Cakewalk SONAR V-Studio 700 Review (Bonus Material)

Jun 30, 2009 3:08 PM, By Brian Smithers

           
 

SONAR V-Studio 700 Tips

With a bit of thought, you could get even more out of the already well-integrated V-Studio 700. Press Shift-Sel on a channel strip to lock it and prevent it from scrolling with the other faders. Command-Sel toggles locked status on and off. Press Alt-Sel to enter Channel Branch mode, in which a track is focused on fader 1 while its sends are laid out across the remaining faders. On those faders assigned to sends, Mute toggles the send on and off, Solo solos the send, and Arm toggles between pre- and post-fader status. Press Flip to swap the functions of the rotary encoder and fader. Being able to use the fader gives you increased resolution and touch sensitivity for pan, and anything else assigned to the encoder. To revert a fader or rotary encoder to its previous value, press Command and touch the fader or press the encoder.

You can rename the VS-700R’s I/O so that no name is longer than seven characters and will be clear on the LCD scribble strips. To save time when setting up for repetitive tasks, use the VS-700R control panel (see Fig. A above) to save presets for the mic preamps and direct monitor mixer. From this control panel, you can also customize the assignments of the VS-700C’s controls. In addition to redefining the four modes of the rotary encoders, you can redefine the 16 access panel buttons.

Be sure to explore the zoom, scroll and select functions of the jog/shuttle wheels. When combined with the modifier keys, they provide you with quick and flexible control over SONAR. The more you can rely on the control surface without reverting to mouse control, the more efficient your workflow. Press Shift-Scroll (Zoom) to enter Zoom mode; the jog/shuttle wheel then zooms horizontally, zooming vertically when you hold the Ctrl key. Holding the Shift key temporarily turns these two actions into scroll horizontally and scroll vertically. Each of the modes has similar logic, saving you from constantly switching between them.

When SONAR introduced channel EQ, it was a good idea; having a dedicated EQ section on the control surface makes it a great idea. Instead of clicking around, you can control channel EQ as you would on an analog desk, with the added benefit of instant recall. Pressing each button resets its parameter to a default value. The Display button cycles through display of gain, frequency and Q on the LCD.