Bounce to Track(s) dialog

Click the Track view Tracks menu and choose Bounce to Track(s) to open the Bounce to Track(s) dialog box.

This command lets you process the effects and/or automation together with the audio data in tracks to create one or several new tracks in order to lighten the load on your computer. Once you’ve bounced the tracks, you can archive or delete the source tracks to free up your computer’s resources.

Note 1: If you select any data in your project, only that data is included when you choose to bounce tracks. Alternatively, you can mute tracks you don’t want to include in the mixdown, and then check Track Mute/Solo in the Mix Enables field so that SONAR uses that information as a guide when picking what tracks to include in the bounce. If a project is using any effects that add a “tail” to the end of an audio track, such as reverb or delay, then you should make sure that you select extra time in the time ruler (duration needed to hear the tail) at the end of the current selection before using the Tracks > Bounce to Track(s) command. This ensures that the “tail” is included in the audio mixdown.

Note 2: You control the bit depth of all rendering operations (bouncing, freezing, applying effects) in Edit > Preferences > File - Audio Data in the Render Bit Depth field. The default value for render bit depth is 32. 64 can be selected to preserve the greater mixing and rendering precision that the 64 bit double precision mix engine provides. Values of 16 and 24 can also be selected. See Bit depths for rendering audio for more information.

The dialog box has the following fields:

Destination

Assign the track to which you want to mixdown. If you are creating more than one track of audio, the destination track must be the first of consecutive blank or unwanted tracks.

Preset

You can create a preset out of your bounce settings, in case you use the same settings regularly. When the dialog box is set the way you want it, type a name in the Preset box and click the floppy disk icon that’s next to it to save the preset.

Source Category

Select one of the following options:

Tracks. Creates a new track or tracks (the Split Mono option in the Channel Format field) for each track that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field.

Buses. Creates a new track or tracks (the Split Mono option in the Channel Format field) for each bus that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field.

Main Outputs. Creates a new track or tracks (the Split Mono option in the Channel Format field) for each Main Output that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field.

Entire Mix. Creates a new track or tracks (the Split Mono option in the Channel Format field) from your entire mix.

Source Bus(es)/Track(s)

Choose the buses or tracks you want to use as a source to create your tracks. If you chose Tracks in the Source Category field, only tracks will show up as choices in this field.

Channel Format

Select from one of the following options:

Mono. Creates a separate mono track for each track or bus selected in the Source Buses/Tracks field.

Stereo. Creates a separate stereo track for each track or bus selected in the Source Buses/Tracks field.

Split Mono. Creates separate mono tracks for each track or bus selected in the Source Buses/Tracks field. If the selected track or bus is stereo, the selected track or bus will produce two new tracks. If the selected bus is a surround bus, the selected bus produces as many mono tracks as the bus has channels.

Dithering

Select from five available dithering types.

Rectangular

Triangular

Pow-r 1

Pow-r 2

Pow-r 3

For more information, see Dithering.

Mix Enables

As default, each of the Mix Enables options is checked, meaning that your mixdown will sound the same as playback. You can check or uncheck each of the following settings to include or exclude them from the mix:

Track Mute/Solo. If you check this option, tracks that are currently muted are not mixed down. Also with this option checked, if any tracks are soloed, only those tracks are included in the mixdown.

Bus Mute/Solo. If you check this option, buses that are currently muted are not mixed down. Also with this option, if any buses are soloed, only the buses soloed are included in the mixdown.

Track Automation. If you don’t check this option, any volume and pan automation, including initial volume and pan settings, is ignored when creating the new track(s). The amplitude of the raw data in the tracks is used, and the pan is C, or centered.

Clip Automation. If you don’t check this option, any clip automation, including any trim settings, is ignored when creating the new track(s).

Bus Automation

FX Automation

Track FX. If you don’t check this option, any effects patched into various tracks’ patch points, including any plug-in synthesizers patched into track fx patch points, are ignored when creating the new track(s).

Bus FX. If you don’t check this option, any effects patched into buses, including any plug-in synthesizers patched into buses, are ignored when creating the new track(s).

Fast Bounce. When checked, SONAR bounces to tracks as fast as your computer will allow. If unchecked, bouncing to tracks happens in real time. Uncheck this option if you are using a synth that only works in real time. This option is checked by default.

Audible Bounce. The Audible Bounce option is only available when in real-time bounce mode (when Fast Bounce is unchecked). When Audible Bounce is unchecked, no audio output will be heard during the bounce process. When in real-time bounce mode (Fast Bounce unchecked) and Audible Bounce is enabled, you can hear the output of the mixdown.

Note: Depending on the gainstages used in the project and the mixdown options selected–such as bouncing with source category assigned to Tracks, or with mute/solo or automation disabled in the bounce settings or while freezing tracks–the output may be louder or softer than during normal playback. Please be sure to turn down the master output level before using real-time audible bounce under these scenarios to avoid the possibility of speaker damage.

64-bit Engine. This option lets you turn on the 64-bit mix engine temporarily while you bounce your tracks. This produces a higher-quality bounce without taxing your CPU during the rest of your session.

For more information, see:

To mix down (bounce) audio tracks

To convert your soft synth tracks to new audio tracks