CAKEWALK sonar x3, Reference Manual

Page: 1676 / 2094

1676
Beginner’s guide to Cakewalk software
Audio
Tracks
A track is represented by a horizontal strip in the Track view that has a name and number on the left
side (each track is also represented by a vertical module in the Console view). A track is a container
you usually use to keep the sound from each instrument separate from the others—you usually keep
the sound from each instrument on a separate track.
In the following picture, you can see the visual results of recording the first 3 notes of “Three Blind
Mice” as audio in Track 1, and as MIDI in Track 2.
A. Name of Track 1 B. Three C. Blind C. Mice
Notice that the graph (or picture , SONAR stores these picture files in the Picture Cache folder in the
Cakewalk Projects folder) of the audio data follows the natural decay in loudness of a sound after
each note is struck. This is as expected since the pictures represent the actual sound that is
recorded. The MIDI track’s graph is much simpler, since it only represents commands to turn a
certain note on for a certain time period, then turn another note on, etc. We zoomed in on these two
tracks far enough to expose all the track property fields, such as Volume, Pan, Input, Output, etc.
Notice the different logos left of the track names that distinguish audio tracks from MIDI tracks.
Notice the data in the audio track’s
Out field: A. This is the name of the output driver that this
particular sound card uses. If your sound card only has one pair of outputs (or one stereo output),
you don’t have to change anything in the
Out field. SONAR fills it in automatically as soon as
SONAR finishes running the Wave Profiler. If your sound card has more than one pair of outputs, or
you have more than one sound card installed and enabled on your computer, you can use this field
to choose what pair of outputs you want to hear a specific track played back through.
Note: It is not necessary to run the Wave Profiler for a sound card using an ASIO driver.
A
D C B
D C B