MusicRadar

Sonar 7 comes fit to burst with useful new features.

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The seventh version of Cakewalk’s audio/MIDI sequencing package brings with it more than a few surprises. The developers have not only listened and responded to user requests, but they’ve also come up with some clever ideas of their own.

But of course, implementing new features is one thing – learning how to tame them from a user perspective is quite another. So, here are MusicRadar’s top 12 tips for getting the most out of Sonar 7…

1. If you’ve ever created projects with numerous instrument plug-ins (and who hasn’t?), you may be glad to know that you can now give your instruments easily recognisable names. Looking for a ‘Plucked Bass’ sound is certainly easier than trying to remember which of your umpteen synths was making that sound!

2. We’re well aware that you can ‘do it all’ within your computer, but sometimes it’s nice to let a little of the outside world shine on your songs – moving some air about can add some vitality to your tracks. Take advantage of Sonar 7’s support for external hardware to pump some signals though an amplifier and mic up the results!

3. Ever needed to rip audio files from a CD directly into a project? Cubase users have been doing this for yonks, and now Sonar fans can perform the same functions within the application itself. It works the other way around, too: you can now burn multiple tracks to an audio CD from directly within the app.

4. Nothing can get more tiresome than setting up the exact same EQ curves for multiple tracks. Anyone who regularly records vocal comps will know what we’re talking about! Now you can drag-and-drop EQ parameters from one track to another. Next time you’re mixing down multiple vocal takes, try dragging your settings to each track and then subtly tweaking each one for a huge vocal sound.

5. Getting your head around your velocity controller edits is now a lot easier, thanks to Sonar’s new Velocity Colorizer. Individual notes are tinted according to velocity level for instant visual feedback. Other applications already have this function, but this is the first time it’s been made available to Sonar users.

6. So your freeware Minimoog plug-in just doesn’t have the life and lustre of the genuine article? Borrow a hardware synth, preamp or DI box and use Sonar 7’s external hardware features to send your soft synth’s signal through some real, honest analogue circuitry to fatten it up. You’ll be amazed at how your virtual synthesizer springs to life!