SONAR™ 2.2 Demo Version
(Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP)
README.RTF
Copyright © 2003 Twelve Tone Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Cakewalk is a registered trademark, and SONAR
is a trademark of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc.

This file contains supplemental information on SONAR™, Version 2.2. It was prepared on February 6, 2003.

Contents

What’s New in SONAR 2.2
Support for Digidesign Hardware in Windows XP
Added in SONAR 2.1
OMF Import/Export
Broadcast Wave File Import/Export
29.97 Drop and Non-Drop SMPTE Timecode Frame Rates
Accept and Record Universal Sysx Messages
Mackie Control Plug-In
MMC Plug-In
Windows Media Advanced Streaming 9 Export
Improved Handling of Slip-Edited MIDI Clips
Event Properties Inspector Toolbar
Various
Top Issues in SONAR 2.2
New File Formats
Only use Clean Audio Folder in SONAR 2.2
Windows 2000/XP and SONAR
“Safe Mode” for File-Open
Drum Maps on SONAR CD-ROM
Windows Media Advanced Streaming Export in SONAR 2.2 Requires WM9
Compressed Broadcast Wave Files are Not Imported At Their Timestamp
Video Profiles Available for WMA (Windows Media Advanced Streaming Format) Export
OMF Files Always Open With a Timebase of 960 PPQ
Audio Performance Issues
Latest Sound Card Information
Midiman/M-Audio Delta 1010 WDM driver port names are labeled by number
New AUD.INI Variables for Engine Tweaking
24-bit Audio AUD.INI Variable
Audio Data “Queue Buffers”
Potential Problems When Recording Audio With Low Disk Space
Automating “Room Size” in FxReverb May Cause Undesirable Artifacts
Audio Clicks/Pops During Edit Operations When Input Monitoring Is Enabled
Opening Or Closing Property Pages for DSP-FX Audio Plug-Ins Can Cause Dropouts
Ultrafunk fx:Reverb Output Mode Cannot be Changed During Playback
Accessing Dropdown Menus During Playback May Cause Glitches
Dropouts and Other Audio Problems
Reducing Mixing Latency
Wave Profiler Issues
AVICAP32.DLL May Cause Problems When Using Real-Time Audio Effects
Pro Audio 9 Pan Envelopes Are Interpreted As Track Envelopes
Console View and AudioX Console Record Meters Report Different Input Levels
MIDI Issues
NTONYX Style Enhancer Micro 2.0 Lite Plug-In May Cause MIDI Tracks To Stutter
Heavy Scrolling of Dense MIDI Data Can Cause Playback To Slow Down
Doubled Notes When Echoing Through MFX Plug-Ins
Quantize, Chord Analyzer, and MIDI Event Filter MIDI plug-ins stops MIDI input from being heard
SONAR Flags in Instrument Definitions
IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps TTSSEQ.INI Variable
Bugs Fixed in SONAR 2.2
Software Synthesizers
Some DXi Plug-ins Require Proper CD Authorization
DR-008 DXi Automation (not available with demo version)
“Pre Fader” Playback Meters will not Respond to DXi synths
SONAR Will Not Recognize the Reality Software Synthesizer Wave Driver
SoundFonts For LiveSynth Pro DXi Software Synthesizer (not available with demo version)
LiveSynth Pro DXi Path Length Limitation
DreamStation Presets May Not Initially Display Under Win2K
Tassman or Tassman SE May Not Load Using Matrox Video Cards
An Audible “Splat” Of MIDI Data Sounds After Stopping Playback
The Ends of MIDI Notes Are Truncated When Exporting Or Bouncing To Tracks
General
User-defined Track View Control Layout
Cakewalk Generic Control Surface Presets
Button Automation
Mackie Control ‘Previous Window’ Command May Not Function
FxReverb Audio Effect Does not Support 96kHz Sampling Rate
Sonic Foundry Wave Hammer Plug-in May Cause Dropout
Sonic Foundry Vibrato Plug-in
Sonic Foundry Tremolo Plug-In
Sonic Timeworks EQ Presets Cannot be Saved in Graphics View
Track View Keystrokes Interfere When Typing in an OP Panel
SONAR Online Help Requires Internet Explorer
Note to Windows 98 SE and Internet Explorer 4.0 Users
Pro Audio 9 Files Sound Louder/Softer In SONAR
Responsiveness of Record Meters Depends on Audio Buffer Settings
“Create a Send Submix” Cannot be Used with Groove Clips
SONAR “Buffer Size Matcher” Audio Plug-In Appears In Other Cakewalk Products
Track Pan Is Not Sent To Aux Bus When Aux Send Is Set To “Post” Fader
Video Issues
Fit to Time May Not Work Properly if Left Clip Edge is Cropped
Reject Loop take command does not work with audio
MMC is only available when SONAR’s clock is set to SMPTE/MTC
Layout of Aux Sends in Console View
CAL routines
Special Keys Reserved In Lyrics View and Effects Property Sheets
Hardware Notes
Problem Using 1 Millisecond Latency With Echo Darla Card
No Audio Extensions Support for Certain Devices
Yamaha DSP Factory Information
Roland U-8 Controller Application is not Windows 2000 or Windows XP Compatible
Frontier Design WaveCenter Issue
Arming An Audio Track From the Console View With the Frontier WaveCenter ISA Card Causes Errors
Lexicon Core2 Issues
Changing the sampling rate within SONAR does not change the rate of the Soundscape Mixtreme card
Limitations of Early Sound Blaster Cards
Creative Labs AWE Sound Cards May Be Noisy In SONAR
AWE Wave Synth and Audio Output
MIDI Time Piece tips and tricks
Gravis UltraSound
Upgrading to SONAR From An Earlier Version of a Cakewalk Product

What’s New in SONAR 2.2

The following new features are included in SONAR 2.2. Please refer to the online Help file for more information.

Support for Digidesign Hardware in Windows XP

SONAR 2.2 introduces support for the following Digidesign hardware, using Digidesign's recently announced ASIO drivers for Windows XP:

•	Pro Tools|HD
•	Pro Tools|24 MIX
•	Pro Tools|24 
•	Digi 002*
•	Digi 001 
•	Mbox*
•	AudioMedia III

* = ASIO driver for Digi 002 and Mbox are only available with the Pro Tools LE 5.3.3 Windows XP installer, which is included with the Digi 002 and Mbox. The ASIO driver that is available for download on Digidesign’s web site will not work with the Digi 002 or Mbox.

The Digidesign ASIO beta driver for Windows XP can be downloaded from www.digidesign.com/download/asio.

Note about ASIO support in SONAR 2.2:

ASIO support in SONAR 2.2 exists primarily to support Digidesign hardware, but SONAR does not enforce this programmatically. Barring any unforeseen compatibility issues, any ASIO driver ought to work automatically, although we can not guarantee that all ASIO drivers will work properly.

Added in SONAR 2.1

The following new features were introduced in SONAR 2.1, and are also included in version 2.2.

OMF Import/Export

SONAR 2.2 can import and export version 1 and version 2 OMF files.

Broadcast Wave File Import/Export

SONAR 2.2 can import and export Broadcast Wave files, choosing to obey or ignore any timestamps.

29.97 Drop and Non-Drop SMPTE Timecode Frame Rates

29.97 DF and 29.97 NDF can now be selected from Options-Project-Clock, or from the Sync toolbar.

Note: SONAR normally auto-detects the incoming frame rate. However, if the frame rate is already set to 29.97 DF or 29.97 NDF, SONAR will not automatically change the frame rate, although DF vs. NDF will be set properly.

Accept and Record Universal Sysx Messages

SONAR 2.2 can accept and record universal Sysx (MIDI real-time) messages. This also means that SONAR can respond to MMC messages transmitted from a control surface (must also be supported/configured in the control surface plug-in).

A new TTSSEQ.INI variable controls whether SONAR accepts incoming universal Sysx messages:

AllowUniversalSysx=<1 or 0> (1 = default)

Note: universal Sysx will also be echoed if the “Echo System Exclusive” option is enabled in Options-Global-MIDI.

Mackie Control Plug-In

SONAR 2.2 provides support for the Mackie Control and Mackie Control XT control surfaces. Any number of these devices can be used in any configuration.

MMC Plug-In

The MMC control surface plug-in allows SONAR 2.2 to respond to incoming MIDI Machine Control (MMC) messages.

Note: this plug-in requires that the new TTSSEQ.INI variable AllowUniversalSysx= is set to a value of 1:

AllowUniversalSysx=1

This is the default value, so there is no need to change anything unless you have previously set this value to 0.

See the “Accept and Record Universal Sysx Messages” topic above for more information.

Windows Media Advanced Streaming 9 Export

SONAR 2.2 includes support for Windows Media 7.1 - 9.0, by using the most recent Windows Media COM interfaces (requires the new WM9 encoder).

