Sonar LE and Groove quantize? Or is it Audio snap?

[M_Glenn_M]

Quantizing seems like it's the perfect thing to learn for fixing out of time tracks, but I'm having trouble starting.
I think I'm looking for Process/Groove Quantize but all I can find is Process/Quantize.
Even then, I don't know how to engage it.

I also see tutorials about Audiosnap which seems like the same idea but I don't seem to have it either.
They say I need 8.5.3. Is this not on the LE version? It says 8.5.1.17

BTW I'm only using Audio as I have no clue about MIDI.
All the youtube tutorials so far zip thru stuff using MIDI commands with the assumption it's what everyone does.
If Sonar is mostly about MIDI please let me know before I spend any great amount of time learning it.

[64Guitars]

I think quantizing is only for midi. You need AudioSnap to do the same sort of thing with audio tracks. Unfortunately, I don't think AudioSnap is included in the LE versions of SONAR. From what I saw of it in YouTube tutorials, it seems quite complicated to learn and use anyway, so maybe it's not what you're looking for.

It's fairly easy to fix timing mistakes manually though. Just highlight the section you want to move, then drag it with the Free Edit tool. If you zoom-in the display, you can position the clip very accurately. Of course, if you have lots of timing mistakes, this could be a very tedious process. But for fixing just a few timing mistakes, it's quite easy.

You can also fix timing errors with the Nudge feature. Just select the note or phrase you want to align, split it with the Split tool (or Free Edit tool followed by 'S'), then press the appropriate keys to nudge it in the desired direction. See the following page:

http://editthis.info/sonar/Nudge_Tutorial

[M_Glenn_M]

Well thanks 64.
I have been doing this task with Audacity. It is a bit tedious and not very exacting with cutting and pasting and I hoped Sonar would be a bit more automatic like the AudioSnap indicates.
I have been learning about splits and I'll try nudge and dragging with Free edit.
Thanks again

[64Guitars]

I have been doing this task with Audacity. It is a bit tedious and not very exacting with cutting and pasting

I wouldn't use cut and paste for time-shifting clips.

Here's how I time-shift clips in Audacity 1.3.12.

• Use the selection tool to select the note or phrase you want to move.
• From the Edit menu, select Split New. This moves the selection to a new track. The reason you need it in a new track is that Audacity won't let you move one clip over top of another clip in the same track.
• Select the new track, then use the Time Shift tool to move the clip around. Zoom-in to improve accuracy (Ctrl-MouseWheel). If the clip scrolls out of the window while zooming, you can reposition it using Shift-MouseWheel. Make sure that you can view both the new track and a reference track to which you want to align the clip. Then just drag the clip with the Time Shift tool until it lines up with the desired point in the reference track.
• Once you have the clip positioned where you want it, you can merge it back into the original track by selecting both tracks then selecting "Mix and Render" from the Tracks menu. If the new clip position overlaps some audio in the original track, you might want to first silence that section of audio in the original track before merging the two tracks. But not always. It just depends on what you want.

I don't know SONAR but I imagine it has even better ways of doing this. For example, I don't think you need to split the clip to a new track because SONAR will let you move it around within the original track. If it overlaps another clip in that track, it can automatically cross-fade the clips.

[M_Glenn_M]

Thanks for this one 64.
It sounds like the process an Audacity tech was telling me about just a couple of days ago but I have not tried it yet. I was thinking I would be able to do it better in Sonar and should try.
I certainly will try Audacity because I can see it still has certain advantages, not to mention I'm more familiar there.

[M_Glenn_M]

Ok, I was able to time shift ok. (to the right in this case) And I deleted the overlap but of course now there is a little dead space on the other (left) side of the clip. How is that filled so it doesn't sound like it's a chunk taken out? Is that some sort of cross fade thing ? I haven't used cross fade.

[64Guitars]

Are you editing your final 2-track mix or the individual pre-mix tracks? This kind of editing is best done on the individual tracks before mixing. That way, the other tracks tend to mask small gaps in the edited track.

If you're editing the final 2-track mix then you might have to copy something into the gap and try to blend it in with cross fades. Or you could try stretching the note before the gap so that it fills the gap. But it's really hard to make these kinds of edits to the 2-track master without it sounding hacked. You're better off editing the individual tracks so the gap only occurs in one track and the other tracks mask it.

Here's an article on crossfading in Audacity:

http://www.howtogeek.com/57252/how-to-use-crossfade-in-audacity-for-seamless-transitions-between-audio-tracks/

[M_Glenn_M]

Right! Gotcha. Yes good guess, it was a final mix I was playing with and wondered if there was a way to stretch one or the other to fit.
You are right that the other tracks would mask in the more usual individual track editing.
That's a good link thanks.