Skylight

Figure 364. Skylight.

A. Control Bar B. Inspector C. Track view D. Browser E. MultiDock

Take Lanes

Take lanes provide an alternative method of viewing and editing overlapping clips on tracks. Overlapping clips can occur when you record multiple takes on the same track. Take lanes can be expanded or collapsed on each track. When expanded, Take lanes are indented below the parent track. Take lanes can be created, hidden, and removed, and each track can have an unlimited number of lanes.

Take lanes provide many benefits, including:

Better visibility of clip data.

Less screen clutter on track strips.

Ability to quickly mute and solo individual takes.

Better workflow for creating a final composite take out of many separate takes.

To show a track’s Take lanes, click the track’s Expand/collapse Take lanes button .

Figure 365. Take lanes collapsed.

Figure 366. Take lanes expanded.

A. Parent track B. Take lanes

For details, see Take lanes and comping takes.

Automation Lanes

Automation lanes are an alternative method of viewing automation envelopes on tracks and buses. Automation envelopes can be displayed in the parent track, or in indented lanes below the parent track.

Figure 367. Automation lanes.

A. Parent track B. Automation lanes

Automation lanes provide many benefits, including:

Better visibility of automation data.

Less screen clutter on track strips.

Choose to only show the data you’re interested in.

Easier to work with individual automation envelopes.

Easy to copy and paste specific automation data.

Ability to quickly bypass individual automation parameters.

Slider to control automation parameters.

To show a track’s Automation lanes, click the track’s Expand/collapse Automation lanes button .

For details, see Automation lanes.

Track view enhancements

Take Lanes for improved editing of overlapping clips, and Automation Lanes for improved editing of individual automation envelopes. For details, see Take lanes and comping takes and Automation lanes.

New clip UI with intuitive header indicators. See Clip header indicators.

All new audio clips and MIDI clips have the same default colors.

Auto Track Zoom to automatically zoom the current track. For details, see Auto Zoom the current track.

Enhanced time ruler zoom and scrolling. For details, see Zooming and scrolling in the time ruler.

Track names are no longer bold, in order to fit text better.

Selected clips have a more distinctive color.

Audio data can no longer be placed on a MIDI track, and MIDI data can no longer be placed on an audio track.

Different background color for odd and even tracks/buses in the Clips pane.

Smooth envelope drawing.

Created envelopes are listed in bold text at the top of the Edit Filter menu.

Automation Write buttons indicate the automation mode (Touch, Overwrite, or Latch). For details, see Automation write modes (Producer and Studio only).

Smoother and more visible Now Time playback line that extends the full height of the Track view.

Assign a default MIDI editing view to each MIDI clip. For details, see To specify the default editing view for MIDI clips.

Now Time marker indicators that shows playback state. For details, see The Now time marker.

Figure 368. The Now Time marker indicates the playback state

A. Paused B. Playback C. Recording

Piano Roll enhancements

Controller lanes.

Edit Filter UI is similar to the Track view Edit Filter.

Horizontal and vertical Aim Assist line. Enabled via the global Aim Assist option in the Track view.

Drag duration when inserting notes via the Smart Tool.

Controller pane size is remembered when you close and reopen the Piano Roll view.

Updated time ruler similar to the Track view time ruler.

Lasso select scrolls the Piano Roll view when you reach the window boundary.

The inline Piano Roll shows clip headers when editing note events. Click a header to select all events that live in the clip, or drag the header to move all events in the clip.

For details, see The Piano Roll view.

Inspector enhancements

Bus Properties Inspector (available when a bus has focus).

Track Properties Inspector and Bus Properties Inspector have an Automation section, with controls to specify the automation write mode and time base.

New Arpeggiator UI with horizontal sliders, which allows parameter values to display better.

Modular ProChannel.

Keyboard shortcuts to show/hide Track Properties Inspector, Clip Properties Inspector and ProChannel. For details, see Basic shortcuts.

For details, see Inspectors.

Browser enhancements

Replace synth command to replace a synth with any other available synth. Swap instruments and try new sounds in one simple step, while keeping all other routing and track data fully in-tact. For details, see To replace an instrument.

Option to delete associated tracks when deleting synths. For details, see To remove an instrument.

Drag FX Chains and clips to/from the Browser. For details, see To save an FX Chain preset and To load an FX Chain preset.

Rename media files, plug-ins and FX Chains. For details, see To rename media files in the Media Browser, To rename a plug-in and To rename an FX Chain preset.

Delete media files directly from the Browser. For details, see To delete media files in the Media Browser.

Multi-folder search filter.

Send MIDI data to external MIDI output when previewing MIDI data.

Browser preview stays synchronized with the Matrix.

Clicking a synth in the Synth Rack makes the corresponding instrument track active.

For details, see Browser.

Control Bar enhancements

Control Bar modules are centered.

Tools module updates:

Trim tool has been renamed to Edit tool.

Snap to Grid module updates:

Smart Grid option. Snap to dynamic grid based on horizontal zoom level.

Note duration values show a graphic representation of the selected note value.

Triplet and dotted note duration buttons.

Snap To and Snap By are now a single toggle.

Streamlined Landmarks button. Right-click the Landmarks button to enable/disable individual landmarks.

Transport module updates:

Access metronome settings by clicking the metronome icon.

Screenset module updates:

The active screenset is highlighted.

There are 10 screenset buttons.

Mix module updates:

Offset mode button.

 

For details, see Control Bar overview.

Full Screen mode

You can expand SONAR’s interface by using the new Full Screen mode. To do so, click the Window menu and choose Full Screen, or press F11.

Other user interface and usability enhancements

Easier to use default plug-in layouts.

Open the Step Sequencer, Piano Roll view, Staff view, or Event List view directly from a soft synth’s property page. For details, see Presets and property pages.

MIDI Input controls set to None correctly display None instead of Omni.

Tooltips are flicker-free.

Support for mono input/output.

Screensets remember the active tab in the MultiDock.

Deleting a bus is undoable.

Many new intuitive mouse pointer cursors.

Dozens of other UI enhancements.

 

See:

New features in SONAR X2

Perform

Record

Edit

Mix

Master

Deliver

Misc. enhancements