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Step Pattern Recording
The Pattern option lets you define a repeating rhythmic pattern of notes and rests
so that you can use step recording more efficiently. For example, suppose your
project is in 4/4 time, and one track has a pattern that is two measures long:
quarter notes in the first measure and on the first two beats of the second
measure, followed by a half-note rest on the last two beats. This pattern has six
quarter notes followed by two quarter-note rests.
When you use step recording with Auto Advance, you can play the six quarter
notes and SONAR will automatically advance to the next step. However, to skip
over the rests, you need to click the Advance button two times.
With pattern recording, you define a pattern that indicates where the rests appear
in the pattern. SONAR will then skip over the rests automatically, so you don’t
need to click the Advance button at all.
SONAR displays patterns as a combination of digits (which represent beats that
contain notes) and dots (which represent beats that contain rests). The pattern
described previously looks like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 . .
Here is another example:
1 2 . 4
This pattern automatically skips over every third beat; SONAR interprets this
pattern as “one, two, rest, four.”
Here is one final example based on 4/4 time, with a step size of eighth-note triplets
(twelve steps per measure):
1 2 3 4 . 6 7 . 9 0 . 2
No matter how you enter a pattern, SONAR displays the digits in sequence, with
periods replacing digits at each step where a rest would occur. You can create
patterns with up to 64 steps.
To Use Pattern-Based Step Recording
1. Choose the input for the track(s) you want to record.
2. Set the Now time to the point in the project where you want to start recording.
3. Choose Transport-Step Record to display the Step Record dialog box.
4. Click in the Pattern box.
5. Press any number key to indicate a beat at which notes will be played.
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