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THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO USING REWIRE WITH SONAR 2.2 (or higher) & HOME STUDIO 2004 (or higher) — Part 3
SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS FOR PROJECT5

Put this powerful protocol to use in your SONAR projects
By Jesse Jost

Application #1: Project5 as a multi-timbral synth in SONAR/Home Studio

Project5 was designed as a soft synth workstation. With that in mind, you might consider using a collection of synths in Project5 as one giant "über-synth", in which all Project5 outputs are summed into one stereo input for SONAR/Home Studio.

Application #2: Project5 as SONAR/Home Studio's Synth Rack

Taking the the thought expressed in application #1 one step further, all soft synths required in your project should be run in Project5.

The advantage to using synths in Project5 rather than SONAR/Home Studio is that you get far more flexibility from Project5's MIDI routing than you do in any other host sequencer. Project5 is capable of real-time MIDI filtering to provide port/channel filtering, synth transposition, even note and velocity range specifications. This makes it easier than ever to create elaborate soft synth layouts across your keyboard controller. Project5 also provides much easier automation of synth parameters than other host apps.

 

  

Table of Contents

PART 1: BASIC Q&A

PART 2: SETUP

PART 3: Specific Applications for Project5

PART 4: Specific Applications for Reason

Application #3: Use SONAR/Home Studio as a backup band for live Project5 performance

Because Project5 doesn't provide audio recording or disk streaming as SONAR/Home Studio do, they make an excellent backing track device. Load up your existing backing tracks, or SONAR/Home Studio projects for your songs, ReWire Project5 to SONAR/Home Studio, then take it to the club.

Application #4: Use Project5 in a live recording session, Part 1

Because Project5 makes it easy to quickly produce any kind of synth-based sonic backdrop, you might find it a useful companion when recording one or more acoustic musicians in SONAR/Home Studio.

Project5's pattern based sequencing tools are perfect for quickly building pattern based tracks. Need some modified drum tracks for a song you're writing on the fly? No problem. Load up Velocity or nPulse, then patch Synchron 32. With just a few mouse clicks you'll have your groove down, ready to record along with in SONAR/Home Studio.

Application #5: Use Project5 in a live recording session, Part 2

On the other hand, SONAR/Home Studio may have some existing audio tracks (vocals, guitar, etc) but now you need to record a couple synth parts. Project5 excels in recording multiple synth parts from multiple controllers at the same time, so it's ideal for jam sessions that involve one or more MIDI instruments. You can also create inspiring, layered sounds using multiple soft synths that can be played simultaneously from one controller.

Application #6: Project5 as sequencer in SONAR/Home Studio, Part 1

Many users who have fallen in love with the P-SEQ editing environment have requested that the view be added directly to SONAR. The good news is that when you ReWire Project5 into SONAR or Home Studio, all of its sequencing capabilities are woven directly into SONAR or Home Studio. Think of Project5 as just another collection of views inside the host application.

That said, there are a couple of powerful sequencing tricks you can use in SONAR/Home Studio courtesy of Project5. The first one is how Project5 treats MIDI patterns the way SONAR/Home Studio treat groove clip patterns, in that you can roll them out and have the content repeat seamlessly at each boundary, which speeds up arranging tasks significantly.

Project5's sequencing environment is designed to be the fastest on the block. Once you have your patterns edited and arranged, just ReWire Project5's synth tracks to SONAR or Home Studio.

With the free RGCaudio MIDI Out DXi plug-in, you can also use the sequences you have created in Project5 to trigger your external synths and samplers.

Application #7: Project5 as sequencer in SONAR/Home Studio, Part 2

As with P-SEQ, Synchron32 is a highly requested "feature" for SONAR. This powerful step sequencer plug-in provides specialized integration with Project5. Through ReWire, you can harness the same power for use in SONAR/Home Studio. Once you have your patterns edited and arranged, just ReWire Project5's synth tracks to SONAR/Home Studio.

Application #8: Leveraging SONAR's virtual mains and busses

While Project5 provides a single master stereo output for your hardware, SONAR and Home Studio provide up to 64 virtual mains. This makes for an extremely robust bussing environment and allows you to create sub-mixes for various groups of Project5 instruments.


Return to Part One: Basic Q & A.

Return to Part Three: Applications for Project5.

Continue to Part Four: Applications for Reason.