Sonar
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| Sonar Overview • Using MIDI Controllers • Adjusting Ambience in Sonar |
Welcome to the Garritan Personal Orchestra - Sonar user tutorial. This will breifly describe how to get the beautiful sounds of GPO up and running within Cakewalk Sonar in no time at all.
Using GPO with Sonar...
In this tutorial, we will go over the basics of Sonar, learn to import midi files, insert GPO DXi / VST players, assign midi channels, insert send effects, use the bundled sonitus:fx, record midi control changes using the mod wheel, and export our creations to wav.
[edit] Installing / Running Sonar
In case you have not already done so, install Sonar by inserting the installation disk (the first of three, if you are using Sonar 3 Producer Edition) and follow the on screen instructions. The wizard is self-explanatory and simple. When the installation completes and Sonar is launched for the first time, the Wave Profiler will automatically execute. The Wave Profiler determines the correct audio and MIDI timings for your sound card, and profiles WDM drivers and, if none are found, MME drivers (MME drivers use earlier multimedia extensions interfaces that cause higher latency than the newer WDM driver model). If you install any new sound cards, remember to run the wave profiler before trying to playback audio or midi in Sonar, as you will likely not get any sound.
[edit] Installing GPO
Follow the instructions in the GPO manual for installing the Garritan Personal Orchestra sample library. Installation is relatively painless. If you have any troubles, check out the Support Page from the Garritan website.
[edit] General Sonar Layout
The breakdown of Sonar is rather subjective. It varies from user to user and depends on which of the many Sonar features you use most often. For now, I will assume you are comfortable with Sonar�s track view, console view (alt+3), and piano roll view (alt+5). Note that if you are new to Sonar, I have included a section at the end of this tutorial which explains the different areas of Sonar. I tried to touch upon only those topics necessary for using GPO, but do explain the basics of Sonar as well.
[edit] DXi versus VSTi
After the installation of both GPO and Sonar, the first step to getting sound is to insert either the GPO VST or DXi. The majority of people will tell you that the VST option is the way to go. The following malfunction is generally observed when using DXi:
Notes stick across tempo changes: For whatever reason, if a note is being played, and there is a tempo change prior to the note-off event, that note will stick. The work-around is to enter a note at the same pitch right after the note-off of the long note which would have otherwise held (and make the new small note inaudible). Some times it takes more than one, but at least it works!
In my personal experience with using GPO DXi, along with the above error, I was accustomed to instruments mysteriously not loading when reopening a file. Though I�m not positive, I believe the reason for this can be explained. The similarity I am noticing between all files where instruments �peculiarly� do not load, is that the first slot of the GPO DXi is empty! I have just begun to test this, so I am not positive, but it seems to be the reason. If so, always remember to load that first slot, or you could find yourself reloading instruments every time you open a file!
For these reasons (and more), users generally prefer using the Personal Orchestra VST. With Sonar 3 (and maybe any versions before 3.0), there is a very terrible error, similar to the DXi note-stick across tempo changes error. If a note-on occurs during playback, and you hit the stop button prior to reaching the note-off of the particular note, then the note will stick! This is very unworkable. A user from the GPO forums at www.northernsounds.com recommended the following fix: �So far as the stuck notes in the VST, try going to my site and getting MFX SustainFix working in your host.� With Sonar 3, it was unsuccessful.
All these errors are fixed by simply upgraded Sonar to the latest version. I prefer using the DXi over the VST, but note that throughout this tutorial you could be using either of them to achieve the same end result.
[edit] Importing a midi file
As this is intended to be a tutorial, the easiest way to make sure everyone follows along at the same pace is to use the same midi file for importing and editing.
Launch Sonar. The first window that appears should be the Tip of the Day � they are always enlightening, so take a minute and read them. Learn one new thing a day, and you�ll be well on your way. After absorbing the daily tip, click the Close button. You now come to a Quick Start menu with 4 options, similar to Figure 1.
You should know what each of the options do, but if not, you may read about it in the Understanding Sonar section at the bottom.
Selecting Create New Project will launch the New Project File window. From here you will be given a list from which to choose a template for your project. If you have not created any templates, then you should have only one option. Highlight Normal and click okay. How to create templates will be explained in part 13, General Workflow.
