Using Key Bindings in SONAR X1 – Free Map of SONAR X1 Key Bindings

Our friends at Roland Australia are big fans of SONAR X1.  They asked us to share the post below on how to improve your workflow by knowing your Key Bindings.
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Using Key Bindings can totally transform how you interact with your SONAR X1. There are hundreds of commands that can literally be placed at your fingertips that can help you navigate or perform a number of editing routines in your SONAR X1 session. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to explore this very powerful feature. To help you on your way, we have put together a PDF Doc that maps out all the default Key Bindings. Use the rows and columns as co-ordinates to identify the QWERTY key / modifier combination for the Key Binding.
Download this map of the default SONAR X1 Key Bindings
Not only will it help you to memorize the default settings, you can also use the spreadsheet to plan out and record your own custom Key Binding commands.  If you identify the commands you wish to use in the Keyboard Shortcut list in SONAR X1’s Preferences, then you can add their descriptions to the vacant cells. If you do make changes, make sure you save a copy of your Key Bindings with a new name by using the EXPORT Button on Key bindings Window.
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Seamless. Genius.
From getting great tone to releasing a final mix, today’s musicians must master every element of the music production process. SONAR X2 Producer is there every step of the way, and the revolutionary Skylight interface lets you move seamlessly among the elements, instantly going from recording to editing to mixing and back again. Dial up the perfect synth sound with Rapture or a searing guitar tone with TH2 Producer. Record it, tighten it, chop it, and drop it in the Matrix for realtime triggering. Shape it with the ProChannel. Warm it with the Console Emulator. And do it all with a single Smart Tool. It’s genius.
Get a sneak preview of SONAR X2 Producer


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SONAR X2 Feature Peek: Smart Grid

Like many of you, we’re all fired up about the upcoming release of SONAR X2. And we’re pretty sure you’d like to know more about what makes it so delicious. So, while the crust browns, allow us to whet your appetite with this Cakewalk Blog series that takes a closer look at the newly refined, ever smarter, SONAR X2.
What’s a snap grid?

One of the most useful features of a DAW is the snap grid. When enabled, a snap grid locks all movement to a defined value. The value can be absolute (e.g. seconds) or musical (e.g. quarter notes) and some programs optionally show grid lines that reflect at least some portion of the grid.
The whole thing makes moving a clip by a beat or a MIDI event by a 64th note much much easier than trying to “eyeball it”. Snap grids are vitally important to almost every DAW user. In most cases, a user relies on the snap grid regularly throughout every session.
But not all snap grids are created equal. Some only offer the most basic snap options and functionality. Some don’t display their state or give the user easy access to the settings. And many are pretty dumb when it comes to anticipating what the user needs from moment to moment.
Considering the importance and near constant use of a snap grid in music production, we thought this was an area where SONAR could increase its level of intelligence and truly shine. Let SONAR think about snap so you don’t have to.
Smart Grid
Changing snap settings is one of those repetitive tasks that, while necessary, suck some of the joy out of creating music.  It would be great if the software were smart enough to know what settings are best and could change settings all by itself. And that’s exactly what Smart Grid does.

You can use SONAR for hours and not worry about changing snap settings. Smart Grid intelligently sets the snap resolution dynamically, based on zoom level. And it can do it independently for the Track View and
the Piano Roll View.
A 128th note grid is not all that helpful when zoomed out and trying to copy a guitar riff from one verse to another. And how many times have you tried to move a 32nd note in a Piano Roll View and realized it won’t move because the snap grid is set to “Measure”?
The cumulative loss is significant, both in time and creative energy.
SONAR X2 automatically sets your snap resolution to a useful setting for the task at hand, and it shows grid lines that dynamically adjust to the intelligent snap settings. You can always see
and feel the next beat, the next measure, and so on.
And speaking of feel
, SONAR X2 lets you customize just how strong the “Snap intensity” is. Think of it like gravity, or magnetism, or falling in a hole. You can even test how the setting feels before committing to it, saving a lot of trial and error and ensuring that it’s dialed in just right.

Set it and go. But keep your options open.
SONAR X2's new Smart Grid lets you set your snap so it’s comfortable for you
. Then you can pretty much forget about snap resolution a lot of the time. Of course on those occasions where Smart Grid just doesn’t “get you”, you can quickly set the grid manually right from the Control Bar’s Snap Module. You can even set an alternative snap configuration with completely different settings, or override snap entirely, with a simple keyboard shortcut. It’s clever and flexible.
Visual feedback and accessibility of the Snap Module has also improved. Move To/By is now a switch directly on the module so it’s quick to toggle and easy to see the current state. Snapping to landmarks is also directly accessible, as are options for triplet and dotted musical values.
Smart Grid is just one of the ways in which SONAR continues to get smarter. Stay tuned for more. For the most up to date information subscribe to the Cakewalk Blog or check out the SONAR X2 page.
And with SONAR X2 on the horizon, Cakewalk is offering customers who purchase SONAR X1 a free copy of SONAR X2. So if you’ve been thinking about switching or upgrading to SONAR, there’s never been a better time.

Prefers his beer dark and his wine red. Specializes in reckless aural insurgency. Never has enough time.

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