CakeTalking for SONAR Tutorial Table of Contents

CakeTalking Tutorial for Sonar 4. INTRODUCTION
1. This 200 page tutorial has been optimized for use by the JAWS screen reader. Extra punctuation is sometimes inserted in order to create pauses in speech output, especially in sentences containing technical terms and concepts. Because of the extra punctuation, JAWS' punctuation level should be set so that it doesn't say common punctuation marks like commas, periods, exclamation marks and question marks. The punctuation level of "Some" will accomplish this.
2. There are 2 main sections to this document. First is the Table of Contents, second is the CakeTalking Lessons. If you find a subject in the Table of Contents, select it, copy it, and then paste it into the Find dialog. Then press ENTER and you will move to that lesson.
3. If you cannot find in this tutorial the solution to a particular problem that you are having in Sonar, try the following.
A. The document named CT Functions and Their Hotkeys.rtf. This is a document containing all the CakeTalking hotkeys. The function is listed first, followed by the hotkey. It's found in CakeTalking's Tutorials folder.
B. The document named CT Hotkeys and Their Functions.rtf. This is identical to the above document, except the hotkey is listed first, followed by the function it executes. It's also found in CakeTalking's Tutorials folder.
C. Sonar's own Help Program. When you are in Sonar, just press F1, 3 times quickly. Sonar's Help program provides additional information not yet documented in this tutorial.
D. If the above resources still don't answer your questions, you can contact your dealer or e-mail Dancing Dots. The Dancing Dots e-mail address is support@dancingdots.com.
4. Instructions for setting up your MIDI Audio workstation and configuring Sonar so it recognizes your synths and modules are given in Lessons 47 through 53.
5. For further tech support contact your dealer or E-mail Dancing Dots at support@dancingdots.com. Join the Dancing Dots list serve (www.DancingDots.com/listserv.htm ), so that you can share questions and answers with others.

Table of Contents.

LESSON 1. LOADING A PROJECT. THE OPEN DIALOG. THE NEW PROJECT DIALOG.

1A. The Open Dialog.
1B. The New Project Dialog. LESSON 2. GETTING STARTED IN THE TRACK VIEW. 2A. Navigating between columns.
2B. Navigating between Track Rows.
2C. Loading a Blank New Project.
2D. A Quick Q and A on How to Record a Project. To be Explained in Much Greater Detail Later. LESSON 3. THE TRACK TABS. THE RESIZE COLUMNS. 3A. The Track Tabs.
3B. The Resize Columns. LESSON 4. THE TRACK PANE COLUMNS. COLUMNS THAT BOTH MIDI AND AUDIO TRACKS HAVE. 4A. The Name, Mute, Solo, Arm and Input Monitoring Columns.
4B. The Strip Size columns.
4C. Changing Numerical Values. The Value Change Hotkeys.
4D. The Volume, Pan, and Velocity/Trim Columns.
4E. The Input, Output, and Effects Columns. LESSON 5. THE TRACK PANE COLUMNS. COLUMNS SPECIFIC TO MIDI TRACKS. COLUMNS SPECIFIC TO AUDIO TRACKS. 5A. MIDI Track Specific Columns.
5B. Audio Track Specific Columns. LESSON 6. NAVIGATING TO DIFFERENT SONG POSITIONS. 6A. Determining What Position in the Project You Are At.
6B. Moving to a Song Position With the Go dialog.
6C. Moving to a Song Position With the Number Row.
6D. Moving to a Song Position With Control + the Page Up or Page Down keys, or SHIFT + the Page Up or Page Down keys.
6E. Moving to a Song Position Using Markers.
6F. Moving to the From and Through Times. LESSON 7. PLAYBACK AND RECORDING. INPUT ECHO AND INPUT MONITORING. RECORDING INTO MULTIPLE TRACKS. 7A. How to Play, Stop, Record, and Rewind.
7B. Setting the Recording Modes. Sound on Sound, Sound on Sound Punch, Overwrite, and Overwrite Punch.
7C. Loop Mode.
7D. Alternative Hotkeys for Play, Rewind and Record.
7E. MIDI tracks Input Echo Button.
7F. Recording Several Tracks at Once From a Single MIDI Controller.