Improved Handling of Slip-Edited MIDI Clips

SONAR 2.1 introduced changes to how cropped (slip-edited) MIDI data is handled. SONAR 1.x and 2.00 always used non-destructive MIDI editing. SONAR 2.1 and 2.2 can use either destructive or non-destructive MIDI editing (default=destructive). This is toggled with the Options-Non-Destructive MIDI Editing option.

Event Properties Inspector Toolbar

The Note Inspector toolbar has been moved out of its previous position  (permanently docked in the Piano Roll View), and become a fully-fledged application toolbar, available from any view.  In addition, several enhancements have been added.

Various

Video Updates

SONAR 2.2 allows you to set a video offset and trim for all media types, not just AVI’s.

The new Render Quality property page in the Video properties dialog lets you specify Preview mode, frame rate, and video size.

Import Audio Dialog Support Multi-Selection

The Import Audio dialog (File-Import-Audio) supports multi-selection, which allows multiple audio files to be imported simultaneously.

Display Missing Plug-ins When Loading Project

If any plug-ins are missing when loading a project, SONAR will present a list of which plug-ins are missing, as well as which specific tracks, aux buses, and virtual mains use the missing plug-ins.

New Key Bindings

The following new key bindings have been added:

•	Metronome during playback (on/off)
•	Metronome during record (on/off)
•	Internal Sync
•	MIDI Sync
•	SMPTE/MTC Sync
•	Audio Sync
•	Transmit MMC
•	Play in Mono(Stereo)
•	Snapshot (automation)
•	Disarm All Automation Controls
•	Enable/Disable Automation Playback

Top Issues in SONAR 2.2

New File Formats

Changes to SONAR 2.x’s file format will make files created in SONAR 2.x incompatible with SONAR 1.0.x and previous versions of Pro Audio. New file formats have been created to help make the distinction, so you won’t be confused when SONAR 1.0.x won’t open them.  We recommend that you open your older files in SONAR 2.x, save them to the new file format and keep the older versions if you still want to work in 1.0.x.  SONAR 2.x will open all the older file types but will only allow you to save in the new formats.

SONAR 2.x file types: 

.cwp = Cakewalk project files (formerly .wrk)
.cwb = Cakewalk bundle files (formerly .bun)
.cwt = Cakewalk template files (formerly .tpl)

Only use Clean Audio Folder in SONAR 2.2

If you have an older version of Pro Audio or SONAR installed along with SONAR 2.2, only use the Clean Audio Folder utility built into SONAR 2.2.  Older versions of Cakewalk do not recognize the new file formats so it may report that it is OK to delete audio that may be associated with SONAR 2.2 files.  It is safe to run Clean Audio Folder in SONAR 2.2 because it recognizes both the new and the old file formats.

Windows 2000/XP and SONAR

To install and run SONAR in Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional and Home Edition, you must be logged in as a user with administrative privileges.  To use the product you must be logged in as the same user that installed the program; otherwise, you will not have access to your DirectX effects presets.

“Safe Mode” for File-Open

In some cases, a corrupt or incompatible DirectX, DXi or MFX plug-in will make it impossible to open a saved project file (CWB, CWP, CWT, WRK, BUN, or TPL files). If you have a project that uses plug-ins and will not open, SONAR may be able to open the project in “Safe Mode”. Hold the [Shift] key down while opening a file, to open it in "Safe Mode."  This applies to all ways that a file can be opened (the File-Open menu, the MRU list and the Quick Start dialog box).

When a file is opened in safe mode, the following behaviors take effect:

•	Only the Track view will be opened, and it will be opened in its default layout.  No other views will be opened or layouts applied. This allows projects which may run out of GDI resources due to having a large Console view open to open safely in Windows 98 SE.
•	The user will be prompted before each DirectX, MFX or DXi plug-in is loaded from the file.  For each plug-in, you can specify Yes, Yes to All, No, No to All, as to whether that plug-in or all subsequent plug-ins will be loaded. This allows any misbehaving plug-ins to be identified.

Drum Maps on SONAR CD-ROM

By default, SONAR only installs a few common drum maps, but there are many additional drum maps available on the SONAR CD-ROM. All drum maps are located on the SONAR CD-in the \Sample Content\Drum Maps directory. You can copy any drum map to the \Drum Maps folder in the SONAR installation directory (default is C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\SONAR 2\Drum Maps).

Windows Media Advanced Streaming Export in SONAR 2.2 Requires WM9

In order to export Windows Media Advanced Streaming (WMA) audio from SONAR 2.2, WM9 must be installed. At the time of this writing, WM9 has not been officially released, but the public beta version can be downloaded from:

http://www.windowsmedia.com/9series/download/download.asp.

Compressed Broadcast Wave Files are Not Imported At Their Timestamp

Broadcast Waves Files are normally linear PCM, but may also potentially be compressed MPEG  audio. Although Broadcast Waves support both linear PCM and MPEG, SONAR 2.2 only supports linear PCM broadcast Wave files. Compressed Broadcast Wave files are still recognized by SONAR 2.2, but will always be imported at the current Now time--as if they are normal WAV files--and not at their stored timestamp. This happens because MPEG files get imported through a file conversion process, which currently isn't set up to handle Broadcast Waves.

Since all Broadcast Wave files have the same file extension (WAV), the File | Import | Audio dialog can be used to determine which Broadcast Wave files are compress: if the file is compressed, the Format Tag field will display “Unknown (Broadcast Wave)” instead of “PCM (Broadcast Wave)”, and the Attributes field will display “0 Bits”.

Video Profiles Available for WMA (Windows Media Advanced Streaming Format) Export 

SONAR 2.2 only supports exporting of Windows Media audio, not video. When exporting WMA files, SONAR enumerates all “Profiles” provided by Windows Media 9, including video profiles. There is no way to discern between audio and video profiles.

You must be sure to select an audio profile when exporting WMA audio from SONAR. Choosing a video profile will cause the export to fail.

OMF Files Always Open With a Timebase of 960 PPQ

When opening an OMF file, SONAR always uses a default timebase of 960 PPQ. If the OMF file was originally authored at a different timebase (120, 480 PPQ, etc.), you should expect to see different tick offsets when opening the OMF file in SONAR. For example, if the original file used a PPQ of 480 and an audio clip started at 2:03:320, that same audio clip will be positioned at 2:03:640 when opening the OMF file in SONAR (the tick value is doubled since 960 PPQ has twice the resolution of 480 PPQ).

However, this won’t affect the absolute sample position of the audio data, and the audio will play back correctly. Audio in OMF files are referenced by sample position, not tick offset, so this is only a necessary PPQ display issue.

Note: The displayed Timebase can be changed at any time by going to Options-Project-Clock  and changing the Ticks Per Quarter Note value.

Audio Performance Issues

The following issues concern improving and troubleshooting audio performance in SONAR.

Latest Sound Card Information

Please read the Web page http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Docs/SoundcardTips.html. If the soundcard you are using is listed on this page, please follow the instructions listed there for configuring and using your soundcard with SONAR. If you don’t follow those instructions, SONAR may not work properly with your soundcard.

Midiman/M-Audio Delta 1010 WDM driver port names are labeled by number

The Delta 1010 WDM driver version 5.12.001.6 and later labels ports by number instead of by name. Go to Options-Audio-Drivers; the ports are as follows:

1/2=Input1/2
3/4=Input 3/4
5/6=Input 5/6
7/8=Input 7/8
9/10=S/PDIF
11/12=Monitor Mixer

New AUD.INI Variables for Engine Tweaking

SONAR 2 includes several new AUD.INI variables for tweaking the audio engine. The default values yield the same engine behavior as SONAR 1.3.1.  The variables are all in the [Wave] section, and are as follows:

StopIfStarved=<0 or 1> (default=1)

Determines whether the audio engine should completely shut-down and put up a "dropout" indicator if the audio output queue becomes empty.  Note that a dropout will still occur if the input queue becomes empty, or if other exceptional MIDI or disk I/O starvation scenarios occur.  Setting this value to 0 yields engine behavior where the audio never will never stop during input monitor, but may click or pop instead.

KsUseInputEvent=<0 or 1> (default=0)

This setting is only utilized when the audio engine is using WDM kernel streaming drivers.  It determines how the engine decides when it's time to add a new audio buffer to the queue.  The default behavior is to add a buffer when the output queue has signaled buffer completion.  Setting this value to 1 has the engine add a new buffer when the input queue has signaled completion.

Tip: Depending on your driver, setting this value to 1 may improve your input monitor latency.

ExtraWaveOutBuffers=<n> (default=1)

Determines how many additional buffers (on top of the user-specified "wave out buffers" setting), to be allocated for use by the output buffer queue.  The default is to allocate a single extra buffer.  The purpose of this extra buffer is to allow output buffers to continue to be fed to the driver even in the case where the driver or O/S issues a premature "buffer done" signal.

Tip: Depending on your driver, setting this value to 0 may improve your input monitor latency.

