With all the powerful features of SONAR X2, it’s almost impossible for someone to know every single angle of the program. Even some of the simpler features have some not-so-obvious aspects that can make the musician’s life easier and more musically inventive. This is why we have created detailed videos for SONAR users to delve into without needing a manual.
This week we have posted four great new videos that are sure to give you some new insight on X2 features and workflow:
The QuadCurve EQ has now proven itself in the industry to be one of the most musical AND surgical instruments around. With four different modes, it’s easy to carve out and sculpt perfect and professional mixes with ease.
[My favorite QuadCurve feature: The slope – cutting off low frequencies dead-off is essential for getting great vocals to really pop out of the mix without sitting too far in front. You can also greatly clean up your low-end by getting rid of competing frequencies utilizing the slope on guitars, bass and kick drum.]
The Browser is a one of those features that is just saves you a ton of time and helps with the creative process. Having everything at your fingertips (loops, rx2 files, plug-ins, instruments, midi fx, FX Chains, Track Templates, etc…) is one thing – but being able to drag-and-drop any of those components is simply a gamechanger.
[My favorite Browser feature: The ability to save any location of any drive and have that location’s contents available for preview in one click.]
Quick Grouping is a unique feature that comes in handy when mixing. SONAR takes standard grouping functions to the next level with the ability to group any moving parts of multiple tracks by simply holding down the control key while those tracks are selected. Faders, pans, effects sends – almost anything can be grouped on the fly without having to go in and create official groups. Of course you still have the ability to create permanent mix groups, but quick groups allow creativity to flow with… quickness.
[My favorite Quick Group usage: Automating frequency sweeps of the QuadCurve on multiple tracks. Some crazy sound effects can be achieved quickly by selecting multiple tracks and then automating the frequency knobs and Q’s on multiple passes.]
The Multidock is one of those features that must have been a genius afterthought by our developers. Having dockable modules in the Skylight Interface alone is amazing in the workflow department, but then I bet someone upped the ante and said “hey, let’s put this thing on steroids with a tabbed multidock where you can easily and seamlessly switch to and from any view.” It truly was a great idea – being able to house just about anything in the Multidock and then expand that view with one push of the [D] (or split the view horizontally with [shift D] really changed a lot for mixing in SONAR.
[My favorite Multidock feature: Having the ability to jump from any view with ease, but then also be able to split that view horizontally. So for example, I can be tracking in the Track View, but still have my faders showing in the Multidock. Or I can be tracking in the Piano Roll View, and have all my loop content below in the Multidock ready for preview.]
We are dedicated to our users having the best professional experience possible while also enjoying the creativity of SONAR X2. We are happy to produce these videos in hopes that new users have a smooth experience, and even the heaviest power users find some tidbits of new information to utilize. We will continue to roll these videos out and will have more feature-rich content soon.
Learn more about what’s new in SONAR X2
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