7G. Recording Several Tracks at Once From Multiple MIDI Controllers.
7H. Audio tracks Input Monitoring Button. LESSON 8. SETTING THE METER, THE TEMPO, AND TOGGLING THE METRONOME CLICK OFF AND ON. 8A. Setting the Meter.
8B. The Metronome Click.
8C. Setting the Tempo in the Tempo dialog.
8D. Setting the Tempo On the Fly.
8E. Setting the Tempo Ratios In MIDI Only Projects.
LESSON 9. SAVING A PROJECT. 9A. The Save and Save As dialogs.
9B. Saving as a Different File Type. LESSON 10. SELECTING TRACKS FOR EDITING. 10A. Selecting Tracks from the Beginning to the End.
10B. Setting the From and Through. F9, F10, and the Select By Time Dialog.
10C. Selecting Tracks Between the From and Through.
10D. Unselecting Tracks.
10E. Inquiring What Tracks Are Selected On the Current Page.
10F. Selecting Tracks Using Shift + the Mid Section Home and End Keys.
10G. Setting the From and through to Adjacent Markers. LESSON 11. COPYING AND PASTING. THE COPY AND PASTE DIALOGS. 11A. The Copy Dialog.
11B. The Paste Dialog.
11C. Copying and Pasting a Selected Area of a Single Track.
11D. Copying and Pasting a Selected Area of Multiple Tracks. LESSON 12. INSERTING AND DELETING TRACKS AND BUSES. MAKING CHANGES IN THE PARAMETERS OF MULTIPLE TRACKS. 12A. The Insert Track Options dialog.
12B. Making Column Settings for Multiple Tracks.
LESSON 13. CORRECTING RHYTHMIC INACCURACIES. THE QUANTIZE DIALOG. 13A. What is Quantizing?
13B. The Quantize Dialog Resolution Edit Combo Box.
13C. The Quantize Dialog Checkboxes.
13D. The Quantize Dialog Numerical Edit Fields. LESSON 14. TRANSPOSING. THE KEY COLUMN. THE TRANSPOSE DIALOG. 14A. Transposing MIDI Tracks with the Key Column.
14B. Transposing with the Transpose Dialog.
14C. Diatonic Transposition. LESSON 15. THE TRACK PROPERTIES DIALOG. 15A. The Edit fields and Combo boxes of the Track Properties dialog.
15B. The Patch Edit Combo Box and the Bank Edit Combo Box for MIDI Tracks.
15C. The Input Button, and the Output and Bank Select Method Combo Boxes for MIDI tracks.
15D. The Input Button and Output combo box for Audio Tracks. LESSON 16. THE PATCH BROWSER DIALOG. 16A. An Overview.
16B. An Example of Searching for a Patch.
16C. Unavailable Banks and Patches. LESSON 17. EDITING INDIVIDUAL EVENTS. THE EVENT VIEW. 17A. An Overview.
17B. The Pick A Track Dialog.
17C. The Event Manager Dialog.
17D. Refining Note Durations.
17E. Showing Cropped Events. LESSON 18. THE STAFF VIEW. 18A. Sonar's Staff Notation Capabilities.
18B. Displaying Tracks in the Staff View.
18C. Playing Individual Notes and Chords.
18D. Setting the Clef.
18E. Adjusting Note Durations.
18F. The Print Preview Window. LESSON 19. THE LYRIC VIEW. 19A. An Overview.
19B. Having Jaws Speak Your Lyrics to the Music. LESSON 20. EDITING MARKERS. THE MARKER VIEW. 20A. Editing Markers. LESSON 21. THE UNDO HISTORY DIALOG. 21A. How to use the Undo History dialog. LESSON 22. THE DEFINE MULTIPLE TRACKS DIALOGS. 22A. Muting, Soloing, Arming and Selecting Multiple Tracks.
22B. Putting Your Tracks In a Different Order.
LESSON 23. CONTROLLER EVENTS. 23A. An Overview.
23B. THE INSERT SERIES OF CONTROLLERS DIALOG.
23C. INSERTING A FADE-IN AND FADE-OUT WITH THE INSERT SERIES OF CONTROLLERS DIALOG.
23D. PROBLEM OF HAVING ZERO VOLUME AT THE BEGINNING.