24-bit Audio AUD.INI Variable

Use24BitExtensible=<0 or 1> (default=0)

SONAR has a new AUD.INI flag called “Use24BitExtensible=n” concerning 24-bit audio. It goes in the [Name of Your Audio Driver] section of AUD.INI. For example:

[USB Audio Device (1 in, 1 out)]
Use24BitExtensible=1

This flag will exist for each audio driver.

This flag will appear for all audio drivers Wave-Profiled in SONAR 2.  It will always be set to false (Use24BitExtensible=0) initially.  If you are unable to open a 24-bit capable audio device in 24-bit mode. Setting this flag to true (Use24BitExtensible=1) may fix the problem.

Most WDM USB-Audio devices will likely need to have this setting changed manually by the user in order to function in 24-bit mode. In some cases, drivers that can be opened in 24-bit mode with this flag off, will not be able to open with this flag on.

This flag has no effect on 16-bit operation.

Note: A flag of this same name used to exist in SONAR 1.x in the [Wave] section of AUD.INI.  The flag in this location is ignored in SONAR 2.

Audio Data “Queue Buffers”

Some DirectX plug-ins maintain a "queue" of audio data buffers while they are processing, and do not produce any audio output buffers until several input buffers have been received.  For SONAR to handle this situation properly, we need to create extra buffers to make up for the ones being queued by the plug-in.  This AUD.INI variable controls how many extra buffers we create:

[Wave]
ExtraStreamBufs=<n, default=4>

Some plug-ins deliver their output asynchronously after receiving input. This behavior is typical in plug-ins which implements delay compensation in DX. The result is problems during playback at lower latencies in SONAR. Some of the Waves version 3.5/3.6 plug-ins (UltraPitch, etc.) are affected by this issue.

To address this issue, increase the ExtraStreamBufs= value. For example, try ExtraStreamBufs=16.

Note: This setting does not increase the buffer size; it simply instructs SONAR to keep a
larger "pool" of extra buffers around in case it needs to feed plug-ins that deliver their output asynchronously after receiving input.

Potential Problems When Recording Audio With Low Disk Space

Make sure you have enough space on your hard disk when recording digital audio. Running out of hard disk space when recording can lead to unpredictable results.

If the disk space goes to 0, SONAR reports that it cannot save all the data and stops recording. Since there is not enough disk space to create the waveform image files for the audio, the newly recorded audio clips may appear to be empty when in actuality the data is all there, but can’t be viewed.

Automating “Room Size” in FxReverb May Cause Undesirable Artifacts

Although all of the FxReverb parameters are exposed for automation, changing the "Room Size" parameter while audio is streaming through the plug-in may cause undesirable artifacts in the audio.  The reverb algorithm is going through major changes internally when you change this parameter, so it is recommended that you only record changes to this parameter during silence (in-between audio data). All other parameters for this plug-in can be changed dynamically with no audible artifacts.

Audio Clicks/Pops During Edit Operations When Input Monitoring Is Enabled

During certain editing operations, such as deleting a part of a clip by time selection, you may experience audio clicks/pops if input monitoring is enabled. When input monitoring is enabled, the “pauser” that is executed on every edit command is closing/reopening its drivers. Some drivers produce a click/pop whenever they are opened, which is something that must be addressed in the driver itself.

If you are experiencing this problem, please check with you audio hardware manufacturer to see if an updated driver is available.

Opening Or Closing Property Pages for DSP-FX Audio Plug-Ins Can Cause Dropouts

If SONAR is configured to use extremely low latencies and you are streaming a lot of audio, opening and closing the DSP-FX audio plug-ins or any other graphic intensive plug-ins may cause dropouts.

If you are experiencing this problem, you will most likely solve the problem by turning off hardware acceleration in your video card and setting the audio latency in Options-Audio-General up towards the maximum.

This may be an issue with other plug-ins that use a lot of artwork. Sending significantly sized bitmaps across the same bus using the same DMA controller as audio, will likely result in a dropout.

Ultrafunk fx:Reverb Output Mode Cannot be Changed During Playback

The Ultrafunk fx:Reverb plug-in has an Output that can be used to toggle between mono and stereo. Please note that SONAR cannot respond to this during playback, so this button should only be used when playback is stopped.

Accessing Dropdown Menus During Playback May Cause Glitches

It is possible to experience glitches, such as audio stutter, dropouts or Windows system sounds, when accessing menus during playback.

This problem is likely to happen under Windows 2000 if “Use transition effects for menus and tooltips” is enabled in Display-Properties-Effects.

The scrolling menus steal valuable CPU processing that is required by SONAR during playback, so we recommend that you disable “Use transition effects for menus and tooltips” when using SONAR.

Dropouts and Other Audio Problems

After installing SONAR, if you experience dropouts, stutters, glitches or other unexpected interruptions while recording or playing back audio, please consult the online Help built into SONAR for assistance. Locate the Help topic entitled “Dropouts and Other Audio Problems”.

NOTE: To locate an online Help topic, select Help-HelpTopics from the SONAR menu, click the “Index” tab, and enter the desired topic into the textbox provided.

Reducing Mixing Latency

If audio playback is working properly, but you find that SONAR is slightly “sluggish” when responding to adjustments you make during playback (e.g., when changing volume levels, muting or soloing tracks, adjusting panning, etc.), you may be able to improve SONAR’s responsiveness by consulting the online Help built into SONAR.  Locate the Help topic entitled “Latency” for assistance.

NOTE: To locate an online Help topic, select Help-HelpTopics from the SONAR menu, click the “Index” tab, and enter the desired topic into the textbox provided.

When you first run SONAR, the Latency Slider control in the Options-Audio… dialog box will be set to a value that will provide a balance between reliable playback of an adequate number of audio tracks AND a reasonably low latency when moving a volume or pan knob in SONAR's Track view or Console view.  As explained in the online Help topic, you may wish to experiment with the Latency Slider setting in order to further lower the mixing latency time. If you choose to manually configure the Latency Slider please note the following points:

Moving the Latency Slider too far to the left (minimum value) may put SONAR in a state where it can no longer playback audio or MIDI data. While in this state SONAR may briefly attempt playback before dropping out, or the application may visually appear to be playing back but no audio will be heard. To resolve this problem, simply move the Latency Slider back to a higher value (i.e., move the slider control to the right).

Wave Profiler Issues

Use the latest driver for your sound card

To properly configure SONAR for your sound card, the Wave Profiler depends on you using the latest driver for your sound card. Please contact your sound card manufacturer to ensure that you are using the latest driver.

Wave Profiler Does Not Query Audio Devices to Find Out if they Support 48kHz

Be aware that there is no error message when trying to record 48K audio on a card that doesn't support 48kHz sampling rate.

Some sound cards will crash if they are queried for >44.1kHz sample rates, so the Wave Profiler determines the correct settings at three sample rates: 11kHz, 22kHz, and 44.1kHz. It assumes that the same settings should be used for 48kHz and 96kHz sample rates. Because of this, it is possible to load a 48kHz project and use a sound card that doesn’t support 48kHz. This scenario does not present an error message, so SONAR may appear to record audio while no audio is actually recorded.

Wave Profiler doesn’t open drivers at 24-bit settings

The Wave Profiler doesn't open drivers at 24 bit settings. For more information on how to configure SONAR for proper 24-bit operation, please see http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Docs/24BitTips.html and the “24-bit Audio AUD.INI Variable” topic below.

Wave Profiler Will Report Errors When Profiling Optical Channels That Are Not Connected

The Wave Profiler may present a "The following drivers do not support the current audio format/sample rate" error message when trying to profile optical channels on your audio hardware if the optical channels are not connected to anything. SONAR can’t open a digital-only device if it is not connected.

Wave Profiler Does Not Generate the Proper ‘Stream >16 bit data as’ Setting for the RME Digi 96/8

When profiling the RMEdigi 96/8 hardware, the Wave Profiler may report the  “Stream >16 bit data as” setting as "32-bit PCM, right -justified”. The correct setting should be "32-bit PCM, left-justified".

Wave Profiler will not work with the Digidesign Digi001 unless “WavePipe Acceleration” is Disabled

When using the Digidesign Digi001 hardware, you must disable “WavePipe Acceleration” in Options-Audio-Driver Profiles in order to use the hardware properly. This should be done before running the Wave Profiler.

Roland (Edirol) UA-3 Wave Profiler Issue When Using WDM Drivers

The UA-3 WDM USB Audio Driver reports incorrect DMA setting to the Wave Profiler. The UA-3 profiles with DMA settings of 520, and should be manually changed to 920. This is a hardware issue, and cannot be changed by the Wave Profiler.

Changing the value to 920 allows for reasonable playback at lower latency using WDM drivers, but even with the settings at 920, input monitoring may severely stutter regardless of the latency slider settings.

