format 0 combines all the MIDI events into a single track. This is compatible with many older sequencers and keyboards. MIDI Format 1 files can store up to 7256 tracks and are a better choice if you plan to use your MIDI file with another computer-based sequencing application. Although not as common, SONAR also allows you to save in the RIFF MIDI format. Unless you are positive that the playback system requires a RIFF MIDI file, you want to use the MIDI format.

In most cases, the best choice for saving your files is Normal. To save this project, do the following:

1.	In the Go to Folder list, select Project Files. Even if Project Files is already selected, select it again for good practice.

2.	In the Save as type list, select Normal.

3.	Type a name in the File Name box.

4.	Click Save to save the project.

This completes the tutorial.

See:

Creating a new project

Opening project files

Playing project files

Looping project files

 

See also:

Tutorial 2 - Using the Browser

Tutorial 3 - Recording vocals and musical instruments

Tutorial 4 - Playing and recording software instruments

Tutorial 5 - Working with music notation

Tutorial 6 - Editing your music

Tutorial 7 - Mixing and adding effects

Tutorial 8 - Working with video

Tutorial 9 - Exporting, CD burning and sharing