Importing Audio from Sonar to Protools 2020

[Scohof]

I have been unable to sync the audio from multiple old Sonar tracks when importing to Protools 20. ProTools simply says that it will play back at the wrong speed and it does, saying it does not have a tempo map. Despite changing preferences, clip Conform to Temp, and TCE does not seem to get close. Can anyone help with that?

[cwsand]

Whenever I get the "play back at the wrong speed" message it's because the sample rate of the session is different than those of the files. Usually you can "Convert" the files when importing them into the PT session and you'll be fine. I've not experienced the "tempo map" message but I've not tried importing files from Sonar in a long time. Have you tried using the Spot tool to put the files at the proper timecodes?

[albee1952]

Just my 2 cents, but it seems like the wrong approach
How are you moving from Sonar to PT(and why)?
Normally, I would do one of these methods:
#1-open the Sonar session>consolidate all tracks back to 0:00:000 and export the files to a folder. Create a PT session with the same sample rate and bit depth as the Sonar session. Import audio from the folder you made and put all on New Tracks(instead of Clips Bin). Some things will make this move easier, like if you can name the audio files before the export(so you don't need to solo every track in PT to figure out what it is, and then change the track name)

#2-Open the Sonar session and Export(or Save As) an OMF file(which PT should be able to open directly.

In all cases, knowing the tempo of the original helps you set it correctly in the new PT version(or import without and take the time to create a tempo map). If the original was done to a click, that should be pretty easy(youtube has some tutorials to help). Re the message about playing at the wrong speed; this points to a sample rate mis-match and there is more than 1 way to solve that. Making the sample rate of the PT session match is the first way. Another way is to Import Audio and Convert the sample rate on import(aka SRC for Sample Rate Conversion). Clip Conform and TCE would be way down the list of solutions for me

[Scohof]

Thank you for the suggestions. I am moving these files from Sonar because I have converted to Protools and these are some great older pieces I want to rebuild out of Sonar. The Sample Rate and Bit Depth along with the correct BPM did the trick. Why I was recording in 96k not really sure but that was the issue. But now I have a timeline issue, everything is moving up to the start. Any idea what am I doing wrong on that one?

[cwsand]

You could try using Spot Mode to see if they will go to their original timestamp. If not, you'd have to try to line them up manually. As Albee suggested, consolidating the tracks in Sonar before exporting them for Pro Tools so that they will all line up at the beginning of the timeline in Pro Tools which is really the best way to go if you're able to.

[Scohof]

Perfect, thanks so much. I will keep working it.

[s.d. finley]

Originally Posted by Scohof

Perfect, thanks so much. I will keep working it.

Albees 1st method will work with ANY DAW to ANY other DAW. Keeping the sample rate the same between to two sessions is imperative. Preferably the bit rate too but that won't be such a deal breaker if it is not as the SR will be, as you have noticed. As far as SPOT mode into PT, I am not sure if PT will recognize the time stamp if it from another DAW. Will it? I haven't tried that before as I normally just to the Method1 which works every time.

[cwsand]

Originally Posted by s.d. finley

I am not sure if PT will recognize the time stamp if it from another DAW. Will it?

I don't know, could be that it works with some DAWs but not others. I've been able to Spot recordings from field recorders though.

When I send scratch tracks in a session for a song that's going to be tracked remotely by another engineer, I always send full, consolidated tracks so that if the session gets corrupted or they can't open it for some reason, at least they can pull those files into a new session and everything will lineup and be in sync. I wasn't sure the OP still had access to Sonar though.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by s.d. finley

Albees 1st method will work with ANY DAW to ANY other DAW. Keeping the sample rate the same between to two sessions is imperative. Preferably the bit rate too but that won't be such a deal breaker if it is not as the SR will be, as you have noticed. As far as SPOT mode into PT, I am not sure if PT will recognize the time stamp if it from another DAW. Will it? I haven't tried that before as I normally just to the Method1 which works every time.

I know that when I tried it with PT 11.3.1 and files from Sonar 8.3 PT did not recognize the time stamp and I had to manually reline the files. Fortunately that was only a couple of pieces as other stuff I brought into PT from Sonar I had started recording in Sonar right from 0.00.0

[Scohof]

Nothing seems to help the timing location issue but naming the files made it much easier. I also just started over and imported the files just a few at a time (32 total which is way too many). That really helped too. Thanks to everyone for the great input.

Also, not familiar with SPOT. Is that a app?