AVICAP32.DLL May Cause Problems When Using Real-Time Audio Effects

The symptom is a crash when using real-time audio effects, particularly during quiet or silent passages.  If this happens under Windows 98 SE or Windows Me, the problem may be rooted in this file.  The fix is to go to the \Windows\System directory, and rename this file to something like AVICAP32.OLD.

Pro Audio 9 Pan Envelopes Are Interpreted As Track Envelopes

When importing previous Pro Audio projects into SONAR, please note that pan envelopes are interpreted as track envelopes, not clip envelopes.

Although Pro Audio 9 allows you to create clip level pan envelopes, Pro Audio 9 renders them as track envelopes. Thus, Pro Audio 9 pan envelopes are migrated as track envelopes in SONAR.

Console View and AudioX Console Record Meters Report Different Input Levels

The record meters in the Console view and the Yamaha DSP Factory meters use different algorithms to calculate the meter values. Both meters report peak values, but the algorithms may report slightly different values. This is normal and does not indicate a problem.

MIDI Issues

The following topics cover some MIDI performance and installation issues.

NTONYX Style Enhancer Micro 2.0 Lite Plug-In May Cause MIDI Tracks To Stutter

During dense sections in MIDI tracks, the Style Enhancer Micro 2.0 Lite plug-in may generate a lot of events (expression, wheel, modulation, pan, notes, etc.). It is possible to generate so many events that SONAR can’t render all of the events in time without a stutter.

One solution is to change the Auto Optimization settings within the Style Enhancer plug-in (click the Options button) so fewer events are generated. Increasing the Auto Optimization settings will cause Style Enhancer to generate fewer events. You can also use the Style Enhancer as an offline process.

Note: The NTONYX Style Enhancer Micro 2.0 Lite plug-in is not included with this demo version of SONAR.

Heavy Scrolling of Dense MIDI Data Can Cause Playback To Slow Down

Heavy scrolling of dense MIDI data can cause playback to slow down dramatically when using certain video drivers and graphics “Hardware Acceleration” set to FULL in Windows. This can happen if, for example, a maximized Event List view for a very dense MIDI track (many Note events and pitch wheel events, etc.) is scrolling during playback.

The root of the problem is that some video hardware manufacturers intentionally hog the PCI bus to achieve better video performance, but real-time applications like SONAR get bitten by this. When you're working in an application like SONAR, timing is more important than screen updates.

To address this, click the Start button in Windows and go to Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics, and lower or disable “Hardware acceleration”.

Doubled Notes When Echoing Through MFX Plug-Ins

When (Auto) echoing MIDI data through an MFX MIDI plug-in, you will normally hear doubled notes. This is because SONAR echoes the original note, and you are also hearing the note after it is processed by the MFX plug-in.

For example, if you’re using the Transpose MFX plug-in set to transpose up 1 step, and you play a C4 note on your MIDI controller, you will hear both C4 and C#4.

If you want to use MFX plug-ins to modify live input, you need to disable MIDI echo in SONAR (Options-Project-MIDI Input).

Quantize, Chord Analyzer, and MIDI Event Filter MIDI plug-ins stops MIDI input from being heard

MFX MIDI plug-ins support real-time MIDI input. For example, you can add the Delay/Echo MIDI plug-in as a track insert effect, play your MIDI controller, and listen to the results of the plug-in. However, if you add the Quantize, Chord Analyzer, or MIDI Event Filter to a track insert, you will not hear the results of the effect(s).

SONAR Flags in Instrument Definitions

SONAR has several flags that you can use in instrument definition files for use with specific instrument definitions:

UsesNotesAsControllers=<0 or 1>

Some MIDI devices, such as certain mixers, use MIDI Note events instead of Continuous Controller events for automation. It is often desirable to treat the Note events as Controller events in order for them to obey the “Zero Controllers When Play Stops” and “Patch/Controller Searchback Before Play Starts” settings.

You can enter this variable in any instrument definition by using a text editor, such as Windows Notepad. The variable should be entered directly below an instrument definition. For example:

[Mackie OTTO-1604]
UsesNotesAsControllers=1
Control=Mackie OTTO-1604
Patch[*]=Mackie OTTO-1604
Key[*,*]=Mackie OTTO-1604

NoControllerReset=<0 or 1>

Any port/channel using an instrument definition that has a NoControllerReset flag set to 1 does not receive a "zero controller" message upon stop. You can enter this variable in any instrument definition by using a text editor, such as Windows Notepad. The variable should be entered directly below an instrument definition. For example:

[Yamaha Promix 01 Control Chan]
NoControllerReset=1
Control=Yamaha Promix 01 Control Chan
Patch[*]=Yamaha Pro Mix 01

This parameter should be used when it is undesirable to zero/reset controllers when playback stop, such as when using an external effects processor that uses MIDI controllers for real-time parameter control, or when using a digital mixer as a MIDI control surface (and not using the generic control surface plug-in). 

IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps TTSSEQ.INI Variable

IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps=<0 or 1> (default=1)

TTSSEQ.INI has a new flag called "IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps=n”, which goes in the [Options] section of TTSSEQ.INI. For example:

[Options]
IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps=1

All MIDI drivers timestamp incoming MIDI data before the data is passed to SONAR.  You may ask why we ever care about this timestamp, since SONAR knows the moment the MIDI is received, and can put it's own timestamp on it.  There are three situations where this timestamp could be important:

1.	Some very rare MIDI interfaces may do processing that causes them to send SONAR MIDI that "happened a few milliseconds ago" (has an old timestamp) or "is going to happen in the future but I'm giving it to you now" (a future timestamp).

2.	A more likely reason why SONAR might care about the timestamp is in the case where SONAR’s internal timing mechanism is occasionally late due to system load and vagaries of the operating system.  In this case the driver tries to give SONAR the data, but SONAR is delayed some number of milliseconds before it actually sees it.  If this occurs the timestamp lets SONAR know that the data actually came in N milliseconds earlier.

3.	In very rare circumstances, the MIDI echo will get progressively longer the longer SONAR has been running. This may happen if the MIDI timestamp from the MIDI driver is using a clock that is running faster than SONAR's clock, so after a while all the incoming MIDI data appear to be timestamped in the future and SONAR will wait that long to echo the data.

As you can see, MIDI timestamping is only useful to SONAR if the MIDI driver and SONAR use the same timing clock.

Setting IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps=1 fixes these problems, because it tells SONAR to ignore the MIDI timestamp and assume that the MIDI was received at the moment it was sent (which is what most MIDI drivers intend), with the caveat that if SONAR is late processing MIDI for any reason, the MIDI data will also be recorded late.

Another way to look at this flag is that it guarantees that MIDI will be recorded exactly as it is echoed.  If case 2 (above) occurs (SONAR is late processing MIDI) this is always audible as a delay in MIDI echo.  With the flag set to ON (1), any echo delay that is heard during performance will also be recorded, kind of "what you hear is what you get".

With the flag set to OFF(0), the recorded data will be "fixed up" any time the timestamp on the data differs from SONAR’s internal clock when it processes the data.  If the MIDI driver's clock is in sync with SONAR's clock (which is normally the case), then the recorded data can actually be truer to the performance than the echoed data that was heard during the performance.  If the MIDI driver's clock is NOT sync with SONAR's clock this fixup can record data that is less true to the performance than the echoed data that was heard during the performance.

The bottom line is, if you are having throughing issues or record timing issues, you can try setting this flag to see if it helps.  It can make echoing have less delay and will always guarantee "what you hear is what you get".

Bugs Fixed in SONAR 2.2

The following is a list of bugs and other issues that have been addressed since version 2.00.