The Normal layout for Sonar files consists of two audio tracks and two midi tracks. The first thing we are going to do is delete all but one track. Select both of our audio tracks, and one of the midi tracks, then right-click, and choose Delete Track. To select multiple tracks, ctrl-click (or shift-click) the track numbers. Remember, if you accidentally deleted all the tracks, you can always undo Ctrl+Z.
Before importing the midi file, be sure to move the Now Marker back to the start � to do this, use the keyboard shortcut W. Go to File | Import > Midi� Locate the file GPO-Tutorial.mid (Insert GPO-Tutorial.mid) and open it. Your window should look like the following:
It is important to note that importing the midi file does not change the tempo. If, for instance, this file were at 80bpm and we were to import it into a file that had a tempo of 105bpm, the tempo would remain at 105bpm. In our case, we need the tempo to be 62bpm.
So go up to the digital tempo read-out 
, and change the value to from 100 to 62. Now that we have our midi data, let�s hit play and hear how it sounds!
�
What�s that? No sound? Oh, right. Thank god for GPO!
[edit] Inserting GPO DXi
The versatility of VST�s notwithstanding, for this tutorial I will be inserting the GPO DXi. That said, go up to Insert | DXi Synth > NI > Garritan Personal Orchestra.
You will be presented with the Insert DXi Synth Options window which has 6 significant check boxes. For this tutorial, ensure that only First Synth Output (Audio) and Synth Property Page are checked off. Selecting these will automatically route GPO to the main out (your audio card), as well as open the player as soon as it has been installed and bused properly.
Alas, we reach the GPO Kontakt player. If you are unfamiliar with the parameters within the player, please refer to the GPO manual. The explanation is beyond the scope of this tutorial.
[edit] Loading Instruments / Routing Tracks
Now that the GPO player has been inserted, we must load our instruments. Since our midi file consists of a harp, solo violin, pizzicato viola, pizzicato cello, pizzicato double bass, vibraphone, and celesta let�s load those instruments into each kontakt channel. The instruments loaded were:
- Dry > Harps > Chromatic Harp 1
- Dry > Solo Strings > Solo and Ens. Violins > Violin 3 Guarn Solo
- Dry > Section Strings > Violas > Violas Pizzicato
- Dry > Section Strings > Cellos > Cellos Pizzicato
- Dry > Section Strings > Basses > Basses Pizzicato
- Dry > Percussion > Vibraphone
- Dry > Keyboards > Celesta
Your player should look like this:
Now that the player has been loaded up, we have to assign each midi track to its appropriate output / midi channel. In other words, we have to tell the Harp track to use the Chromatic Harp 1 channel on the GPO player, and the Pizzicato Viola track to use the Violas Pizzicato channel, etc.
[edit] Assigning Midi I/O
If you haven�t done so already, now is a good time to check to make sure that your midi keyboard is properly assigned (if, of course, you have one). Go to Options | Midi Devices� and on the left (Inputs) side, highlight your keyboards input. Do not bother with the other half for now.
Now where were we� oh, right, assigning midi outputs. Close the kontakt player, we should be back at the main track view screen. Expand track 1 by dragging the bottom of it in the track pane. Make it large enough so that you can see all the way down to the midi channel fly-out. The track has a lot of useful stuff here, but all that concerns us are the I/O�s, so select the I/O tab at the bottom of the track pane:
Ahh, much less confusion! We now have only 5 fly-outs:
- Midi Input: This option lets you choose between multiple midi instruments (if you have them). Omni means all instruments.
- Midi Output: This important fly-out lets sonar know which DXi / VST will be controlled by the midi data on that track.
- Midi Channel: This important fly-out lets the DXi / VST that is being controlled know which channel within that DXi / VST is being controlled by the midi data on that track.
- The Bank and Patch fly-outs are not relevant to this tutorial.
Make sure track 1, Vla, is selected. Let�s rename the track to �Vla Pizz� by double clicking on the track name and typing in the new name, since this is supposed to be performed pizzicato. Do the same for the Vla and DB tracks.
