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How Can I Record the Audio With DropZone in Sonar?

Cakewalk's SONAR digital audio workstation software is full-featured out of the box, including a variety of sound-processing plugins and several VST virtual instruments. DropZone continues to be part of the package, a sample-based synthesizer that can load and modify patches from several sample formats. You can apply DropZone to any musical instrument digital interface, or MIDI, track, or use it to create a track from the ground up, using SONAR's instrument track feature. You can use both applications to record audio output from DropZone.

Instructions

  1. Creating an Instrument Track

    • 1

      Click the new track button -- the "+" sign -- at the upper left of your SONAR window, on the control bar. Roll over "Instrument Track" to see a list of software synthesizers. Click on "DropZone" to insert a new track into your project, using DropZone as the audio source.

    • 2

      Record your MIDI performance data as you normally would. An instrument track behaves both as a MIDI track and an audio track, so when your performance is recorded, you can go to the "Console" view and add audio effects or use an equalizer on the DropZone sound as you would a regular audio track. Process your track until you are ready to convert it to audio.

    • 3

      Click on the icon for the DropZone track on the left side of your screen. Press "Ctrl" and "F9" to select the beginning of the track, and "Ctrl" and "F10" to select the end. To record the DropZone performance as audio within your SONAR project, click on "Edit" from the menu bar and select "Bounce to Track" from the drop-down menu. Select the parameters you wish to record and click "OK." Your DropZone performance now appears as an audio track.

    • 4

      Export your DropZone performance by clicking "File" from the menu bar, selecting "Export," then "Audio." Create an export file name and choose the parameters you wish to record, then click "OK." Your DropZone performance is recorded to an external file.

    Recording DropZone With an Existing MIDI Track

    • 5

      Change EQ and/or add audio effects only to the DropZone audio track. These options are not available in track view for your MIDI file.

    • 6

      Select both the MIDI track and the audio DropZone track by pressing and holding the "Ctrl" key while clicking on the icon of each track. Use "Ctrl" and "F9" to select the start of the tracks, and "Ctrl" and "F10" to select the end.

    • 7

      Bounce to another track or export to audio in the same fashion as described in Section 1. If you receive an error that the selection contained no audio data, check that both the MIDI and audio tracks are selected.

Recording Music

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