Length dialog

The Process > Length command, which opens the Length dialog box, can be used to stretch or shrink MIDI and/or audio clips, and/or to move their start times. Process > Length lets you stretch or shrink the selection by a fixed percentage and makes the adjustment by altering the individual events. A value of 200 percent, for example, stretches the selection to twice its original length, while a value of 50 percent shrinks the selection to half its original length.

This command offers the option to stretch audio clips along with the MIDI information. Sometimes you don't want to adjust the speed of your audio. Audio can be stretched or condensed up to a factor of 4 (e.g., it can be shrunk to as little as 25 percent of its original length, or expanded to as much as 400 percent of its original length).

You can also use the Process > Length command to alter only the start times or the durations of notes. For example, changing the durations of notes to 50 percent of their original length can create a staccato effect.

The Length dialog box has the following fields:

Change

Use the fields in this section to tell SONAR what to change, including:

Start Times. Choose this option if you want the start times of the selected events to shift by a percentage of their distance from the beginning of the selection. For example, if a note starts on beat 3 of a selection and you enter a value of 50 percent, SONAR shifts the start of the note one beat to the left, or half of 2 beats.

Durations. Choose this option if you want the durations of the selected events to shrink by a percentage.

By “N” Percent

Fill in the percentage number that you want the selected events to change by, which can be positive or negative.

Stretch Audio

Choose this option if you want duration of any selected audio to change.

Type (disabled unless Stretch Audio is checked)

This is a SONAR Producer feature only. Choose options based on the source material: single voice or instrument versus a group of instruments (ensemble or polyphonic), and how long you want to wait for processing to finish: better quality can take a long time if you’re processing several tracks.

Formant Scaling (disabled unless Stretch Audio is checked)

This is a SONAR Producer feature only. Possible values range from -2.000 to 2.000 octaves. Formants give a voice its characteristic sound. If you find that changing the length of your audio changes the timbre too much, you can raise or lower the formant to try and maintain the characteristics of the sound.

 

See also:

Stretching and shrinking events