Now go back to track 1 and click on the Output fly-out. A window will pop up with options on it. Find the one that says Garritan Personal Orchestra 1, and choose it. Click on the Channel fly-out, and select Channel 1:
Doing this tells Sonar to only use the first channel of the first GPO DXi to respond to the midi data in track 1. Now, using the midi channel fly-out underneath the midi output fly-out, select Channel 3 from the list (it should say, 3: Garritan Personal Orchestra). Verify that the pizzicato violas are in fact channel 3 by viewing the Kontakt player. Either double click on the midi output fly-out (the convenient way!) or go to View | Synth Rack and double click on Garritan Personal Orchestra (the long way!). Select the Violas Pizz slot and make sure it is channel 3.
Now do the same for each of the other tracks:
- a. Expand the track.
- b. Assign midi output to Garritan Personal Orchestra.
- c. Assign midi channel to the appropriate channel in the GPO player. They are as follows:
- 1. Vla Pizz = Channel 3
- 2. Vlc Pizz = Channel 4
- 3. DB Pizz = Channel 5
- 4. Violin Solo = Channel 2
- 5. Harp = Channel 1
- 6. Vibraphone = Channel 6
- 7. Celesta = Channel 7.
Let�s give a listen! Can you hear only the harp and no violin at the beginning? If so, that is because GPO uses the modwheel, cc1, to control the volume on most instruments and, by default, when you load those instruments into the player for the first time, the modwheel value is set to the minimum. View the GPO player by double clicking on the midi output fly-out, select the Violin 3 Guarn Solo slot, and drag the modwheel up about � of the way. Now go back to your track view, hit W to return the now marker back to the start, then hit the spacebar to play the song.
All of the instruments except for the solo violin, use velocity to control their volumes, so you do not have to adjust the modwheel positions on any of them! If you are lost, you can load the cakewalk file GPO-Tutorial-1.cwp. Note that when you open GPO-Tutorial-1.cwp, all instruments that use the modwheel for volume will, by default, have their modwheel values set to the minimum. You have to open the GPO Player, and raise the modwheel to about � of the way to the top (as you did in your file). Don�t worry, this is not a bad thing, as we�ll find out.
What we have done is actually only a temporary �mock-up� of how our finished piece will sound. In actuality, using one GPO player for all of our instruments is a bad way of doing things, because we limit the control we have over our instruments. Continue along with the tutorial. We have to contour some amp envelopes, insert send effects, use multiple GPO�s, and apply some basic Equalizing before we are finished. Hold your breath � we�re almost half way done!
[edit] Contouring Envelopes
Please note: if you do not have a keyboard with a modwheel on it, you can download GPO-Tutorial-Complete.mid. The solo violin track has the cc1 data already recorded.
Strange that this should come as step 9, but this is the most important, unique, and wonderful thing about the Garritan Personal Orchestra. Instead of using standard midi cc7 to control volume, Mr. Garritan and his crew decided to use the modwheel (cc1) to control the volume. Why? More fluidity while playing! That said�
Our violin player sounds very robotic. He starts the note and ends the note at the same volume, with hardly any adjustment in between. To fix this problem, we are going to contour the amplitude envelopes by recording directly into Sonar via a midi keyboard. Note: if you do not have access to a midi keyboard, I have attached another cwp, GPO-Tutorial-2.cwp, which you can download at the end of the next section. Please finish the next section before downloading it! Now where were we�
Get back to the track view in Sonar, hit W to make sure the Now marker is at the beginning, locate the violin solo track, and click the R button. This button readies the track for recording. Before actually recording, take some practice runs. Hit play. With the violin track selected, move the modwheel up and down to get a feel for its interactivity and sensitivity. None of your motions will be recorded unless you hit the Record button. When you feel comfortable, hit W, then hit the record button at the top! The recorded material on the track will be outlined in a sort of grayish / red row. As the modwheel moves, you should be able to see a visualization of it in the track.
When you have finished recording, you may make fine adjustments by going into the Piano Roll view. To do so, make sure the violin track is selected, and hit alt+5 (or go to View | Piano Roll). The window is divided into quite a few parts, but the bottom most part which displays the velocities has three fly-outs. Change the first one from Velocity to Control. Choose CC:1 from the second fly-out. Lastly, choose All Channels from the third fly-out. You should now see your mod wheel data!
