Made the switch from Sonar to PT, some questions.

[Riture]

Originally Posted by coeadam

... if there are easier workarounds for the things... I certainly expected to have to spend some time unlearning some old habits...

When you get the chance there are some amazing videos/tutorials online. There is nothing similar to multi-dock, now time, vertical(up/down) zooming with mouse drag or crazy MIDI functionality but it won't be long before you discover PT strengths.

[Rich Breen]

I think others have pointed out most of these, but to be clear:

...
- Lack of master Mute/Solo/Record Arm buttons...i

Highlight/select however many tracks you want, then Shift-r for record arm, shift-s for solo, shift-m for mute. Groups purely used for selection are handy for this; click to the left of a group name to select/highlight all group members.

- Exclusive Solo and Dim Solo buttons...

Xclusive solo is in the options menu under "solo mode" - I've got macros to do this kind of switching in keyboard maestro. If you added something like a Hotkey Matrix or X-keys to your setup you can have all of this on a button. Dim solo doesn't exist.

- Double clicking a fader to have it return to unity, and double clicking a pan pot to return it to center...

As others have pointed out; option-click will do this, or if you have a control surface, hold down option and move the fader; it will snap to unity.

[StillHollow]

I switched from Sonar to PT a year ago and the first few months were a real adjustment. Last week I had to go back to Sonar to mix a song because I received the session as a bundle file. Halfway through the process I just wished I had exported the tracks and done the whole gig in ProTools. You definitely won’t regret the switch, Especially when you realize that 80 percent of all mixing tutorials on YouTube are done in ProTools.

[philgrab]

Another ex-Sonar user. The audio capabilities and features are more extensive in PT. The midi capabilities are just average in comparison but you can get things done well enough. Welcome to your new home.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by coeadam

Ahh thanks for the quick replies you guys...I notice the Solo master cancels solos but the Mute is apparently just a light to show you that there are muted channels, as pressing it does nothing.

Also while it's nice to see exclusive solo (X-OR mode) as an option, it'd be awesome to have it as a button right on the toobar to be able to switch between modes quickly, but a boy can dream.

Also it's a drag that I have to alt-click rather than just double click, as I'm trying to minimize keyboard use in my sessions...I have a Softube Console 1 so between that and the trackball I was hoping to use the keyboard as little as possible but that may be out of the question now.


Anyway thanks again, it's coming together over here, and there are definitely a few things I do prefer in PT over Sonar...mainly the colour scheme (and how easily customizable it is), meter ballistics are very nice to look at, and the default scroll wheel zoom behaviour is much better. Getting the hang of things. I'm sure when I actually have a new project to record and edit, it'll be a little more intense as so far I've just flown in a night I recorded at a local pub so there's really no editing, just adjusting EQ/dynamics/levels and whatnot.

Cheers!

Ex-Sonarite myself (started with Sonar 3 Producer through S8P) and yes it's a bit of a learning curve in PT but worth the journey. You'll definitely need t get comfortable with using the computer keyboard - that's just one of those things that will make life with PT more enjoyable and safe. By the latter I mean you'll want to get the muscle memory down of the keyboard shortcut for saving a session. I don't know what it is on Windows but on a Mac it's cmd-S. The fingers of my left hand are permanently bent in that position

You mention having a trackball - which one? Some have programmable buttons. I have the big Kensington Expert Mouse (which is really a huge trackball) and have the buttons set for different functions. I'm not sure but I don't think the current s/w that comes with the Console 1 is fully functional with PT. But I understand it's getting better.

[H-Musikk]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I don't know what it is on Windows but on a Mac it's cmd-S. The fingers of my left hand are permanently bent in that position

Ctrl+S on PC. Most important shortcut...

[Shatzer]

If you get an Artist Mix to control Pro Tools, you can tap twice on the fader to return to unity, same with the pan.

[Dizzi45Z]

Originally Posted by coeadam

- Lack of master Mute/Solo/Record Arm buttons...it's very handy to be able unmute or unsolo several tracks at once if you've been working with just a bunch of drums or whatever, and it's a bit tedious to have to unmute or unsolo them one by one every time, or if you're recording 16 tracks of drums, so you can arm/unarm all 16 tracks at once. Is there a button I can create in a toolbar for this?

Make sure you check out VCA faders. I use VCA faders for this kind of stuff and love it. Plus you get easy volume control over the groups as well.

[K Roche]

Another comparison between Sonar and PT is moving forward is Avid is not closing shop

Ok all smarty pants comments aside
I have never used Sonar so do not know how many (if any) of the FX and Sends, Keyboard shortcut bypass features Sonar has ......but here is a very quick video demo of some of these features in PT

https://youtu.be/Wb8CDf33LFQ

[Southsidemusic]

And here are all the keyboard shortcuts on a looooong list

http://akmedia.digidesign.com/suppor...cuts_84510.pdf

I have been using PTHD since 7 and never learned all these. Yes we have had digi and avid controllers so lazyness happened but boy ... thats alot to remember.

Do people actually know all these straight up without looking anywhere? Impressive if so