23E. THE ADVANTAGE OF SETTING THE VOLUME AND PATCH COLUMNS TO NULL. LESSON 24. THE EVENT FILTERS SELECT SOME DIALOG. 24A. What does a Filter Do. How do you open a Filter dialog?
24B. The Event Filter Select Some Dialog.
24C. The Note Row.
24D. Filtering By Beats and Ticks.
24E. Examples of Filtering Duration Events and Filtering Velocity Events.
24F. Filtering Controller Messages. Examples for Volume and Pan.
24G. Filtering Wheel Events.
24H. Filtering Special Events.
24I. Filtering By MIDI Channel.
24J. The Exclude Checkboxes. LESSON 25. THE EVENT FILTER SEARCH DIALOG. EDITING BY INTERPOLATION. 25A. THE EVENT FILTER SEARCH DIALOG.
25B. EDITING BY INTERPOLATION. TRANSPOSING THE DEFINED EVENT.
25C. CHANGING THE PITCH, VELOCITY, AND DURATION WITH ONE EDITING ACTION.
25D. SCALING. LESSON 26. THE METER/KEY VIEW. 26A. An Overview. LESSON 27. TEMPOS. THE TEMPO DIALOG, TEMPO VIEW, AND INSERT A SERIES OF TEMPOS DIALOG. 27A. OVERVIEW.
27B. THE TEMPO DIALOG.
27C. DELETING TEMPO EVENTS IN THE TEMPO VIEW.
27D. INSERTING A SERIES OF TEMPO CHANGES. LESSON 28. MOVING AREAS IN TIME. THE INSERT TIME/MEASURES DIALOG. THE SLIDE DIALOG. THE DELETE DIALOG, AND THE PASTE DIALOG. NUDGING AUDIO. 28A. AN OVERVIEW.
28B. THE INSERT TIME/MEASURES DIALOG BOX.
28C. INSERT TIME/MEASURES DIALOG. INSERTING TIME AND MOVING BOTH TRACK AND NON TRACK EVENTS.
28D. USING THE INSERT TIME/MEASURES DIALOG ON SELECTED TRACKS.
28E. INSERTING TIME INSIDE OF A BAR.
28F. WHEN NON TRACK EVENTS ARE NOT NECESSARY TO INSERT.
28G. THE SLIDE DIALOG.
28H. THE DELETE DIALOG. DELETING BOTH THE EVENTS AND AREA.
28I. USING THE PASTE DIALOG TO INSERT TIME AND EVENTS.
28J. USING THE PASTE DIALOG TO REPLACE EVENTS.
28K. NUDGING SELECTED AREA EARLIER OR LATER.
LESSON 29. STRETCHING AND SHRINKING TIME. THE FIT TO TIME DIALOG. THE LENGTH DIALOG. 29A. TIME FORMAT. MBT, HMSF/SMPTE.
29B. THE FIT TO TIME DIALOG.
29C. SHRINKING AN ENTIRE PROJECTS LENGTH WITH THE FIT TO TIME DIALOG.
29D. USING THE FIT TO TIME DIALOG TO CHANGE ONLY PART OF THE PROJECT.
29E. USING THE LENGTH DIALOG TO ADJUST THE DURATIONS.
29F. USING THE LENGTH DIALOG TO ADJUST START TIMES.
LESSON 30. THE STEP RECORD DIALOG. 30A. What is Step Recording?
30B. The Step Record Dialog.
LESSON 31. SPECIAL OPTIONS DIALOGS. SPECIAL INFORMATION DIALOGS. 31A. View Specific Options Dialogs.
31B. View Specific Information Dialogs.
LESSON 32. AUDIO TRACKS. 32A. AN OVERVIEW.
32B. SELECTING AN AUDIO OUTPUT PORT.
32C. SAMPLE RATE.
32D. SAMPLE SIZE.
32E. AUDIO INPUT SOURCE.
32F. OUTPUT PORTS.
32G. CLIPPING.
32H. RECORDING LEVELS.
LESSON 33. AUDIO RECORDING. 33A. TURNING OFF JAWS FROM SPEAKING WHEN THE SPACE, W OR R KEYS ARE PRESSED.