Simply press D to activate the pencil tool, and draw in the cc1 data field to create new curves. Generally, you get more realistic results if you record your modwheel data, then tweak as needed. Trying to draw in the curves is a little less accurate to real playing. Give a listen! Getting realer .. and realer� and.. and�
Let�s move on to the 10th step!
[edit] Inserting Send Effects � Reverb
Before we begin the actual mixing, it may be important to understand why and how effects work. Most effects are located between the source of the input, and the main output. That is, somewhere along the following signal chain: SOURCE ? Effects ? Output. For our purposes, we are only going to concern ourselves with two types of effects: reverb and equalization.
Reverb is required in a mix to create space. It adds a sense of stereo width or a �front to back perspective.� Reverb occurs naturally in the real world, so much so that we often take it for granted. So what is reverb? By definition, reverb is the �resound� of an echo. That is, the phenomenon that occurs when sound bounces off of �walls.� No matter where you are � in a cathedral, a bathroom , or the Grand Canyon � any sound made will bounce off of something, and create reverb. Without it, everything would sound dry and dull, and we would have a very hard time finding out where sounds are coming from! Thankfully, there are an enormous amount of reverb effect units to choose from. For this tutorial, we will be using the GPO Ambience VST bundled with the GPO library.
EQ, short for equalization, is the process of boosting or cutting frequencies within a recorded audio signal. It is used primarily to emphasize or deemphasize certain instruments / voices in a mix. A full explanation is beyond the scope of this tutorial � we will not be spending too much time on EQ�ing as it is something that takes a long time to master! That said, on to the reverb�
In deciding where to place the reverb, and how much of it to use, we have to consider the �location� of our sound. Where do we want this piece to be performed? In a church? A hallway? The moon? Well, hopefully not on the moon, because if we tried to play it back, we wouldn�t hear anything! Sound needs air to move (but that�s another story). For our purposes, let�s assume we want this performed in a concert hall. There are two ways to apply reverb: directly onto the source, or through what is known as an aux bus. For reasons not explainable in this tutorial, we will be applying it as an aux bus, then routing our GPO track through the bus, and out to our master output. As an added bonus, this will cut down on cpu usage!
While in the track view in Sonar, hit alt+3 to view the console, Sonar�s mixer board. It is divided into three columns: tracks (left), buses (middle), outputs (right). By default, three buses are loaded: A, Aux 1, and Aux 2. Let�s rename bus A to �Lexi� by double clicking on A, and typing in the new name. In the fx window at the top, right-click | Audio Effects > VST > Garritan Ambience. Now, over in our tracks column, find the track titled Garritan Personal Orchestra (might appear as Garritan P�), and on the strip, below the fx window � not in it, in the send area, right-click | Insert Send > Lexi. You should now get two knobs, Bus Lexi Send Level, and Bus Lexi Send Pan. Set the Send Level to -14. We want the Bus to affect the sound before the fader, so click the POST button (it should now say PRE). Lastly, to enable the bus, click the enable / disable button (right next to the send level knob). It should turn green. We�re in business! Your window should look something like this:
Before we take a listen, we have to adjust the Garritan Ambience just a bit. To view the Garritan player, double click on Garritan Ambience name in the blue fx box on your Lexi bus. The Garritan window should appear. From the flyout menu, select Concert Hall 2. Now, two quick adjustments are in order. In the decay area, move the time knob to 4372ms, and the Diffusion knob to 91%. Your window should look like this:
Finally, hit the play button! *Glorious exhalation* If you are lost, you can download the file GPO-Tutorial-2.cwp, and compare your results with mine. Be sure to check the console, alt+3.
