You cannot select or edit Step Sequencer notes in the Piano Roll view they are read‑only.Notes entered in the Piano Roll appear only in that view.Notes entered into the Step Sequencer appear automatically in the Piano Roll.However, there are rules when multiple MIDI views are visible (I'll refer to Piano Roll here, but the same goes for the Event List): Note that Track Layers is on, so you can see how the notes are distributed over multiple layers. The black clips are notes added in Piano Roll view.
In the MIDI track, the yellow clip is the Step Sequencer clip (the Step Sequencer is toward the right). For example, use Step Sequencer for a rock‑solid kick and hi‑hat beat, while entering snare and tom hits in Piano Roll view, so you can shift their timing against the step sequencer. For example, although (as described later) the Step Sequencer allows shifting notes slightly before or after the grid - which can add expressiveness by 'leading' or 'lagging' particular drum hits - this is easier in Piano Roll view, particularly if a step sequence repeats multiple times, and there's a single Piano Roll sequence 'overdubbed' on the 'rolled out' step sequence. But if you right‑click on the clip and go to View / Piano Roll or View / Event List, you'll see these other views as well.Ĭombining views enables powerful techniques. Double‑clicking on the Step Sequencer clip brings up the Step Sequencer logical enough.
Here's how to combine the rigidity of step sequencing with the humanised feel possible with standard MIDI sequencing. The clip length equals that of the Step Sequencer's sequence. If you click Play in the Step Sequencer's mini‑transport, nothing happens until you enter at least one note, whereupon Sonar creates a Step Sequencer clip in the selected MIDI track. For me, step sequencing is the easiest way to experiment with time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4, for example, because of the obvious graphic differentiation of where the beats fall. Use four beats per step for 16th notes, but remember that changing the number of beats per step is a great way to create non‑4/4 time signatures. I prefer 16 beats, to allow a small build‑up over the first two measures, and a meta‑build‑up over all four. For beats in 4/4, try at least eight beats so that the first measure can be 'tension' and the second can be 'release'. Now you need to set the number of beats in the sequencer (up to 64), and the number of beats per step (up to 16), using the toolbar. Note that with Session Drummer 3 the drum sounds are already pre‑assigned to the drum sound rows. The Step Sequencer opens up, with rows for drum sounds and columns for entering notes at each step. I often use the Step Sequencer with the Session Drummer 3 virtual instrument, so I select its associated MIDI track and go to View / Step Sequencer or type Alt-Shift-5. The Step Sequencer view is another way of looking at a MIDI track (like Piano Roll view, for example). In Sonar 8.5, Cakewalk added interesting humanising features to the Step Sequencer, so let's move 'off the grid' and take step sequencing into new sonic territory. And even if you are using step sequencers for quantised music, you can add to their musicality with 'humanisation' techniques such as leading or lagging the snare drum, or altering velocities for more dynamics. If you're a songwriter, it can be easier to get a good rhythmic backup going with a step sequencer - you don't have to fiddle with setting up a MIDI keyboard, doing channel assignments, quantising your playing - and even to create bass parts and melody lines.īut while you might enjoy the convenience of step sequencing, you might not be as thrilled with the lack of 'feel' in the parts.
Most people think that step sequencing exists solely to make hyper-quantised, dance-type music, but it's also an exceptionally fast way to build a song.
But do they have to be so rigid? Not in Sonar 8.5.
Step sequencers are known for their mechanical sound.