Within SONAR X3 converting Audio to MIDI has never been easier thanks to our deep ARA integration. This opens up many doorways for users to convert their mono audio tracks to MIDI. One great use case for this is replacing drums or adding samples to your drum tracks to enhance their sound.
Within SONAR open up your Kick and Snare tracks.
Add a MIDI track below each audio track that you wish to replace.
Add our new Logical Gate/Expander to both the Kick and Snare and adjust the effect so that instruments are heavily gated and sound like the following:
After this, Freeze both tracks. This is going to render the Kick and Snare tracks with the gates embedded in the audio tracks.
Next, latency. Let’s drop the latency to the lowest settings. Go to Edit > Preferences > Driver Settings and set your latency low. This will help with timing.
- If you are using MME (32bit) set your latency closer to [Safe].
- If you are using ASIO then select [ASIO Panel] and set your buffer size very low.
Drag and drop your kick and snare tracks to their associated MIDI track. Conversion will occur.
Next up, open the PRV and move your MIDI Clips to the drum you wish to use. You can highlight the entire row of MIDI clips by selecting their associated piano key and transpose them easily by going to Process > Transpose.
Once this is done insert Addictive Drums. Make sure to have the following ticked after selecting Insert > Soft Synth > Addictive Drums:
- First Synth Audio Output
- Synth Property Page
- Recall Assignable Controls
- Ask This Everytime
Mute the Room and OH microphones within Addictive Drums. This reduces any additional ambiance.
Workflow Tip: It’s good practice to do this type of replacement section by section at first so that you can get an idea of how it works.
Mix these drums in behind your current mix.
Learn more about ARA Integration, Addictive Drums, and SONAR X3 Producer here.