33B. READING THE OUTPUT AND INPUT METERS.
33C. RECORDING.
33D. ADJUSTING AUDIO EVENT VOLUME.
33E. READING THE STATUS BAR.
33F. CUTTING AND PASTING AUDIO.
LESSON 34. INSERTING, DELETING, AND NAVIGATING THROUGH TRACK SENDS. 34A. Adding Sends.
34B. Navigating through the sends columns.
LESSON 35. APPLYING EFFECTS. 35A. APPLYING EFFECTS FROM THE AUDIO EFFECTS SUBMENU.
35B. REAL TIME EFFECTS.
35C. HOW TO APPLY REAL TIME EFFECTS.
35D. TIPS ON USING EFFECTS DIALOGS.
35E. MIDI effects.
LESSON 36. AUTOMATION. REMOTE CONTROL. GROUPING SLIDERS AND BUTTONS. CONTROL SURFACES. 36A. An Overview.
36B. An Example of Recording Automation of the Pan.
36C. Recording Automation of the Controls in a Real Time Effects Dialog.
36D. Automating the Muting and UnMuting of a Track.
36E. REMOTE CONTROL.
36F. GROUPING SLIDERS AND BUTTONS.
36G. CONTROL SURFACES.
LESSON 37. THE INSPECTOR. 37A. Overview.
LESSON 38. THE CLIPS PANE. SCRUBBING AUDIO. 38A. Scrubbing in the Clips pane.
38B. Clips Pane Zoom Levels.
38C. Increasing the PPQ, so Your From and through are More Accurate.
38D. Splitting audio at the closest zero crossing.
38E. The Clips Pane options dialog.
LESSON 39. FORCING THE METRONOME CLICK TO FOLLOW YOUR FREELY RECORD MUSIC. 39A. AN OVERVIEW.
39B. CREATING THE FIRST BEATS OF YOUR REFERENCE TRACK.
39C. CORRECTING THE REFERENCE TRACK NOTES BY PUNCHING IN.
39D. CORRECTING THE REFERENCE TRACK NOTES IN THE EVENT VIEW.
39E. ELIMINATING STRAY NOTES, CONTROLLER DATA, AND SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE DATA.
39F. TIPS FOR LOCATING THE MELODY NOTES TO ALIGN TO IN THE EVENT VIEW.
LESSON 40. DXI PLUG INS. SOFT SYNTHS. 40A. Varieties of Soft Synths.
40B. DXI's and Direct X.
40C. VST and the Directizer.
40D. An Example of Inserting and Using Soft Synths.
40E. Inserting More than One Instance of the Same Soft Synth.
40F. An Example of using a VST soft synth.
40G. Using the Synth Rack View.
40H. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS.
LESSON 41. THE LOOP EXPLORER VIEW. 41A. An Overview.
LESSON 42. THE LOOP CONSTRUCTION VIEW. LESSON 43. THE SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE VIEW. LOADING SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE BANKS. 43A. An Overview.
LESSON 44. THE DRUM MAP MANAGER. PERSONALIZING YOUR DRUM SETUP. 44A. An Overview.
44B. Exact Steps for Using the Drum Map Manager.
LESSON 45. CHANGING THE DEFAULT FOLDER OF THE OPEN AND SAVE DIALOGS. 45A. The Folders Page of the Global Options Dialog.
45B. Using the Browse for Folder Dialog to Set the Default Folder Path.
45C. Using the Browse for Folder dialog to Create Your Own Folder.
LESSON 46. USER PREFERENCES. 46A. WHAT ARE USER PREFERENCES?
46B. SAVING USER PREFERENCES.
46C. LIST OF USER PREFERENCES.
LESSON 47. HARDWARE 1. COMPUTER PORTS AND CABLES. 47A. THE 5 PARTS OF YOUR AUDIO MIDI SYSTEM.
47B. COMPUTER CABLES, PLUGS, JACKS, CONNECTORS AND SOCKETS.
47C. COMPUTER PORTS.
47D. MAKING THE BACK OF THE COMPUTER ACCESSIBLE.
47E. MOUSE AND KEYBOARD PORTS AND CABLES.
47F. VIDEO, PRINTER, AND MODEM CABLES AND PORTS.
