getting a grip?? Sonar and z3ta+

I think maybe I'm starting to "get a grip" on composing using Sonar
and the z3ta+ softsynth. There was a fair learning curve to all of
this: I would say a couple of months of test pieces and experiments
and manual study.

And then, just when I was about to begin, Jon Szanto would throw yet
*another* book my way... :) Many thanks, Jon, though. The one on
*sound creation* was particularly valuable. I even made my
own "ersatz bell" which is part of this piece.

In any case, I have a couple of observations at this point. For one
thing, Sonar is a dream for the "control freak" composer. It's
really far superior to the other sequencer I was using before.
Almost *anything* can be done in Sonar, if you take some time to
figure it out! It has a fair learning curve (no worse than Sibelius,
I don't think... ) to understand all the features, but it's well
worth it.

Making good sounds in the z3ta+ is a challenge, and there are people
out there who are, apparently, just "sound designers" and do lots of
complex things with various oscillators, envelopes and filters to
create interesting sounds. Quite frankly, though, sometimes, as in
the case of the "preset" sounds for the z3ta+, the designers just
make complex "showcase" or "showoff" sounds for the synth. Sometimes
simpler things, in my opinion, are even more "musical..."

One question that took a while to resolve was how to work with the
softsynths vis a vis the processing power of the computer. I was
getting some "pops" and weird behavior which, as a "newbie" made me
wonder if I was going to be successfully using softsynths. It turns
out, though, that all I needed to do was to *freeze* more of the
synths I was using in Sonar. Actually, with the processor I have,
*several* of the softsynth "instances" (each track) have to be frozen
in order to things to operate smoothly. I really think I can only
have two or so operating at any one time.

So, there is a *lot* of "freezing and unfreezing" of these synths
going on in the composing process. ("Freezing" the synth turns the
track into audio which is less of a strain on the processor...) I
was "spooked" a bit a first, since Sonar froze up a few times in the
freezing and unfreezing process. I thought this was going to be a
big problem. It turns out, though, at least so far, that this really
isn't such a problem and the program freezes were really
just "flukes" that happen some of the time. Compared to the number
of times I've been freezing and unfreezing, it isn't really a serious
problem, at least so far.

I'll report back some more after more "practice" with this new gear.
It's a little like learning to play a new "instrument!" Maybe I'll
even eventually have a piece to show (lets hope! :)

Joseph Pehrson