Sonar 2.0 Quick Start

Help Center → Sonar 2.0 Quick Start

INTRODUCTION

This Sonar Quick Start will show you the basics of using Sonar to record a single track composition. We will not cover any of the advanced techniquies used for editing tracks.

RECORDING A TRACK

  1. Run Sonar from the Start Menu.

  2. After Sonar loads you will be presented with the following dialog box:

    3. Click on Create a New Project.

  3. After you have created a new project you will have to select which kind of project you want. The choices will be given in the following box:

    4. Select Blank (No tracks) from the given list to create a blank project.
    Click OK to create a new project.

  4. After you are done creating the new project, you should get a new project without any tracks in it.

  5. To add new tracks, click Insert > Audio Track.
    If you would like to record something from the keyboard, Insert > MIDI Track would be more appropriate, but Audio Track would also work.

  6. Once you have inserted the track you should see a window like the following:

    7. Click thumbnail to view full image.
    To Record a track: After the Recording of the track:
    Record enable the track.Click on the “R” next to the track. The Track is “record enabled” when the box around “R” turns red.
    Start recording.Push the record button in the playback strip. You’ll notice that this button is inactive (gray) untill you record enable the track, which activates the button (turns it red).
    Click on the Stop button.
    Play back your track to make sure everything was recorded fine.If there is no sound at all please consult our Mixer Reference Guide to make sure you have all the I/O routed properly.

SAVING THE RECORDING

Once you are done with the recording, you should save your work. There are two ways you can do this: the “standard” saving option lets you save your Sonar project so that you will be able to edit it later, and the other way is to export your recording. When you export your recording you will be able to save it in WAV or MP3, which is the prefered way when recording your music to a CD.

“Standard” saving

  • Click File > Save.
  • You should get a dialog box like this:
    • Destination folder.
    Filename. Give your project a name.
    Type of project. “Normal” should be selected in order to make sure that you can open it later without any problems.
    Click Save to save the project.

Export the Recording

  • Click File > Export Audio...
  • You should get a dialog box like this:
    • Destination folder.
    Filename. Audio file name, put it to be whatever you like.
    Type of file. Here you can select if you would like your file to be MP3, WAV, etc.
    Format of file. Should be left to default.
    Bit Depth. 16-bit is a CD quality and 24-bit is a professional recording audio bit depth.
    Enable all Mixes. Make sure all checkboxes are selected.
    Output Source. Leave to default to ensure everything gets exported correctly.
    Click Export to export the file.