Arranger templates

Arranger templates are pre-defined song forms that store the order in which sections are arranged. You can think of an Arranger template as a map of an entire song.

Arranger templates are global and can be used in several ways:

Create a new Arranger track from a template. The template is applied to the Arranger track, which creates new sections. This is useful when starting a new song and you want to quickly create all Arranger sections for a typical song form that you can fill in with music.

Insert sections in an existing Arranger track. Drag Arranger templates from the Media Browser and drop them in existing Arranger tracks. Sections in the template are inserted into the target track.

Create a new arrangement. If your project already contains existing sections, you can use Arranger templates to create new arrangements from the existing sections. This allows you to preview your existing sections with different song forms. Sections that exist in the template but not in the project can be optionally created at the end of the project in the active Arranger track.

Arranger templates store the following information:

Section order

Section types

Section names

Section durations

Section colors

Sonar includes many common Arranger templates, and you can create your own custom templates that can be used in any project. Arranger templates can be created from an existing Arranger track or from an existing arrangement.

Arranger templates can be found in the Media Browser under Arranger Templates.

Figure 140. Arranger templates.

A. Drag here to create a new Arranger track B. Drag here to insert sections into an existing Arranger track C. Drag here to create a new arrangement from existing sections D. Arranger templates 

To save an Arranger track as a template

1.	In the Arranger track timeline or Arranger Inspector’s Section list, arrange sections in the desired order.

[Optional] To get the most benefit from Arranger templates, assign a section type to each section (see To assign a section type to a section). This will allow templates to map their saved sections to existing sections.

2.	Do one of the following:

In the Arranger Inspector, click the Sections menu and select Save as Arranger Template.

In the Track view, right-click the Arranger track name and select Save as Arranger Template.

Note: Gaps between sections are not saved in Arranger templates.

To save an arrangement as a template

1.	In the Arranger Inspector’s Arrangements list, arrange sections in the desired order.

2.	Click the Arrangements menu and select Save as Arranger Template.

To create a new Arranger track from a template

To create a new Arranger track from an Arranger template, do one of the following:

In the Arranger Inspector, click the Sections menu and select New Arranger Track from Template.

In the Track view, right-click any Arranger track name and select New Arranger Track from Template.

In the Media Browser, select the Arranger Templates content location preset, and do one of the following:

Drag a template (.arr file) to the Arranger Inspector’s Sections area.

Drag a template (.arr file) to the Track view Arranger track header area.

Hold down the ALT key and double-click a template (.arr file).

Sonar creates a new Arranger track containing sections from the template.

 

Note: Only 8 Arranger tracks can be shown simultaneously. If 8 Arranger tracks are already visible, you must first hide at least one track before you can create a new Arranger track.

Tip: The Arranger workspace is configured to show the Arranger Templates folder in the Media Browser. For details about using Workspaces, see Workspaces.

To insert a template into an existing Arranger track

To insert an Arranger template into an existing Arranger track, open the Media Browser and select the Arranger Templates content location preset, then do one of the following:

Drag a template (.arr file) to the target Arranger track timeline.

Double-click a template (.arr file) to insert at the Now Time in the active Arranger track.

To create a new arrangement from an Arranger template

To create a new arrangement from an Arranger template, do one of the following:

In the Arranger Inspector, click the Arrangements menu and select New Arrangement from Template.

In the Media Browser, select the Arranger Templates content location preset, and do one of the following:

Drag a template (.arr file) to the Arranger Inspector’s Arrangements area.

Hold down ALT+SHIFT and double-click a template (.arr file).

Sonar will try to match the sections in the project with the types specified within the template, and create a new arrangement from them.

 

Note: When creating a new arrangement from a template, Sonar attempts to automatically map sections that are stored in the template to sections that already exist in the project. The mapping is based on section names and types. If the template contains types that don't exist in the project, it will try to find a section with the same name as that type. If there is no match, you will have the option of creating new blank sections of that type in the active Arranger track, or simply skipping sections of that type.

Deleting Arranger templates

To delete an Arranger template, do one of the following:

In the Media Browser, select the Arranger Templates content location preset, then right-click the template you want to delete and select Delete.

In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\Arranger Templates and delete the desired Arranger template (.arr) file.

Arranger template location and naming convention

Sonar includes many Arranger templates that are based on common song forms such as AB, AABA, ABC, etc., where A typically refers to the Verse, B refers to the Chorus, and C refers to the Bridge.

By default, Arranger templates are stored in C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\Arranger Templates. The folder location can be specified in Edit > Preferences > File - Folder Locations under Arranger Templates.

The Media Browser also has an Arranger Templates content location preset that points to C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\Arranger Templates.

 

See:

Arranger tracks

Using the Media Browser