Opening the Staff view

There are several ways to open the Staff view:

In the Track view, select the MIDI tracks you want to see, then choose Views > Staff View, or press ALT+7.

Right-click on a track in the Clips pane and choose Views > Staff View on the pop-up menu.

You can always change the tracks that are displayed: in the Staff view, click the Track menu, choose Pick Tracks and select the tracks you want. You can display one or more tracks.

The Staff view lets you edit, delete, copy, and move notes during playback or recording, in real time. This means you can loop over a portion of your project and hear any change you make on the next loop. You can freeze the Staff view from automatic scrolling during playback by pressing the SCROLL LOCK key.

The Staff view includes zoom tools that let you change the vertical and horizontal scale of the view.

Staff view menu

Print menu

Print. Open the Print dialog box, which lets you print notation.

Print Preview. Open the SONAR Print window, where you can view your document before you print it.

Export to ASCII Tab. Open the Save As dialog, where you can set the name and location for an ASCII text file of a track’s tablature.

Export to MusicXML. Open the Save As dialog, where you can export the displayed notation as MusicXML. For details, see Export to MusicXML.

Edit menu

The Edit menu contains the following commands:

Layout. Open the Staff View Layout dialog box.

Quick TAB. Create tablature based on standard fingering patterns. After you try the quick version, you can customize the tablature to your liking.

Regenerate TAB. Generate a new TAB staff in the Staff pane.

Play Previous. Play the previous note from the Now time.

Play Next. Play the next note from the Now time.

View menu

The View menu contains the following commands:

Show/Hide Track Pane. Show or hide the Track pane.

Show/Hide Fret View. Show or hide the guitar fretboard display.

Display Resolution. Use the submenu to specify the smallest note duration that will display in the Staff view.

Fill Durations. Visually round up notes to the next note or beat, whichever comes first—useful for displaying recorded MIDI notes, but not for entering notes with the Draw tool

Trim Durations. Visually round down note durations if they extend a little past the start of the next note—useful for displaying recorded MIDI notes, but not for entering notes with the Draw tool.

Toolbar

The Staff view toolbar contains the following buttons:

Zoom in/out. Zoom in/out horizontally and vertically.

Lyrics. Use the Draw tool to insert Lyric events.

Chords. Use the Draw tool to insert Chord events. After you enter a chord, right-click it to edit it.

Expression. Use the Draw tool to insert Expression events. Click below a staff to create a text box, type some dynamics, and press ENTER.

Hairpin. Use the Draw tool to insert Hairpin events (crescendo or decrescendo markings).

Pedal. Use the Draw tool to insert Pedal events. Click below a staff to enter a pedal down marker and a pedal up marker. You can drag both markers to reposition them.

Cursor position. This field shows the cursor’s current position in both project time and pitch level. The pitch level is listed in both letter and number formats.

Displaying tracks

The Staff view also has a Track pane that allows you to set a track’s Mute/Solo/Arm status and to change track focus.

To view the Track pane:

Click the Staff view Track menu and choose Show/Hide Track Pane.

To set track focus:

In the Track pane, click the track name.

To mute, solo, or arm a track:

In the Track pane, click a track’s M, S, or R buttons, respectively.

Note: You can right-click in the Track pane to access Snap to Scale commands. For more information about this feature, see Snap to Scale.