Help...duno what I'm doing...

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Still' Dreamin'

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With Sonar I can't get the track to pan correctly. When it's centered the value reads 64. If I go hard right, the value shows 100. If I go hard left, the value shows 0. Yet, in all events it still sounds like the track is centered, (track sound is coming from both channels). With Cakewalk 9, I never had this problem.

Can Anyone Help?
 
Not sure what version of Sonar you are running. My pans say 0% when centered, and 100% R or 100% L when panned hard left or right.

But here's a couple of thoughts for you:

1. Are you sure you are using the correct pan slider. There are several within Sonar. On the track itself these are sliders for each Aux Bus Send, plus the one for the Track itself. Then there are pan sliders on each VMains and on Send and Return on the Aux buses themselves. The one that controls the track pan is the one on the Mix or All tab directly next to the volume setting.

2. Is the track you are trying to pan a stereo track. Stereo tracks do not pan like mono tracks and could give you the results you are seeing.

3. Is the track routed to an Aux Bus. Could be that the track is being panned properly, but the Bus is still centered, so you hear the instrument from both speakers.
 
The pan slider I wrote about is on the console view above the track volume slider. As I am know just begining to mix, I've come to find out that none of my audio track's pan sliders center to '0'. (Even the bus pans do not center to '0').

It's version 1.3.1.

And yes all my tracks are stereo. But on Cakewalk 9 they are also stereo and the pan slider centered properly to '0'.

Still confused......
 
My first suggestion (take it or leave it) is to close the Console View and never open it again. The whole beauty of Sonar is the ability to do everything in Track View. Take a couple of days to get used to it, and forget that the Console View exists. You will thank me later.

I don't know why your pans do not zero. It could be that at some point they were moved, and then the project was saved that way. Does it happen when you open a new project as well?

If you double-click on the pans, it will center them. You can do that to all of them, and then save the project. It should then stay that way when you reopen the project.

I think the panning problems you are having are the result of the stereo tracks. They are tricky to pan. (BTW, why are all your tracks stereo? No vocals or guitars? No kick drum or snare?) Regardless, the panning behavior in Sonar should be the same as in PA9, so I don't understand why you might be getting different results. You could try a reinstall of Sonar if you are getting any other quirky behavior.

It seems that other than my suggestion to do your mixing in Track View, I can't be of much help to you.
 
Sorry fellas.....I had a brain fart. I don't know were in the world I would think panning left of 64, (center), would give one a negative value. ( Must of been a drug relapse of my younger years).

Anyway, I think it is that I recorded all the tracks in stereo. (Dumb ass me). As you probably already figured out I'm new to this.

Question: What would you suggest I record as mono tracks and stereo tracks and how would you pan them? Is there a tutorial on this forum? (I've already got Cakewalk power and I'll be damed if I buy one for Sonar).

I still have a hard time understanding the Sonar tutorials. And Cakewalk Power often can get way beyond my scope. Besides, most of the tutorials hinder on MIDI and I pretty much hate them because most of my stuff is digital audio. (My keyboard plays very well in Cakewalk, Sonar and it's MIDI GM. But I find it so much easier to record audio). Any suggestions?

*I've got the Omni/Delta 66 w/Edirol USB 1-in/1-out MIDI interface and I'm very happy with this set up. WORKS GREAT! I hate the Logic Delta software that came with it though. It's very difficult to understand and I hate all PDF manuals!!!

I feel much more comfortable with Sonar. (Minimal dropouts).
 
Good catch SD. I made the same mistake when I first started recording with Sonar - figured if I had a choice, "Why not record in Stereo - I want to have a stereo CD when I am done.".

Took me a couple of weeks until I came up with "Well Duh!!!" scenario.

Hang in there and nicely done.

-bm
 
This happened to me....

Something else you might want to check:
I also have Sonar 1.3.1, wherein offset mode was added. It's the icon next to the grid in track view. If you're in Offset mode, you can move the pan faders any way you like and the track panning will not go anywhere.
 
Question: What would you suggest I record as mono tracks and stereo tracks and how would you pan them?
Click to expand...
There are no rules for this stuff, but generally *most* things are recorded in mono. Exceptions might be overheads on drums, piano/keyboards (if you are looking for width), acoustic guitars are also sometimes stereo-mic'ed.

There are also no rules for panning either. Do whatever sounds good. Convention usually has the lead vocal, bass, kick and snare drum panned center. Everything else you can kinda put where you want.
 
Hey ChuckU you're right! The thing is set to 'offset' mode. Now how does one get the thing to were I can pan?

I tried clicking it several times and it still stays on 'offset' mode.......help!


*(Thanks dachay2tnr)
 
Just click on it. It's a toggle. It's either on or off. And you'll probably see a difference in the pan bar in track view when you do click on it. In order for it to work properly, it should be centered in offset mode. Then when you go back to the regular mode, your pans should behave OK.
 
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