Fixed in 2.2:

•	Audio imported via Loop Explorer was referenced, not copied in SONAR 2.1
•	Problem recording 24-bit mono audio when international characters (ñ, etc.) were used in  project's folder name
•	Auditioning files in Loop Explorer view would leave temporary files behind after closing the  window
•	Groove Clips would sometimes play back incorrectly when imported over a meter or tempo change.
•	SONAR did not clean up when opening bundle files (BUN or CWB), then closing without saving
•	Staff View would automatically close when all notes in a track were erased
•	DR-008 DXi did not play back after creating a new drum map
•	Excluded plug-ins (using the SONAR Plug-in Manager program) would be counted when filling menus
•	Clips did not always snap properly to clip Boundaries
•	Problems loading certain files that contain Groove clips

Fixed in 2.1:

•	Drum maps could point to the wrong DXi when loading a project that uses multiple instances of the same DXi.
•	Deleting a Drum Map could cause MIDI tracks to point to the wrong output(s)
•	Cyclone could cause feedback during looping
•	MIDI tracks could lose connection to DXi's when hardware MIDI ports were removed
•	B and O keyboard shortcuts did not work in Console view
•	DXi tracks would remain silent when other tracks were unsoloed via the Global Solo button
•	Clip automation could cause a selection bounce to bounce silence
•	When DXi tracks were unsoloed, all of its sibling MIDI  tracks would also unsolo, even if other related audio tracks were still soloed.
•	SONAR would fail to record audio if non-OEM characters (such as ó or ñ) were used in the path or filename
•	Tools-Clean Audio Folder would orphan data in folders named with non-OEM characters.
•	Small memory leak that could result in a crash if SONAR was left running for a long period of time.
•	 “Unknown error in Sequencer DLL” error when trying to launch SONAR 2 released version after uninstalling the Demo version.
•	Tablature was not displayed properly when a WRK file was opened in SONAR
•	Fretboard View playback could display impossible fingerings
•	Dragging notes in the Piano Roll view that were linked copies could cause the original notes to disappear
•	SONAR could crash in cw11aud.dll when reading a very large bundle file in per-project audio mode if the file contained loops
•	Certain MIDI track parameters (Bank, patch, etc.) were not accessible from control surfaces
•	It was not possible to move note events with the Piano Roll view Draw tool by only a few ticks.
•	Audio input could not be selected from a control surface.
•	MIDI input could not be controlled correctly from a control surface
•	More than one MIDI driver could cause SONAR to have an input offset of 1/10 second.
•	Transposing notes in the Piano Roll view is could cause the new pitch to sound before the note was moved. SONAR 2.1 now snaps to pitch boundaries when dragging notes.
•	Process-Apply Audio Effects would reset the volume of grouped tracks
•	Aborting offline audio effects process during playback could result in error message.
•	Line draw tool in Piano Roll view would always blend instead of overwrite existing controller events.
•	SONAR Crash Changing from Offset Mode
•	Under certain circumstances, toggling between Envelope and Offset modes could result in a crash if automation data had just been deleted.
•	Right-clicking a note in the Piano Roll view would move the Now marker
•	Peak indicators and overload "LED”’s would be cleared when playback stopped
•	Slip-editing of audio clips did not obey snap to zero crossing
•	When snapping to events, slip-edited (hidden) events would also be exposed as snap boundaries.
•	When exporting Groove Clips as ACIDized WAV files, disabled (automatically detected transient markers) markers would be included.
•	Saving a CWB file with only MIDI tracks and a DXi in the Synth Rack pitches MIDI incorrectly unless the sampling rate is 44.1kHz.
•	Toggling Enable Looping would result in losing destructive edits that were made to the Groove clip.
•	Destructive edits applied to looped clips would be discarded when saving as a CWB file.
•	Groove clips could be destroyed when applying destructive offline edits to a single loop repetition SONAR 2.1 now applies the same edit to all loop repetitions.
•	Record meters would not clip when setting levels before actually recording.
•	Inserting measures could result in duplicate envelopes being created.
•	SONAR was not able to load projects that contained zero length Sysx buffers.
•	Zero Controllers was accidentally sent on ports/channels used by control surfaces
•	Process-Interpolate command could cause undesired change in note duration.
•	Auditioning offline audio effects on a Groove clip could result in a crash.
•	Select By Filter did not work properly in 2/2 time
•	SMPTE offset was added to the Process-Slide command
•	Process-Length could cause unselected notes to be modified or disappear
•	A crash could result when pressing the Enter key in the FX field of a MIDI track.
•	Slip-editing did not work properly in the Loop Construction view.
•	A lockup could occur when importing very large disk-based files created by ACID or Sound Forge.
•	Insert-Time/Measure could insert extra space if envelopes were present.
•	Sending MIDI Sync would fail when Port 0 was selected.
•	Drag-copying a note in the Staff view did not copy the duration parameter
•	Commands in Track-Property menu were disabled if no tracks were selected. Now applies to current/active track if no track is selected.
•	It was not possible to solo a track with the ‘/’ key if no tracks were selected.
•	Floating Toolbar positions were not restored properly on dual-monitor systems.
•	Duplicate notes could occur in the Piano Roll view after drag-copying selected notes
•	The Tab key was not immediately available in the Snap to Grid dialog without first selecting an option.
•	When replacing the current tempo via the Insert-Tempo Change dialog, an extra (bogus) tempo change could be added.
•	Wrong rendering of Standard MIDI File (format 1) when copying or dragging file that only contained master track, but no tracks with data.
•	Data that was hidden as a result of slip-editing could reappear when pasting to one track.
•	Phantom zero-length clip could be created when editing audio or MIDI data.
•	Exporting audio by dragging to desktop or folder would ignore any clip names.
•	Sometimes extremely small audio clips could not be lasso-selected.
•	Pan controls in audio tracks could display slightly off-center values as “C” when adjusting values with the +/- keyboard buttons.
•	After previewing certain offline commands, temporary loop markers would sometimes remain visible when they should have been removed.
•	Insert-Meter/Key Change dialog did not default to current Now time.
•	The first node in a clip envelope could be moved away from the clip’s edge.
•	Audio anchor points could move unexpectedly during certain editing operations.
•	Drag-selecting track numbers would also select hidden tracks.
•	Saving a file after disabling the audio engine and deleting a track could result in a "Disk May Be Full" error.
•	When undoing a recording/take, the From time could change to the current Now time at the time when the transport was stopped.
•	If project contained many tracks, dragging (sorting) a track to a different location could result in the wrong track being moved.
•	Enter and Escape key presses would be ignored if a float-enabled view had focus.
•	Improved scrolling when using MouseWheel in the Track view
•	The online Help file could not be launched from the Unpack Bundle dialog box.
•	When a partial audio clip selection was copied to the clipboard, the data could not be pasted into a new project.
•	Values manually entered for a volume control would sometimes be rounded to the wrong value
•	Process-Interpolate Beat min/max values could become stuck
•	Drum notes (diamonds) in the Piano Roll view would not be included in a lasso-selection unless the entire note duration was selected.
•	Sonic Foundry Acoustic Mirror could cause a crash.
•	Delete whole measure when replacing old with new didn’t always work properly

Software Synthesizers

The following topics cover some issues affecting the use of DXi software synthesizers and software synthesizers in general with SONAR.

Some DXi Plug-ins Require Proper CD Authorization

Some DXi plug-ins may require CD authorization when the DXi is patched in an effect bin or the Synth Rack view. A dialog will appear, asking you to insert the DXi’s original installation CD, then requiring you to click “OK” or “Cancel”. In some cases, a crash may occur if you click “Cancel”. This is caused by an error in the DXi plug-in, and is not a problem with SONAR.

If you are affected by this issue, please contact the DXi’s vendor and inquire about an updated version that corrects this problem.

DR-008 DXi Automation (not available with demo version)

DX8-style parameter automation is not enabled in the current version of the DR-008 DXi; this functionality will be introduced in a subsequent patch.  However, MIDI automation is fully implemented as described in the DR-008 documentation (see DR-008_Manual.PDF in your Fxpansion directory).  
 
Please check http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/SONAR/patches.html for information on the availability of updates.

 “Pre Fader” Playback Meters will not Respond to DXi synths

A DXi synth is basically an effect/plug-in, and will be treated as such when patched in a FX bin. If the Playback meters are configured to “Pre Fader”, the DXi synth output can still be heard, but the meters will not respond to the DXi synth.

The reason is that that “Pre Fader” is prior to the FX bin, hence nothing shows on the meter when the audio is generated by a DXi synth.

Note that this is not an issue when a DXi synth is patched in the Synth Rack view.

SONAR Will Not Recognize the Reality Software Synthesizer Wave Driver

The Seer Systems Reality software synthesizer exposes a virtual waveOut driver, so that host applications can play audio and synthesized MIDI at the same time.

By design, SONAR will not recognize this driver, since all audio hardware must support full duplex. SONAR will not recognize any output driver that does not have a matching input driver, or vice-versa. Since Reality is such an “output only” driver, it is not available in SONAR.

SoundFonts For LiveSynth Pro DXi Software Synthesizer (not available with demo version)

SONAR includes several SoundFont banks that can be used with the LiveSynth Pro DXi software synthesizer. These SoundFont banks can be found in the Sample Content\SoundFonts folder on the SONAR CD-ROM, and the SoundFont banks will also be installed under C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\SONAR 2\Sample Content\SoundFonts by default.

LiveSynth Pro DXi Path Length Limitation

When using the LiveSynth Pro DXi “Browse” feature, there is a 128 character limitation for the path. If the path contains more than 128 characters, LiveSynth Pro may not be able to load the SoundFont bank properly.

DreamStation Presets May Not Initially Display Under Win2K

DreamStation presets may not display after initial installation. In order to correct this, simply rerun the SONAR installer only selecting the DreamStation DXi from the DX Instruments component list.  

Tassman or Tassman SE May Not Load Using Matrox Video Cards

In some cases you may experience problems loading Tassman or Tassman SE in SONAR when using Matrox Video Cards.  If you are experiencing these problems, please disable your video card’s hardware acceleration.  To do so, follow these steps:
1) Go to the Windows Start Menu and select Settings-Control Panel, then open Display.
2) In the Display Properties window, choose the Settings tab.
3) Click the Advanced button, then choose the Performance tab.
4) Slide the acceleration setting to minimum.
5) Click OK and try to open Tassman in SONAR again.

