Drum Maps are a powerful tool for taking all the guesswork out of editing your MIDI drum tracks. By using Drum Maps, you are able to see exactly which MIDI Notes trigger which sounds in your VST drum kit.
The purpose of this particular Drum Map is to allow you to see the relationship between MIDI notes and drum kit pieces of Addictive Drums 2, a VST Instrument included with your SONAR Professional and SONAR Platinum software.
Here is what editing MIDI in Piano Roll view looks like without a Drum Map:
Here is the same exact MIDI data viewed with a Drum Map. Now you can see exactly which pieces of the drum kit are in use:
Addictive Drums 2 come to life in the brand new version of SONAR Platinum and SONAR Professional making for a massive introduction into the world of XLN Audio and all the awesome products that they develop.
As a SONAR X3 user, your standpoint may be “What’s the deal with Addictive Drums 2 and my upgrade?” Let’s see if we can clear that up in this article.
What comes with my purchase of SONAR Platinum?
SONAR comes in 3 flavors, and 2 of them come with Addictive Drums 2.
With SONAR Platinum you get the Addictive Drums 2 Producer Bundle. This comes with your choice of any 3 kits that are available for Addictive Drums 2.
New to SONAR Professional and SONAR Platinum is the increasingly popular and imaginative REmatrix Solo. REmatrix Solo uses convolution to mimic real life halls, rooms, plates, and other reverberant spaces. In order to do this, engineers use something called a sine sweep or starter pistols to excite a real space like a church or bathroom. Typically you need to use a space that has a particularly natural short or long decay and does not have artifacts like flutter verbs or cancelling frequencies. You can even capture the sound of other reverb plugins and import that sound into REmatrix Solo.
This version is based off of a the full REmatrix plugin by Overloud. Currently, REmatrix Solo allows users to play a single IR but in the full version, you can play up to 5 IRs at once – allowing you to cross-pollinate your favorite reverbs into one lush space.
What’s the difference between Breverb and REmatrix Solo
Breverb and REmatrix Solo actually use different technology to create reverb. Breverb is based on a famous digital reverb found in almost every major recording studio. Breverb uses a dedicated or similar algorithm to recreate things like Early Reflections, Late Reflections, Pre-Delay, Decay, and other elements of a reverb. Breverb recreates a digital reverb whereas REmatrix uses the aforementioned convolution methods to convolve passing sounds with data from real life spaces. Breverb lets you tweak the elements of reverb and REmatrix creates a space around your sound.
Here’s a in depth look at the REmatrix Solo plugin brand new to SONAR Professional and SONAR Platinum.
SONAR Platinum user Norman Matthew of Murder FM has been making some serious musical strides on many fronts. Since touring internationally and becoming a new dad wasn’t enough, he decided to open a “School of Rock” so to speak in what tiny bit of spare time he could squeeze. “The Sound Foundation” which houses SONAR Platinum at the core, is based on teaching kids the side of music that one generally will not learn in a class room. “This is about teaching kids how to find their heart and spirit through music,” Norman told me at #Namm2015 when we caught up for a bit. “The changes I see in the confidence of these kids through the process is amazing. Each student is treated uniquely to identify exactly what is needed to reach their musical goals. What happens throughout that process is simply magical to witness, and really what makes this place so special. SONAR is a big part of this place. These kids love it and recording some great music on their own thanks to the simplicity of the program.”
Quite frankly, The Sound Foundation is picking up where the labels are falling short on the Artist Development side of the coin. Since the fall of the Major Label system, the words “Artist Development” are rarely heard. A lot of people don’t realize that a good amount of money that was coming into the labels back-in-the-day was going right back into developing new artists. Labels were actually gambling on 150k deals here and there knowing that 1 out of 5 newly signed artists may break long term. Those days are long gone, and this is where people like Norman Matthew are picking up the slack.
This model is working, and to drive home the point Norman has recently brought on CJ Pierce of Platinum selling Artist DROWNING POOL to join The Sound Foundation. “This is a big deal for me. I have always had so much respect for CJ and Drowning Pool – and to have a guy of this caliber involved with our program is priceless.”
CBS Dallas has bought into Norman’s educational process and ran a piece on The Sound Foundation today:
The Ford Company has also taken notice of Norman’s work ethic and has featured The Sound Foundation on Episode #1 of their Good Works Series:
Highlights from Winter NAMM 2015 NAMM was our first opportunity to show off the new SONAR line to the public, and the reception was nothing short of spectacular. To handle the crowds, products were demoed at three locations—the Gibson, TASCAM, and Hal Leonard booths. We met artists, press, and of course many, many customers—and we were equally happy to thrill long-time Cakewalk supporters as well as bring new users into the fold.
We wish everyone could experience the excitement of NAMM, but to give you a taste just click the links below to see demos and interviews from the show floor. And—there’s also a sneak peek of the new David Bendeth Signature Series Compressor.