[edit] Inserting Send Effects: EQ
This is the final step. Unfortunately, it is the longest. In order to apply EQ to our instruments, we have to do some planning. Since we cannot EQ each individual track in the GPO player, we are going to have to create more DXi�s, route our instruments accordingly, and apply our EQ�s that way. So we must decide on a) how many GPO Players to create, and b) where we are going to place things in our mix. This is going to be very very basic equalization, so our breakdown will be basic as well. Since the violin is the solo, we obviously should have one GPO dedicated to it (so we can really pinpoint our EQ). Let�s group all the pizzicato strings together with the harp and put the vibraphone and celesta together. We need a total of three GPO DXi�s:
- GPO 1: Vln Solo
- GPO 2: Pizz / Harp
- GPO 3: Vib / Celesta
Rename the DXi track to GPO Vln Solo. Go to Insert | DXi | NI | Garritan Personal Orchestra. Rename the new DXi track to Pizz / Harp. Insert one more DXi GPO and rename it to Vib / Celesta. The outputs for these DXi should be 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Obviously, we have some re-routing to do. But first�
Open up the Vln Solo GPO, and remove all the instruments. Now, load Violin 3 Guarn Solo into the first slot, and change the output number on the Vln Solo track to 1. Now go to the Vla Pizz track and change the midi output from Garritan Personal Orchestra 1, to Garritan Personal Orchestra 2. Do the same for the Vlc Pizz, DB Pizz, and Harp outputs. For their channels, use the following:
- Vla Pizz: Channel 1
- Vlc Pizz: Channel 2
- DB Pizz: Channel 3
- Harp: Channel 4
After re-routing our midi channels, open up Garritan Personal Orchestra 2, and load the instruments into their respective slots. Now move down to the Vibraphone and Celesta tracks. Route their outputs to Garritan Personal Orchestra 3, and change the channels to 1 and 2, respectively. After doing so, open up Garritan Personal Orchestra 3, and load the instruments into their respective slots.
Before we begin the EQ process, hit alt+3 to bring up the console. Insert the a Send on the two new GPO tracks. Insert Send > Lexi. Use the same settings as before: Send Level at -14 and PRE.
Close out of the console to return to the track view. Select the DXi track labeled Vln Solo:
You can tell which tracks are midi or not by a) the color of their track title, and b) the DXi or Midi icons next to the track numbers, as shown in Figure 11. To make things a little easier, let�s rearrange the track order a bit. Drag your tracks as follows:
- Track 1: DXi � Pizz / Harp
- Track 2: Midi � Vla
- Track 3: Midi � Vlc
- Track 4: Midi � DB
- Track 5: Midi � Harp
- Track 6: DXi � Vln Solo
- Track 7: Midi � Vln Solo
- Track 8: DXi � Vib / Celesta
- Track 9: Midi � Vibraphone
- Track 10: Celesta
Select Track 1, and go over to the inspector (the far left column). At the bottom, there are four widgets (by default). Make sure the EQ is in view by clicking the EQ widget until it turns gold (Insert Figure-12-EQ-widget). Now move up along the inspector to the EQ window and right-click on it, make sure EQ Pre FX is checked, then select Enable EQ. Double click on the EQ to bring up the wonderful Sonitus EQ.
It�s worth repeating that the Equalization we are performing is more to allow you to get a feel for how it is done in Sonar. Our methods are proper, but the execution of the EQ (that is, the boosting / cutting of frequencies) is very basic. With that in mind, we will only use the presets to, among other things, save time.
For the pizz / harp Dxi EQ, click on Preset | Sonitus:fx > Bass Boost. You can see the equalizer graphically change, showing you which frequencies it is boosting. In this case, it appears to start boosting around 800Hz.
Select the Vln Solo DXi track (track 6), Enable the EQ (remember to click the widget if you have to and also to make sure that the EQ is set to Pre FX), open the sonitus:fx EQ (by double clicking on the EQ window), and choose Preset | Sonitus:fx > Treble Boost.
Select the Vib / Celesta DXi track, and set the EQ to Preset | Sonitus:fx > Treble Boost.
You can download GPO-Tutorial-3.cwp, to compare your results. This is the finished project!
[edit] Exporting to Audio
Okay I lied. There is one more step! The very last thing is to export our song to wav. To do this, simply go to File | Export | Audio� A window will pop up with a few options on it (Insert Figure-14-Export-Window). In the �Look in� fly-out, choose a folder where you wish to save your wav file. Type in an appropriate �File name.� You have 5 options in the �Files of Type� fly-out � I prefer to export everything to wav and use a separate program to convert the file to mp3 or other less bulky file type. The �Format� fly-out lets you export your creations as either stereo, separate L and R audio files, or mono. Leave it at stereo for now! If we were using any 24-bit samples and wished to conserve the nice 24-bit quality, we could raise the bit-depth. However, most applications of sample libraries (whether they are made for video games, or used on CDs) will be 16-bit. So regardless of how high quality of a sample is used, nearly all of my exports are in 16-bit stereo. In the Source Bus(es) dialogue, you get to choose which of the main outs you want to export. In most cases, the options are grayed out since we only are only using one main output. That is the case here. But if you were to mix to, say, 5.1, and use multiple outputs, you could mix down any combination of your source buses. The Mix Enables section lets you choose which features you want to include in your mix. Finally, the �Separation� fly out lets you choose how you want to export your buses. Leave it on All Main Out�s to Single Mix for now!