For updated information on these and other issues, check online support at:
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support

An Audible “Splat” Of MIDI Data Sounds After Stopping Playback

When playing MIDI tracks patched through DXi soft synths, a “splat” of MIDI note data sometimes occurs after pressing Stop.  This “splat” represents the release parts of the MIDI notes and only occurs when “Play Effects Tails…” is not enabled.  

To enable the playing of effects tails, select Options-Audio…, then choose the ‘Advanced’ tab and check the box labeled “Play Effects Tails After Stopping.”  Click ‘OK.’  MIDI tracks patched through DXi soft synths will now play through the entire release segment of the MIDI note. 

The Ends of MIDI Notes Are Truncated When Exporting Or Bouncing To Tracks 

MIDI tracks patched to some DXi soft synths will not render the synth’s effects tails when exporting or bouncing to tracks, even with “Play Effects Tails After Stopping” enabled.  This occurs when the end of the clip is flush with the end of the time selected for which events are being bounced.

To ensure that MIDI notes render their complete tail, select an extra amount of time in the timeline beyond the end of the final note events.  This should allow sufficient time for the MIDI notes to render their release tails completely.

General

The following topics cover general issues in SONAR.

User-defined Track View Control Layout

Control layout order on all Track view and Aux/Mains view strips can be defined in CAKEWALK.INI.

All non-fixed controls (controls not forced in the track header like Name, Mute, Solo, Record Arm, minimize and maximize) will layout based on these INI keys.  Each type of strip -- Audio tracks, MIDI tracks, Aux Buses, and Main Buses -- has its own section in CAKEWalk.INI. 

The layout order will revert to the hard-wired list if any of these scenarios are true:

1.	Any section is missing
2.	Any individual key is missing
3.	False value or name for a key
4.	Duplicate keys

All sections and keys must succeed, or SONAR reverts to the hard-wired layout order.

Note: Some controls need to be grouped together such as the Aux [Enable-Send-Gain-Pre/Post] controls on audio strips.  These appear as one entry for the entire group.  Most other "groups" consist of a single control to allow the maximum flexibility in the layout.

A Key-Value pair is defined as:

Wn=name

where n is the sort order, and name is the widget group name.  The name is not case sensitive.

In order to customize the control layout order, you must copy the sections below and paste them into CAKEWALK.INI. The layout below mimics the hard-wired layout. To reverse, for example, the Volume and Pan order, set W0=Pan and W1=Volume. These settings are loaded *ONCE* per strip when the strip is created, so you can for example make a change to the [MIDI Widgets] section and create another MIDI strip with the new layout (you don't have to restart the application), but all MIDI strips will have the same layout the next time you open the project.

[MIDI Widgets]
W0=Volume
W1=Pan
W2=Trim
W3=Input
W4=Output
W5=Channel
W6=Bank
W7=Patch
W8=Key
W9=Time
W10=FX
W11=Chorus
W12=Reverb

[Audio Widgets]
W0=Volume
W1=Pan
W2=Trim
W3=Input
W4=Output
W5=FX
W6=Aux
W7=Phase
W8=Interleave

[Aux Widgets]
W0=Send
W1=Return
W2=Output
W3=FX

[Mains Widgets]
W0=Volume
W1=Balance
W2=Interleave
W3=Output
W4=FX

Cakewalk Generic Control Surface Presets

The Cakewalk Generic Surface plug-in allows you to use any generic MIDI control surface with SONAR. Many presets are included, but some functions may not be obvious. Below are descriptions of some of the presets:

Preset Name	Preset Description	
Control Freak (Programs 37-38)	Download SONAR 2 profiles from http://www.kenton.co.uk. The SONAR 2 profiles should be downloaded to programs 37 and 38.	
Control Freak Studio Edition	This preset uses the factory programs. Program 0 = volume; Program 1 = Pan; Program 2 = Send 1 Level, etc.	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (1 track)	Use factory program “U1”.
Fader 1 = Volume
Fader 2 = Pan
Fader 3 = Send 1 Level
Fader 4 = Send 1 Pan
Fader 5 = Send 2 Level
Fader 6 = Send 2 Pan	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (Pan)	Use factory program “U1”	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (Send 1)	Use factory program “U1”	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (Send 2)	Use factory program “U1”	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (U1-U6)	Factory program “U1” = Volume
Factory program “U2” = Pan
Factory program “U3” = Send 1 Level
Factory program “U4” = Send 1 Pan
Factory program “U5” = Send 2 Level
Factory program “U6” = Send 2 Pan	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (VolPan)	Use factory program “U1”
Faders 1-4 = Volume
Faders 4-8 = Pan	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (VolPn2)	Use factory program “U1”
Faders 1, 3, 5, 7 = Volume
Faders 2, 4, 6, 8 = Pan	
JL Cooper FaderMaster (Volume)	Use factory program “U1”	
Roland MCR-8	The Roland MCR-8 should be configured to use Mode 3 when using the supplied presets.	
SAC-2K (Mute + Solo)

Note:  a dedicated SAC-2K control surface plug-in is now available for download from the Cakewalk web site.	Make sure the SAC-2K mode = ACTIVE, and always use the “1-8” group.
SHIFT+>> = Play
SHIFT+<< = Stop
Pan = Rotary encoders control track pan
Snd/Ins 1 = Rotary encoders control Send 1 Level
Snd/Ins 2 = Rotary encoders control Send 2 Level
High = Rotary encoders control Send 1 Pan
HiMid = Rotary encoders control Send 2 Pan
From = Move track bank to the left by 8
To = Move track bank to the right by 8
SHIFT+From = Move track bank to the left by 1
SHIFT+To = Move track bank to the right by 1
1-8 = Arm for Recording
Num+1-8 = Arm for Automation
Enter = Record Automation	
SAC-2K (Record Arming)	Make sure the SAC-2K mode = ACTIVE, and always use the “1-8” group.
SHIFT+>> = Play
SHIFT+<< = Stop
Pan = Rotary encoders control track pan
Snd/Ins 1 = Rotary encoders control Send 1 Level
Snd/Ins 2 = Rotary encoders control Send 2 Level
High = Rotary encoders control Send 1 Pan
HiMid = Rotary encoders control Send 2 Pan
From = Move track bank to the left by 8
To = Move track bank to the right by 8
SHIFT+From = Move track bank to the left by 1
SHIFT+To = Move track bank to the right by 1
1-8 = Mute
Num+1-8 = Solo
Enter = Record Automation	

Please visit our web site at www.cakewalk.com for additional presets and custom control surface plug-ins.

Button Automation

When automating buttons, such as mute or any plug-in effect with a button (e.g. global bypass), the first automation data that gets recorded is first button click AFTER you press Record automation.  In other words it does not record the state of the button when the Record automation is engaged.  As a result, when you rewind the track, the button doesn’t reflect the state when you started the transport. As a work-around, you can manually insert a node on that envelope to set the button to the correct state. 

Mackie Control ‘Previous Window’ Command May Not Function

The Mackie Control surface has a NEXT WIN button, which is used to cycle through all open windows—pressing NEXT WIN puts the focus in the next open window. Likewise, you can press M1+NEXT WIN to go to the previous open window. Please note that M1+NEXT WIN may not work on all systems. This will be addressed in a future update.

FxReverb Audio Effect Does not Support 96kHz Sampling Rate

The FxReverb audio effect is currently not compatible with a sampling rate of 96kHz. All other sampling rates (11-48kHz) are supported.

Sonic Foundry Wave Hammer Plug-in May Cause Dropout

The Sonic Foundry Wave Hammer plug-in may cause a dropout in SONAR while looping (global looping, not Groove clips). The dropout is more likely to occur with low latency settings, and may not occur until after the loop has repeated several times.

Sonic Foundry Vibrato Plug-in

The Vibrato plug-in does audio pitch shifting by producing longer buffers for lower pitches, and shorter buffers for higher pitches.  In other words, it does a pitch-shift without keeping the timebase constant.  The result of this is that the Vibrato ultimately produces more output data than the input data we give it.  So this will cause a dropout, because SONAR has no way to buffer up this extra data indefinitely.

Sonic Foundry Tremolo Plug-In

The Sonic Foundry Tremolo plug-in is currently not compatible with SONAR.

Sonic Timeworks EQ Presets Cannot be Saved in Graphics View

Presets can currently not be entered and saved from the Sonic Timeworks EQ’s Graphics view. If you wish to save a preset, you can do so from the Standard view.

Track View Keystrokes Interfere When Typing in an OP Panel

At the time of this writing, there is a known problem when typing text in an Open Plug-In Technology panel (such as MOTIF Voice Editor). When typing text in a text field, all keystrokes that are also used as shortcuts in the Track view will be “stolen” by the Track view.

