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Digital Music Doctor's "SONAR SWIFT & DEEP"
By Stephen G. Rivera
Apr 26, 2003, 12:44

SONAR SWIFT & DEEP

Digital Music Doctor's new offering, SONAR SWIFT & DEEP is a detailed overview and tutorial of this popular MIDI and recording platform. Screen Shot: Swift & Deep Main Menu

I love interactive tutorials. I will generally toss out a book if it relates to software because it just "does not look" like the product it describes, so seeing the actual screens accompanied by an audio narration is a bonus for me.

This particular tutorial is called "SONAR SWIFT & DEEP" and it covers a very popular sequencer, Sonar v2.0, complete with animated screen shots and narration. You don't need Sonar to run the tutorials, however, if you wish to load the tutorial examples you will need Sonar v2.0. You do need Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. And in case you don't have IE 5.5, just grab a copy of AOL's CD anywhere (Blockbuster), it will have a directory with v5.5 or v6.0 on it. Each tutorial runs between 4.5 to 15 minutes and has cassette type navigation buttons so you may play, stop, fast forward or rewind the tutorial in progress. Each tutorial is well organized and progresses logically as you get into the more advanced features of Sonar.

When you first load the program, you are presented with a menu / table of contents page. In addition to the tutorials, you have a links page and a map of the entire CD (index). Let's take a look at each tutorial section:

SWIFT LAUNCH

Tracks pane: Screen Shot: Tracks Pane Tutorial

Starts with a mixed file that contains both audio and midi, the song is a midi arrangement of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". This section shows you how to move around in the tracks view and to quickly adjust the size, minimize or maximize the tracks separately. Basically this sections gives you an overview of how to move around and resize the tracks pane.

Clips Pane (right side of tracks view): Screen Shot: Clips Pane Tutorial

This is a quick run through of basic clip editing, pay close attention to this tutorial section, you will be using this view the most with your Sonar sequences. Copy and Paste functions are discussed here, and how you can move the selected clips.

Common interfaces: Screen Shot: Common Interfaces Tutorial

An explanation of Sonar file types and their uses, an overview of toolbar icons such as Tempo, loop points, timelines. Explanation of markers. Keep in mind you can also use markers to set you verses, bridge, and chorus parts. It is good to know Sonar v2 can easily handle Video files and allows you to easily synchronize with your music. You will also learn about the different project and global level options and preferable settings here.

DEPTH CHARGE - AUDIO

At this point the tutorials get longer and more detailed....

Audio Recording: Screen Shot: Audio Recording Tutorial

This section shows the user how to set the peak meters, the different types of audio files, and how to setup your soundcard or digital audio device to work happily with Sonar. "Swift & Deep" goes into detail on the audio options and what they mean. If you ever need to understand what these options mean in Sonar, this section alone is well worth the price of the tutorial, even for a power users. A good explanation of audio files and their properties. This is another topic alone worth the price !

Audio Mixing: Screen Shot: Audio Mixing Tutorial

The depth of information increases with each section and the tutorial starts to get into the real meat and potatoes of Sonar, in "Audio Mixing". Here the fine art of audio mixing, audio normalizing, and adjusting volume levels is discussed in detail. You will learn how to apply envelopes to your clips, apply audio effects like reverb, EQ, and compression, plus other neat goodies not found in the Sonar manual. Definitely fun to have an interface to rewind and pause when needed. All this to the tune of the "2001" movie soundtrack !!

Loops: Screen Shot: Loops Tutorial

If you ever wanted to learn everything there is to know about Sonar's groove clips, this is the tutorial to get. The tutorial covers every aspect of groove clip making. Beginning with a simple wave and converting it into a full fledge groove clip that is sensitive to key change , tempo stretching, and looping. The author does a very good job of simplifying the terms and concepts and one or two runs of this section will get you going towards creating some killer groove clips. Some neat ideas about file naming and how to add key changes are also included here.

DEEP PROBE - MIDI

MIDI Setup: Screen Shot: Midi Setup Tutorial

I love MIDI! Naturally these are my favorite sections ! "MIDI Setup" is a thorough explanation of how to setup your midi devices, selecting your particular synthesizer from the instrument definition dialog and assigning these definitions to each MIDI channel. The tutorial also teaches you how to create a "custom" instrument definition file and how to make changes to it. Other project options pertaining to MIDI are discussed, plus a good explanation of midi resolution and what it means in terms of a note. A useful tip was the idea of using sysex to save all your patch / bank info as a backup, toward the end of this section.

MIDI Recording: Screen Shot: Midi Recording Tutorial

As the title suggests, this section explains all details of MIDI recording, including set recording. A good description is included of the track view settings. Nice touch is the explanation of a little known option, Time + and what it is useful for. Just that explanation opened up many different fun ideas for me, like using it for creating delay, fattening up my orchestral scores, and making those sound more human. Very good in depth instruction of punch recording, quantizing, adding lyrics, and many lesser known Sonar options. I learned a great deal! Towards the end is a great rundown of how to setup and implement DXi virtual synths. Very useful indeed!

Midi Editing: Screen Shot: Midi Editing Tutorial

Some interesting gems here too. I finally learned how to use the elusive "chord analyzer" in Sonar. This section goes deep into the fine art of midi editing and there is a lot of great information here even for a seasoned Sonar veteran. Some highlights are things like how to eliminate a group of notes above a certain note. I always forget that one but in this tutorial it is explained thoroughly and in a way that is easy to understand. I finally got it! The tutorial also delves into editing the drum track with the piano roll and shows the users how to set velocity via a dialog box. A short section on copy 'n paste for midi clips is very helpful and easy to comprehend.

"SONAR SWIFT & DEEP", is well developed, follows a logical order and gets progressively more detailed and in depth as you complete each section. Lessons are extremely easy to understand and give you more than enough to start working with Sonar intimately. You don't even need Sonar, you could use this tool to evaluate Sonar while you save your $$$ and become proficient! I've paid over $300 for similar interactive tutorials on other software I own and they did not have the wealth of knowledge or depth that "SONAR SWIFT & DEEP" has. The street price of $29 is a real bargain. There are single sections alone worth the price! Since all the examples are included on the CD, you can also follow along the tutorial using Sonar real time, and be able to review or skip sections using the convenient cassette type buttons and go at your own pace. "SONAR SWIFT & DEEP" has a wealth of information that will appeal to the Sonar beginner, intermediate, and power user. I've used Sonar since it's Cakewalk/DOS days and was able to find plenty of new information and ideas just from running the tutorials. I had a great time revisiting Sonar through this excellent tutorial and would recommend it to anyone, beginner and power user, without hesitation!

"Digital Music Doctor" can be found at http://www.digitalmusicdoctor.com/
You can order your copy of "Sonar, Swift & Deep" there.

Stephen G. Rivera has spent the past decade composing music for commercial video games, independent artists and provides jingle services for several advertising agencies. In his studio he has used Cakewalk products and Sonar for over ten years and was beta tester for Tascam and Sonar using the Tascam US-428 and Tascam US-224 during the development of those products. He also helped in the development of Sonar's studioware for the US-428 which is now integrated into Sonar v2.