This concludes all of our work for this tutorial. The next section will talk about establishing a workflow. Two more parts will be added, a Sonar Tips section, and an Understand Sonar section. They are both being worked on! For now, enjoy my two cents on the importance of a consistent, efficient workflow, and how to take advantage of Sonar�s Template feature!
I hope you learned a lot while making this. Remember, if it wasn�t too fun, don�t stress yourself out. It�s the writing that is the lifeblood of composition. The writing is what feeds our passions and liberates our desires.
You can download an mp3 of the file here.
[edit] General Workflow
The importance of a consistent workflow cannot be overemphasized. The goal of a workflow is maximizing writing while minimizing engineering. You want to spend most of the time on writing the material. The very basic �mixing� that we performed (adding an EQ and reverb) is fine for now. It can take a life time to master all the nuances of mixing, so better to leave it to people willing to spend that time. How can one achieve a steady workflow? It takes a while to find your �groove,� but once you get it, you got it (how� very un-philosophical). But it�s true. It may take a few cracks at it, but soon enough you�ll find out how you like Sonar to be set up; what options you use most, what effects you use, do you use midi, audio, or both? Etc.
At first, you won�t mind inserting track after track, then assigning sends to each track and loading in your GPO Ambient VST reverb to the bus, and yadda yadda. After a while, you�ll wish you were chewing on your nails. You�ll think �Man, I wish there were a way for Sonar to just load this stuff so I wouldn�t have to do it over and over again every time I make a new file.� Fortunately, there is a way!
Remember way back in step 5 when we first launched Sonar, we came to a window titled Quick-Start-Menu. There were four options on it, we clicked on New. That presented us with yet another window, the New Project File Window. When we highlighted Normal, and clicked Okay, what we actually did was tell Sonar to load the normal template � two audio tracks, two midi tracks. But what if we a) didn�t want the audio tracks, b) wanted a GPO DXi loaded, c) wanted our midi tracks routed to GPO channels 1 and 2, d) wanted a send effect enabled on our GPO DXi track with reverb on it, with preset values for our send level knob? Well instead of doing this over and over every time, we can do it once, and save it as a template, then load that template and work from there! As a quick example, let�s do exactly that!
Create a new file. Choose normal from the Quick-start menu. Delete the two audio tracks. Insert a GPO DXi. Assign the two midi channels to the DXi output, and use Channels 1 and 2 on midi tracks 1 and 2, respectively. Go to the console, rename Send A to �Lexi,� and insert a GPO Ambient VST reverb effect. Double click the name in the FX box to bring up the effect window, and select Cathedral (always fun to test stuff out on the Cathedral setting!). Close the window. Still in the console, roam over to the DXi track and Insert > Send > Lexi. Set the top knob, Send Level, to -14. Click the POST button to set the Send to PRE fader, then click the enable send button. Close the console window.
In the track view locate the DXi track and select it. Go over to the track inspector and click the EQ widget until it turns gold. Move up to the EQ window, right-click select Enable EQ.
Now, after you have done all of this, go up to File | Save As�
In the dialogue that appears, you are given three options: File Name, Save as type, and Go to Folder. For the file name, type �GPO Midi.� From the Save as type fly-out, choose Template. Finally, from the Go to Folder fly-out, choose Template Files (.CWT, .TPL). Note, when you choose Template from the save as type file, a .cwt extension should automatically be added to your file.
You are finished! Now every time you want to load a GPO, add some reverb, and have two blank midi tracks, you are one click away! Templates are incredibly useful when you have to write a bunch of similarly structured pieces. I have templates for everything from simple 2 empty midi tracks with GPO, to 197 track orchestral pieces (with 14 or 15 GPO players)!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial � two more sections should be added soon! Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you enjoy your wonderful GPO product.
- Paul Giangregorio
