Modern music production combines many different elements. Loops and samples, sequenced drums and synths, live instruments and more. In this video, you can sit in on a session where all of these elements are used to create a piece of music from start to finish with SONAR X1 Producer.
Pull up a chair, crank up the volume and see just how easy and fun it is to create music when the inspiration strikes using SONAR! After watching the video, download the content pack which includes the Track Templates and presets used in this project.
Pentagon has been around in the soft synth world for a long time. If you’re a SONAR user you’re probably familiar with its prowess as an analogue modeling synth. What you might not be familiar with, though, is that it can be used as a vocoder, too.
Check out the CakeTV video below on how to setup and use Pentagon as a vocoder.
You’ve got the song, the killer drum performance and everything is ready to mix but there’s one problem. Your kick drum sounds awful and there’s no option to re record the drum tracks. Don’t panic! Using SONAR’sAudioSnap 2.0 and the drum plugin of your choice, you can turn that dud into major thud!
Keyboard Shortcuts are at the heart of any DAW’s workflow, and SONAR X1 is no exception. And the QWERTY keyboard is still the central way in which we use those shortcuts and interface with our DAWs in general.
Traditional keyboards aren’t labelled for anything other than a particular language. However, the custom made, slimline, SONAR X1 LogicKeyboard has SONAR’s default Keyboard Shortcuts printed right onto its 125 multi-colored keys.
When we designed SONAR X1 we took many of the old, not-so-logically organized Shortcuts, threw them onto the table, and reorganized them into Shortcuts that we thought would be not only easier to remember, but also into groups of like Shortcuts that go together, which we call Key Clusters.
Congratulations to Bobbi Tammaro (aka “Funkee Boy”) who is seeing some great Billboard charting success with his new self-produced/mixed full-length album titled “Philosoulphy” which was created entirely in SONAR. The album is also currently the #1 most selling Smooth Jazz CD in the world on CDBABY.COM. Bobbi has an interesting SONAR story and is also a great example of the sign of the times in the modern day music industry.
Ever wondered how to use sidechaining in SONAR X1? Look no further as this step by step, how to video shows you how to achieve professional results with sidechaining using the ProChannel in SONAR X1 Producer.
Examples include sidechaining a midi track to control a gate on an audio track, broadcaster style vocal “ducking”, or sidechaining the voice track to control the volume of the background music track, and more!
Learn more about the world of SONAR X1 and watch more tips and tricks videos in full HD on CakeTV
A couple of years ago we started SONAR University with a bang by releasing a fourty-plus minute long Master Class on drum production. Since then we’ve released two more Master Classes and dozens of Get Started and Go Deeper videos. And right now we’ve got one more Master Class video in the works.
Our first three master classes were released when YouTube had limits on video length. It started at ten minutes and eventually became fifteen minutes, but we were forced to break up our Master Classes into multi-part videos since they all were longer than fifteen minutes.
Thanks to YouTube now allowing videos of any length to live on their site, and in anticipation of the release of our next Master Class, we’ve decided to refresh our original three Master Classes as single, individual videos. Now you can watch them from start to finish with no interruption. Enjoy, and stay tuned for the release of the next Master Class.
In Part 1 of this blog series, I highlighted the basic information to get the Beatscape content going in SONAR X1 Producer without using the Beatscape program. If you read that post and starting working a bit with the Beatscape content you probably found out that there’s some really good samples in there from which to draw. In this post, I will dive into a few tips and techniques and focus in on The ProChannel to show how fast and easy it is to create a more tailored sound with Beatscape content (and any other sample based content for that matter.)
For me and my style of music production, it’s all about layers and a multi-dimensional vibe. I started out like a lot of folks, on 2” tape and followed a lot of rules, but in this new digital era I rely more on my ear than I do on following fundamentals. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s more important now than ever to understand the fundamental concepts of recording and producing music, but it’s also just as important to rely on what you are hearing in relation to what you are going for. Sometimes I will start out with something that sounds quirky or not pleasing to the ear; a person in the room will look at me like I have two heads, and then within minutes they don’t even recognize what I started with.
I like to blend multiple elements together to create a “part.” In this video example by simply using the Beatscape content and The ProChannel, I will take 8 samples that sound cluttered together, and then shape them into one interesting loop that will sound more professional than where it began.
1.) I started with the basics by finding 3 kicks I liked, and 3 snares [snare and claps] I liked and shaped both using the ProChannel so that they worked well together as a groove. As you will notice, working with the ProChannel is lightning fast in terms of a workflow; everything is right there so there’s no inserting plugins or switching back and forth between screens and menus.
2.) I then arranged the snares and claps using the Smart Tool so that they created a unified part.
3.) Next, I added top loops to add depth and dimension to the groove. As you will hear, when these loops are first pulled into the mix they are very prominent and overbearing. Again using the ProChannel I was able to quickly sculpt these top loops to add character to the groove as a whole. Using the Smart Tool once again, I copied over one of the loops and reversed it to set up a dramatic effect.
4.) Finally, using the ProChannel I called up a mastering Preset which instantly added thickness, volume and control over the whole new loop.
In this video you will see and hear not only how great the Beatscape content is, but also how powerful the ProChannel is in terms of sound, workflow, speed and ease of use. There’s a solid reason behind the fact that SONAR X1 is buzzing in the music industry. There’s no other DAW on the market that covers the territory of SONAR X1 Producer. If you are serious about music creation and production, go to our Dealer Finder here and pick up an investment in yourself and your future; The SONAR X1 Production Suite.
Last week Brandon Ryan and I hosted our second CakeTV Live webinar on music production with SONAR X1. Broadcast live over the internet from Burbank, CA, this latest installment of CakeTV Live was every bit a success as the first CakeTV Live webinar. With a steady 240+ viewers this time from all over the world, we had a steady stream of great questions coming in throughout the demo.
Of course, we understand that many of you couldn’t make it to the live broadcast, so we’ve uploaded the video to YouTube for your viewing pleasure. This hefty video weighs in at one hour and forty minutes and is loaded with music production workflow techniques straight from Brandon Ryan’s bag of tricks.
