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Why you should use "Scan VST Plug-ins On Startup" in SONAR X1. Really.

You’ve seen it before. That painful scanning procedure on startup that makes many DAWs seemingly take forever to let you start actually making music with them. Is it a necessary evil? I mean without it you wouldn’t have all your plugins available to you.

Or would you?

SONAR X1 has a very sophisticated and clever mechanism that only scans your plugin folders for changes – and it does this with incredible speed. In fact, it’s almost imperceptible. With “Scan VST Plug-ins On Startup” checked in SONAR’s preferences you get the best of both worlds; newly installed plugins ready and available and yet a blazingly fast startup time without the painful wait of other DAWs. Who wants to wait for an excruciating VST plugin scan when all you want to do is rock? Continue reading “Why you should use "Scan VST Plug-ins On Startup" in SONAR X1. Really.”

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How Chris Standring Used SONAR X1 to Hit Two #1 Chart Positions

The success of SONAR X1 user Chris Standring’s groundbreaking 2010 CD Blue Bolero, which topped several year-end lists and produced a No. 1 single, made it tough for him to create a follow-up record; but all early indicators are showing that he managed quite nicely with the new Electric Wonderland recording which came out yesterday.

As of this morning, Chris woke up to find out that Electric Wonderland has hit #1 in its genre on the Amazon.com sales chart, as well as #1 on the BDS Radio Tracking Chart (Billboard) for the same genre.  I would say that’s a setup for a pretty great day, especially considering the “sales” climate of the music industry in general.  Electric Wonderland is a 10-song CD of original songs that fuses elements of the last record Blue Bolero’s orchestral touches with a deft jazz-pop touch that’s been a hallmark of Standring’s stellar career.

One of the changes Chris made on Electric Wonderland besides going from SONAR 8.5 to X1 was mixing the record on his own.  Continue reading “How Chris Standring Used SONAR X1 to Hit Two #1 Chart Positions”

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Recording guitars- A survival guide pt1: Taste testing speakers

Getting awesome guitar tones recorded in any setting is not as hard as you might think. After recording a huge number of different guitarists including myself over the last 20 years, I have found that great results can be achieved in almost any space.

While there are no rules when setting out to record the golden tone, these are some things that my years have taught me and in coming installments of this series I’ll be sharing more aspects of getting the tones you’re looking for in the home setting and in general. Continue reading “Recording guitars- A survival guide pt1: Taste testing speakers”

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Musikmesse Preview And New ProChannel Module

If you thought NAMM was something, wait until next week when Musikmesse 2012 opens itself to the world in Frankfurt, Germany from March 21st – 24th. The planet’s largest Music Industry trade show is looming just over the horizon and we’ll be there to show off our latest wares, gadgets, and goodies, including a new brand new, yet to be released ProChannel module.

We’ll formally announce the new module at the show. In the meantime, check out the picture below to spot the module in action. But don’t tell anyone I gave you the drop, OK?

Hidden in this sea of ProChannels is the new module we’ll announce at Musikmesse 2012

Continue reading “Musikmesse Preview And New ProChannel Module”

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Take the Matrix to the stage with cue mix style clip auditioning.

Anyone who has used the Matrix View in SONAR X1 can attest to its awesome music creation powers. But it can also be used in combination with the Browser View’s flexible audio preview routing in a DJ setup to make instant remixes on the fly!

There are several ways this can be done depending on the equipment being used. Continue reading “Take the Matrix to the stage with cue mix style clip auditioning.”

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QuadCurve EQ Demystified

If you’re a SONAR X1 user then you’ve probably already seen that the free SONAR X1d update has been released for all versions of SONAR X1. And if you’re a SONAR X1 Producer Expanded user, then you’ve probably already noticed that you’ve got a shiny, new EQ in the ProChannel called the QuadCurve EQ.

However, you might be wondering what exactly the deal is with the new EQ and and what the differences are in the four modes.

                Hybrid                           Pure                            E-Type                        G-Type

Continue reading “QuadCurve EQ Demystified”

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How to Create Custom Drum Kits and Drum Patterns in 5 Easy Steps – With SONAR X1 Producer

Have you ever wanted to create a drum kit from your own samples and make your own drum loops?  Part 1 of this Drum Production Master Class shows you how to create a drum part from scratch with Session Drummer 3, Step Sequencer 2.0, and other tools that come with SONAR X1 Producer.

Watch the video and follow these 5 easy steps:

  1. Browse for Loops: Find audio loops with the right drum sound for your track.
  2. Harvest Drum Samples: Slice up the loop into clips to add to your custom drum kit.
  3. Build a Drum Kit for Session Drummer 3:  Drag and drop clips or add pieces from other kits.
  4. Create a Pattern: Customize your drum pattern using Step Sequencer 2.0.
  5. Arrange Your Patterns: Add variation to your pattern to create a multi-part drum track.

Buy SONAR X1 Producer to follow along and watch more free video tutorials at SONAR University!

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Remix K'Naan's New Single to Win $1000 and SONAR X1 Production Suite

Hopefully by now you have a version of the award winning SONAR X1 running on your machine, because A&M/Octone recording artist K’NAAN wants to hear from you; musically.  With this exclusive opportunity through Cakewalk, Roland, Indaba Music and A&M/Octone, you can sign up for this contest and download the actual stems to craft your own work of art.   If that work of art is chosen by K’Naan and his label, it will result in a nice chunk of cash or a Cakewalk/Roland gear package for you. Continue reading “Remix K'Naan's New Single to Win $1000 and SONAR X1 Production Suite”

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How to Pitchbend a Chord on a Keyboard Perfectly Every Time

Have you ever tried to pitchbend a chord on a keyboard? It never works as you expect. Sometimes it would be great to transition from one chord to another gradually, like you can with single notes. But there’s a problem: you can’t bend a full chord with conventional synth pitchwheels because the same up/down range applies to every note. So usually the chord you end up bending to is out of key.

I’m about to get into some nerdy details, so some of you may want to skip right to the example to simply hear the yuckiness I’m referring to. Let’s say we’re in the key of C major. Bending a CMaj (C,E,G) chord up will produce DMaj (D,F#,A) which is out of key in this context. For this chord to bend in key, we need to bend up to Dmin (D,F,A). The second degree of the fingered chord (E) would need to be raised 1 semitone to F, rather than the 2 semitones required by the others.

Here’s an audio example of an attempt to bend triads in C Major using standard pitchbend: Continue reading “How to Pitchbend a Chord on a Keyboard Perfectly Every Time”