Mix Recall takes your mixing to another level by offering SONAR Artist, Professional, and Platinum users the ability to save different mix scenes of the same mix within a single project. Mix Recall saves track parameters, bus parameters, and even instrument presets. A great way to use this feature is to audition different drumkits using the included Addictive Drums 2.
Instruments these days are full of all kinds of choices, especially ones that are as expansive as Addictive Drums 2. When working on a track I like to take the same pattern and switch between the custom kits that I’ve made. Addictive Drums 2 and Addictive Drums 1 both let the user take pieces of all the different kits that it comes with to make your own. Mix Recall let’s you take this workflow a step further.
Original drum passage
Here we have a simple Indie Kit from Addictive Drums:
VocalSync (SONAR Platinum exclusive) is a new technology developed by the DSP gurus here at Cakewalk. We’ve engineered an algorithm that analyzes and synchronizes phonemes (among other characteristics specific to vocals) between similar vocal parts. This type of technology is often used to synchronize backing vocals, doubled vocal parts, and used to align dialogue to picture.
Something you’re probably wondering is, well – “Why would I use such a thing?” Well the question you should actually be asking yourself is “Why haven’t I been using vocal synchronization?”
What does it do?
Vocal Synchronization is something that has been around for a long time but by methods unfit for today’s demanding deadlines. Before, vocal editing would consist of manual cutting, editing, moving and quantizing – kind of like multi-track drum editing but with less instruments. We’ve taken this idea and tied it into our Region FX technology so that users can work inside the Track View and not in another part of the program. With VocalSync Continue reading “SONAR Platinum: What is VocalSync?”
Large projects yield large mixes. As a mix engineer myself I tend to stack up on mix buses to make it easier to control multi-mic’d instruments or groups of tracks.
As of SONAR X3, experimenting with different types of bus processing is somewhat cumbersome due to a lack of useful A/B switching mechanisms. Mix Recall changes that in the newest version. Elevating your workflow is what SONAR is here for, and SONAR Artist, Professional, and Platinum now offer a goldmine of mixing workflows.
When you first open up Mix Recall make sure to save your project – or else all of the buttons will be inactive.
Grab the mix you’re working on and go the Master Bus and select it. Here’s a mix that I’ve been working on for a bit. This song has all different kinds of drums, synths, and other instruments. This first example has no bus compression on it. Continue reading “SONAR: Perfect Your Bus Processing with Mix Recall”
ScratchPad ties it all together in the latest update with support for Audiobus 2, Audio Copy 2, and much more. Nominated for a 2014 TEC Award, Scratchpad is making waves in the mobile market allowing users to create playful and pumping songs in seconds. Check it out today on the App Store.
What’s New:
Full support for iOS 8, continued support for iOS 7
Support for Audiobus 2, Audio Copy 2, and Inter-App Audio has been added
Performance enhancements using low latency settings
Now includes support for dynamic latency changes
Easier drag and drop functionality to move loops from one cell to another
Improved stability, project handling, user interface, and bug fixes to enhance the user experience
Pricing and Availability:
For current ScratchPad owners, the 1.3 update is a free download from the App Store. For new customers, ScratchPad 1.3 is available for $3.99. Full product information is available here.
Askaudiomag gives it a “Best of 2014 iOS apps”. Check out the article here.
by Dan Gonzalez
Mixing is and always will be one of the core elements of each and every DAW. Here at Cakewalk, SONAR features hundreds of a ways to mix and process your tracks for personal and commercial use. Here are some of the most popular articles we have featured in 2014.
How to use Reverb to create depth
Mix engineers that have had their time behind a board can pick out the misuse of Reverb when they hear it. Just like with anything, applying the proper Reverb requires more time than just scrolling through the presets of the basic Hall, Room, and Plate algorithms. Music tends to have a significant three-dimensional experience to it. This concept requires the understanding of width, height, and depth. Check out this article on how to use reverb in your mix.
Subtractive EQ Parts 1-5
Equalization is one of the most powerful tools that an audio engineer can get their hands on. Live engineers, post-production engineers, and recording engineers all have their specific uses for it. It’s so powerful that some beginner engineers habitually reach for it without understanding what it can ultimately do to a mix. Check out this 5 part series about how to properly apply EQ
Overloud’s VKFX Delay Module is a rendition of a classic tape delay with an incredible set of parameters that virtually allows you to get just about any sound you please. Check out this frequently read article about how to use this powerful ProChannel module.
Know Your Signal Flow in SONAR
Signal Flow is an important concept to understand, and it may be easier to think about when presented with a diagram of how audio is passes through SONAR. Read the article here.
Ten Nasty Mix Mistakes
Mixing is tough enough as is, but avoiding the following mistakes just might help the process go a little more smoothly—and give you audibly better results. Check out this awesome article by Craig Anderton.
SONAR Platinum