A temporary work-around for this problem is to first open a SONAR view that doesn’t support keyboard shortcuts (such as the Big Time view) before opening the OP panel.

Please contact Yamaha to obtain updated OP panels that do not exhibit this problem.

SONAR Online Help Requires Internet Explorer

SONAR uses an HTML based online Help system, and requires Microsoft Internet Explorer in order to use the context-sensitive online Help. Internet Explorer is most likely automatically installed on all SONAR-compatible operating systems (Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP).

Note to Windows 98 SE and Internet Explorer 4.0 Users

In order to view SONAR's context sensitive HTML Help, you must download and install the HTML Help update from Microsoft's web site. Click on the link below then download, install and run the file 'Hhupd.exe' from the 'Products Download' section.   

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/htmlhelp/html/hwMicrosoftHTMLHelpDownloads.asp	

If you are currently using Windows 98 SE and Internet Explorer 5.x, this update is not required.

Pro Audio 9 Files Sound Louder/Softer In SONAR 

Pro Audio 9 has a setting in the Audio Options dialog box called MIDI Volume Mapping. This setting determines how many dB that a movement of a volume fader produces. This setting is not stored in each project file, so SONAR can’t tell precisely what dB scale was used to produce the file you’re opening. If the volume sounds incorrect:
1. Open SONAR’s aud.ini file (find it in your SONAR folder and double-click it). 
2. Change the line that says VolMethod=”N.” If N=1, change N to 0; if N=0, change N to 1.
3. Save the file and close it.
4. Reopen the Pro Audio file in SONAR. If the volume sounds correct, save the file in SONAR. 
5. If other Pro Audio 9 files were opening correctly in SONAR , change the VolMethod=N line in SONAR ’s aud.ini file back to what it originally was, and re-save the file.
Another, although extremely rare, case is due to the fact that SONAR's audio TRIM range is +/- 18dB and pre-SONAR files had a audio VEL+ track parameter whose range is greater (in the quiet direction) I.e. a Pro Audio 9 file could have a VEL+ (on an audio track) of -127 which would make the track silent, whereas in SONAR the audio track would only be reduced in volume by 18dB.  

Responsiveness of Record Meters Depends on Audio Buffer Settings

The responsiveness of record meters in SONAR depends on the buffer size set up in the audio configuration dialog (Options-Audio-General). If you want responsive record meters and you are not running low latency WDM drivers, you can set the "Buffer Size" between 10-20 ms and boost “Buffers in Playback Queue" to a number such that the "Effective latency" is as determined by the profiler (i.e. as low as your hardware can handle without dropouts).

By keeping the buffer size low you can maximize the record meters responsiveness while still keeping the effective latency high enough.

The SONAR record meters (and input monitor meters) are metering the live data stream as it exists within the mix engine. Because of this the meters response is gated by your latency buffer size. All meters live directly in the data-streaming path.  As a result of this, meters are actually measuring every single sample that flows through the audio engine. Since there is no polling involved, there is no way the meters can miss even very high transient clips. However, in the case
of record meters, since the input data stream is buffered by the latency size, you may see a lag in the meter response with regards to what you are hearing, which is equal to this size. At lower latency sizes (10 ms or less) this should be imperceptible, but you will notice this if you are running at around 40ms or higher latencies.

Note that if you have input monitoring turned on, the meters will be in sync with what you hear through the bus, since you are also hearing audio delayed by the latency size.

“Create a Send Submix” Cannot be Used with Groove Clips

When using DirectX audio effects offline, the “Create a Send Submix” option on the Mixing page is disabled if the selection includes any Groove clips. If you wish to use this option with Groove clips, you must either Groove-disable the clip or use the Edit-Bounce to Clip(s) or Edit-Bounce to track(s) command before applying the audio effect offline.

SONAR “Buffer Size Matcher” Audio Plug-In Appears In Other Cakewalk Products

This plug-in is only intended for SONAR, but will show up in other Cakewalk products (such as Pro Audio 9) that support DirectX audio plug-ins. The Buffer Size Matcher plug-in is only used internally, and is not listed in SONAR’s list of available DirectX audio plug-ins. SONAR knows about this special-purpose plug-in, and is smart enough to suppress it, but it will show up in other DirectX host applications since it is a standard DirectX plug-in. Simply ignore this plug-in if you see it in other DirectX host applications.

Track Pan Is Not Sent To Aux Bus When Aux Send Is Set To “Post” Fader

When an audio track’s Aux Send is set to “Post” (post fader), the audio track’s Pan control will not be sent to the aux bus.

Video Issues

Video Optimizations

Poor video frame rates may be caused by a variety of circumstances:

•	Always load video files from a hard drive that is separate from your audio drive.
•	If you have a lot of meters visible in SONAR try hiding playback meters.
•	The following Cakewalk.ini variable allows you to tweak the frequency by which SONAR updates the user interface in response to time changes. Changing this to higher values such as 50-100 may improve video frame rates, by reducing the load on the system.

The INI entry should be created under the "WinCake" key in cakewalk.ini as below. Set it to a value in milliseconds. Smaller values cause the user interface to update more frequently and larger values cause less frequent updates. The default value is 40 ms, which works well for most applications.

[WinCake]
NewTimeUpdateDeltaMs=40

Compatibility Issues

Some MPEG files captured on Pinnacle Systems miroVIDEO and Shark video capture cards may not load properly in SONAR. To load these files into SONAR, you should use a video program to convert them to AVIs in a "generic" codec like the Radius Cinepak codec or Intel Indeo codec.

Pinnacle Systems miroVIDEO DC30 Pro:

Windows 98 SE/Me:

The Windows 9x drivers for this board are incompatible with SONAR. Attempting to load a video file compressed with the miroVideo hardware codec will cause the system to freeze on loading the file itself or on stopping playback of the video.

Windows 2000:

The Windows 2000 drivers for this card appear to be compatible with SONAR. Video files compressed with the miroVideo hardware codec will load and play in SONAR. However to take advantage of the hardware codec you will need to add the following entry to your aud.ini file (found in your SONAR installation directory):

[Video]
UseAVIDecoder=1

This entry forces SONAR to use the AVI decoder filter which wraps the miroVideo codec.

Problems loading video files

Certain Video files that are authored for streaming do not contain information about the number of frames.  SONAR requires this information in order to load and edit the file.  If you have a file that will not load, then try re-encoding the video with key frame information.    

DV video playback

SONAR supports playback of video files encoded for DV. Note that DirectShow sets the display of these files by default to half resolution for performance reasons. You can change this default so that the files display at full resolution by changing the DV Video Decoder properties as follows:

Open the video properties dialog, and access the Decoder property page from the Video Settings tab by clicking the "Decoder..." button. From this property page you can change the default to full frame NTSC. Note that you will have to reload the DV video after changing this setting to see the video at full resolution. If you wish to always view DV videos at full resolution, you may check the "save as default" box in the Decoder properties dialog. Note that this saves the settings system wide for all DirectX applications.

Multi-monitor Video Support

SONAR supports multi-monitor video playback. To view a video on a separate monitor, you must first float the video view, and then move the view to a secondary monitor. Once the video view is on a second monitor, you may now switch to full screen video mode on the second monitor.

Video Adapter Issues

If you are using one of the following video adapters:

Matrox Millenium
Hercules Dynamite 128
STB Velocity 
Any video card based on the S3 chipset 
Any video card based on the video Riva TNT or Intel i740 chipset

Or you experience audio problems during times of high graphics use, please visit the web page http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Docs/VideocardTips.html for important information about how to configure your video adapter when working with SONAR. If not properly configured, these particular video cards can cause “bus contention,” disrupting normal audio recording and playback within SONAR.

Some users have reported errors in SONAR’s StudioWare View when using certain types of video cards.  Specifically, video cards based on the NVIDIA Riva TNT or Intel i740 chipsets are known to cause illegal operation errors when opening the StudioWare View.  Cakewalk has found that this problem can be remedied by downloading the most recent reference drivers from NVIDIA and Intel directly.

To download reference drivers for Riva TNT-based video cards, please visit NVIDIA's website at:  

http://www.nvidia.com/Products.nsf/htmlmedia/software_drivers.html

To download reference drivers for i740-based video cards, please visit Intel's website at:

http://support.intel.com/support/graphics/intel740/

(Please note that NVIDIA and Intel provide these reference drivers "as is", and as such the drivers are not supported by the manufacturer of your specific video card.)

For the latest information on video adapter issues, please see http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Docs/VideocardTips.html.

Fit to Time May Not Work Properly if Left Clip Edge is Cropped

The Process-Fit to Time command will not stretch audio properly if the left edge of an audio clip is cropped (slip-edited).  The clip will be resized, but the audio will be moved to the right so that the beginning of the audio data is positioned at the left clip edge.