47G. AUDIO AND MIDI PORTS.
47H. DOES YOUR SEX DETERMINE YOUR ROLE IN LIFE?
LESSON 48. HARDWARE 2. THE MIDI KEYBOARD. 48A. MIDI KEYBOARD SYNTHESIZERS.
48B. MIDI KEYBOARD POWER CABLES AND POWER SOCKETS.
48C. AUDIO JACKS AND CABLES AND PEDAL JACKS AND CABLES.
48D. MIDI CABLES AND JACKS.
48E. THE EARPHONE JACK.
48F. THE KEYBOARD'S WHEELS, KNOBS, AND SLIDERS.
48G. LOCAL ON, LOCAL OFF.
48H. HOW TO GET SONAR TO SEND A LOCAL ON MESSAGE WHEN SONAR CLOSES.
LESSON 49. HARDWARE 3. THE MIDI INTERFACE. 49A. THE SOUND CARD AS YOUR MIDI INTERFACE.
49B. AN EXTERNAL MIDI INTERFACE.
49C. THE MIDI INTERFACE CABLES, CONNECTORS AND JACKS.
49D. DIFFERENT MIDI INTERFACE CONFIGURATIONS. 49E. DAISY CHAINING SEVERAL EXTERNAL MIDI DEVICES. LESSON 50. HARDWARE 4. THE SOUND MIXER. 50A. SOURCES OF AUDIO. THE COMPUTER AND THE EXTERNAL DEVICES.
50B. SHOULD THERE BE ONE OR TWO PLAYBACK SYSTEMS?
50C. THE SOUND CARD'S AUDIO JACKS.
50D. VOLUME CONTROL OF EXTERNAL MIDI SYNTHESIZERS WHEN THERE'S NO EXTERNAL SOUND MIXER.
50E. VOLUME CONTROL OF AUDIO COMING FROM YOUR COMPUTER WHEN THERE'S NO EXTERNAL SOUND MIXER.
50F. THE EXTERNAL SOUND MIXER.
50G. THE MIXER'S HEADPHONE JACK.
50H. HIGH END SOUND CARDS.
50I. CABLE CONNECTIONS FOR THREE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SETUPS.
LESSON 51. THE WINDOWS VOLUME CONTROL ACCESSORY. 51A. USING THE WINDOWS VOLUME CONTROL ACCESSORY.
51B. THE PROPERTIES DIALOG.
51C. THE VOLUME CONTROL WINDOW VERSUS THE RECORDING CONTROL WINDOW.
51D. ADJUSTING THE MICROPHONE MONITOR LEVEL.
51E. ADJUSTING THE MICROPHONE RECORD LEVELS.
LESSON 52. THE MIDI DEVICES DIALOG. 52A. An Overview.
52B. The Input list.
52C. The Output List.
LESSON 53. THE ASSIGN INSTRUMENTS DIALOG. THE IMPORT INSTRUMENT DEFINITIONS DIALOG BOX. 53A. AN OVERVIEW.
53B. TYPICAL MIDI SETUPS.
53C. THE ASSIGN INSTRUMENTS DIALOG BOX.
53D. THE OUTPUT/CHANNEL LIST IN THE ASSIGN INSTRUMENT DIALOG.
53E. ASSIGNING INSTRUMENTS TO OUTPUT/CHANNELS.
53F. INSTRUMENT DEFINITIONS.
53G. THE IMPORT INSTRUMENT DEFINITIONS DIALOG BOX.
53H. ASSIGNING PORTS AND INSTRUMENTS TO AN EXTERNAL MIDI INTERFACE WITH MULTIPLE INS AND OUTS.
LESSON 54. TROUBLE SHOOTING AUDIO PLAYBACK AND RECORDING PROBLEMS. 54A. MIXING LATENCY.
54B. AUDIO DROPOUTS.
LESSON 55. SETTING JAWS PUNCTUATION LEVEL. USING THE FIND DIALOG. 55A. Adjusting JAWS Punctuation Level.
55B. Using the Find dialog.
LESSON 56. TESTING AND CONFIGURING SONAR. DEBUGGING CAKE TALKING. 56A. Testing or Configuring Sonar.
56B. Generating and Sending a Debug report to Tech Support.
END OF TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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