Mix Recall Remembers Your Instrument Settings

by Dan Gonzalez

Mix Recall takes your mixing to another level by offering SONAR Artist, Professional, and Platinum users the ability to save different mix scenes of the same mix within a single project. Mix Recall saves track parameters, bus parameters, and even instrument presets. A great way to use this feature is to audition different drumkits using the included Addictive Drums 2.

 

Instruments these days are full of all kinds of choices, especially ones that are as expansive as Addictive Drums 2. When working on a track I like to take the same pattern and switch between the custom kits that I’ve made. Addictive Drums 2 and Addictive Drums 1 both let the user take pieces of all the different kits that it comes with to make your own. Mix Recall let’s you take this workflow a step further.

Original drum passage

Here we have a simple Indie Kit from Addictive Drums:

 

Saving the first mix scene

Go to the Mix Recall module in SONAR and click on the camera icon to save this mix. Now, SONAR takes a snapshot of SONAR’s parameters, including everything within Addictive Drums 2. When you click the camera for the first time a dialogue box will appear allowing you to name your first mix. Feel free to name it whatever you want. Mix Recall will store that custom name in the drop down menu so you know what mix you’re always on.

Within Addictive Drums take one of the kits you know and like and create a custom kit. First, open Addictive Drum 2 and click on the KIT page.

After that, use the up and down arrows within the KIT interface to switch the individual drums around. You can also preview the drums by clicking directly on the pictures of the drums.

 

Save a new mix scene

Next, immediately click on the Save as New Scene button directly to the right of the camera. Name this Mix 02. This way we can keep our original drum mix intact. Name this new scene Mix 02.

In this preset I’ve switched out the Kick, Snare, and Toms. I’ve left the Cymbals there because I really like the way that they sound. Afterwards, make sure to hit the Save Scene button again to save this mix scene.

Here is the same passage with a different set of drums:

 

Save a third mix scene

Lastly, click on the Save New Mix Scene button again to make yet another copy of the mix. Go into Addictive Drums and modify the drums again. I’m using another custom drum kit that I’ve put together. After that, click the camera button to save this mix scene.

Here is what the third scene sounds like:

 

Now you can use Mix Recall’s drop down menu to switch patches without even having to open Addictive Drum’s interface. You can go back to the individual mixes and modify them, or you can use them as the basis for new mixes. You can virtually go above and beyond the restraints of typical composition and mixing by simply swapping out mix scenes.

And that’s not all!

This is great for mixing and testing out different sounds to see how each individual drum set works with your mix. But in the end, you can export all of your mixes at once!

Think of all the times you’ve spent making multiple instances of Addictive Drums, or manually going in and change the presets and then having to bounce everything again.

Now, right within the Export Audio window you can choose to export all of the different mixes at once without having to perform an individual bounce for each mix. From the beginning of your mix to the end of your mix this feature gives opens shortcuts like never before seen in SONAR. Happy Mixing!