This issue will be addressed in a future version.

Reject Loop take command does not work with audio

At present, the Transport-Reject Loop Take command only works when recording MIDI data.

MMC is only available when SONAR’s clock is set to SMPTE/MTC

In the Options-Project-MIDI Out dialog it is possible to enable/disable MMC options regardless of the project’s clock setting. However, be aware that MMC is only available when SONAR’s clock is set to SMPTE/MTC.

Layout of Aux Sends in Console View

The Console view supports a special CAKEWALK.INI setting:

[Console View]
TileConsoleAuxSends=<1 or 0, default=1>

When set to 0, the send sliders and enable buttons for an audio module are lined up top to bottom and do not wrap. Tiling occurs when you have more than 4 aux sends configured). This option is useful if you prefer to use more vertical space in the console than horizontal.

CAL routines

Split Note to Tracks.cal (or any CAL routine that creates tracks) can possible leave "holes" in the track numbers of your project.  This may occur if you have 4 tracks and instruct the CAL routine to insert tracks starting at track 10.  If you instruct CAL to insert data on track 5 it should work fine.

Another workaround:  after you have run the CAL script, choose Edit- Select All, open Piano Roll view, save the file, and reopen it.  

Special Keys Reserved In Lyrics View and Effects Property Sheets

The shortcut keys for starting and stopping playback (SPACEBAR), recording (R), and rewinding (W), do not work in the Lyrics view or Effects property sheets, since these keys are used instead to enter text.  When the Lyrics view or an effects property sheet is the active window, use the buttons in the Transport toolbar to start, stop, record, and rewind.

Hardware Notes

Problem Using 1 Millisecond Latency With Echo Darla Card

SONAR may have problems if you configure the Darla card to use a latency of 1 millisecond in Options-Audio-General. To solve this problem, make sure the latency is set to at least 2 milliseconds when using the Darla card.

No Audio Extensions Support for Certain Devices

Pro Audio 8.0x provides custom support for certain audio hardware, including the Digidesign Session8, Audiomedia III, Soundscape SSHDR-1, and Digital Audio Labs V-8.

SONAR does not provide extended “hardware-specific” support for the Session8, Audiomedia III, SSHDR-1, and DAL V-8 devices.

Going forward, Cakewalk software products will communicate, configure, and control the proprietary on-board hardware of advanced audio devices by using AudioX.  AudioX is a newly emerging industry standard, introduced by Cakewalk in 1999, which enables audio applications (like SONAR) to directly access an audio device’s advanced onboard hardware through a standardized mechanism, rather than requiring special custom programming for each device.  Over time, Cakewalk expects an increasing number of advanced audio devices to offer AudioX Support, which will allow their advanced onboard hardware features to be controlled directly from within SONAR.  The first device to offer such AudioX Support is the Yamaha DSP Factory audio hardware (an AudioX driver for this device is included on the SONAR CD).

Yamaha DSP Factory Information

Using the Yamaha DSP Factory at higher bit rates

In order to use the Yamaha DSP Factory's higher bit rate support (i.e. 24-bit audio) you will need to make sure that “32 bit PCM, left-justified”, found under Options-Audio-Driver Profiles, is selected.  This will allow SONAR to open the DSP Factory's wave drivers in the correct manner for > 16-bit support.

Roland U-8 Controller Application is not Windows 2000 or Windows XP Compatible

Please be aware that the Roland U-8 Controller application is currently not compatible with Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and will crash if launched in either of these operating systems.

Frontier Design WaveCenter Issue

When using the Frontier Design WaveCenter card, you may experience the following error messages:

“SONAR caused an invalid page fault in module CW10AUD.DLL…”

-And/or-

 “SONAR caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL…”

This problem is related to the WaveCenter driver, and does not indicate a problem with SONAR. This problem will only occur when all WaveCenter drivers (ADAT+SPDIF) are enabled. The WaveCenter does not allow you to open both ADAT and SPDIF channels at once, and this problem occurs when SONAR is trying to open all drivers for input monitor. To address this problem, disable either the ADAT or SPDIF driver.

Arming An Audio Track From the Console View With the Frontier WaveCenter ISA Card Causes Errors

This is caused by a limitation with the Frontier WaveCenter ISA card. The WaveCenter ISA card does not permit you to open both ADAT and SPDIF channels simultaneously. The solution is to disable either the ADAT or SPDIF channel.

Note: this is not an issue with the Frontier WaveCenter PCI card, which will not allow you to enable the optical SPDIF and ADAT Optical device at the same time.

Lexicon Core2 Issues

The current Lexicon Core2 driver does not work properly with SONAR’s WavePipe technology. Please check with Lexicon to see if an updated driver is available.

To use the Lexicon Core2 in SONAR, go to Options-Audio-Driver Profiles, and disable WavePipe™ Acceleration. Disabling WavePipe™ will result in a slight increase in latency.

Changing the sampling rate within SONAR does not change the rate of the Soundscape Mixtreme card

Please note that changing the sampling rate within SONAR does not change the actual sampling rate on the Soundscape Mixtreme sound card. If you change the default 44.1kHz sampling rate in SONAR, you must also change the rate in the Soundscape Mixtreme mixer software.

Limitations of Early Sound Blaster Cards

Certain early models of the Sound Blaster cannot do both MIDI input and wave output at the same time. Thus, if you've selected "Creative Labs" as a MIDI In device in SONAR 's Options-MIDI Devices dialog, wave audio won't work.

Note that MIDI output will work fine along with wave audio: you can select "Creative Labs" from the list of MIDI Out devices. The problem occurs only when you've selected the "Creative Labs" MIDI In device.

Creative Labs AWE Sound Cards May Be Noisy In SONAR

You may experience excessive background hiss when using an AWE sound card in SONAR. This is because SONAR requires the use of true full-duplex audio hardware, and the AWE sound card is not a full-duplex sound card. The AWE sound card will record in 8-bit mode, and plays back in 16-bit mode.

AWE Wave Synth and Audio Output

You cannot use the AWE as an audio device if you use the “s/w Synth” or “Wave Synth WG MIDI” as a MIDI output device. Audio playback and the software synthesizer won’t work at the same time, because the software synthesizer ties up the AWE audio device. In order to use the AWE as an audio device, go to Options-MIDI Devices, and make sure “s/w Synth” or “Wave Synth WG MIDI” is not selected as an output device.

This is a limitation of the AWE software synthesizer driver, not SONAR.

MIDI Time Piece tips and tricks

Below are comments to help you use the MIDI Time Piece (MTP) made by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU.)

System Exclusive tips
"FAST 1X" mode of the MTP may exhibit strange behavior with System Exclusive send. This is a result of the MTP's "middle-man" processing techniques. The MTP Windows driver won’t send System Exclusive through the MTP byte by byte; instead, the MTP stores System Exclusive in a buffer to be sent out in larger, faster packets. This causes checksum errors on a Sound Canvas, for example.

We are able to send System Exclusive to the Sound Canvas in FAST 1X mode by lowering the TTSSEQ.INI's SysxSendPacketSize parameter to 344. However, note that if you want to try this yourself, you’ll need to find a number that works on your computer system. In short, use FAST 1X mode with System Exclusive "at your own risk."

MOTU starting template
MOTU provides a starting template for their setup software called WINDOWS.MTP. Make sure that this is loaded before using the MTP as an interface in SONAR. The MTP driver will access the MTP's current state as configured by WINDOWS.MTP rather than reinitializing it. This will let you customize the provided template using MOTU's MTP software, and then access this setup in the Windows driver.

Connecting two MTPs
When connecting two MTPs together for 16 input/output ports, put the unit assigned to ports 1-8 first in the chain. Then connect the network cable from the back of the first unit to the network input on the second unit (ports 9-16.)

Gravis UltraSound

SONAR supports sound cards that use "patch caching," such as the Gravis UltraSound. These cards load sounds from your hard drive as needed. If you are using this kind of sound card, the Update Patch Cache command on the Transport menu will be enabled. When you choose this command, SONAR examines your song to see which patch numbers you have used. It gives this list to the sound card, which loads the required sounds. This process can take some time, so SONAR lets you decide when to use Update Patch Cache to "recalculate" the patches used. (SONAR also performs the "recalculation" when you use File-Open or File-New to open or clear a song file, and when you switch between multiple open files.)

If you are using the Play List view, please be aware that there may be a delay between songs, because the sounds required for the next song need to be loaded. This doesn’t mean that there is a problem with SONAR. This is just the way such a sound card must work.

Upgrading to SONAR From An Earlier Version of a Cakewalk Product

SONAR SETUP does not overwrite your existing MASTER.INS file. That file contains the instrument definitions that SONAR loads every time it starts. SETUP installs new .INS files for each supported manufacturer. These files contain the latest complete set of available instrument definitions.

To learn how to import any of these .INS files, see the online Help topic titled "Importing Instrument Definitions”.

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