Customization - Display

Figure 611. The Display section.

The Display section lets you configure the program display language, X-ray and other display settings.

The Display section contains the following settings:

Language. Choose which language to display Cakewalk in. You must have administrative privileges and restart Cakewalk after changing the display language.

Show Notifications. This option tells Sonar to show or hide all pop-up toast notifications at the bottom of the screen, including VST Scan, Project Load, and program update notifications.

Show Update Notifications. This option tells Sonar to show a pop-up toast notification at the bottom of the screen if a program update is available. Your computer must have an active internet connection.

Show Project Load Notifications. This option tells Sonar to show a pop-up toast notification that shows the status while loading a large project.

Timeout. Specify how many seconds a toast notification should remain visible after the last notification is received. The range is 1–10 seconds, and the default value is 5.

Show Start Screen. This option tells Sonar to automatically show the Start Screen when you launch the program and when no project is open.

Show Audio/MIDI Device Change Notifications. Show a message if an audio or MIDI device is connected/disconnected during a session. Sonar will offer to add the devices, or reroute outputs to an available device.

Show Tooltips. Checking this option causes Sonar to show tooltips. Tooltips are small text names or explanations that appear when you hold the mouse over a tool.

Show MIDI Activity on Windows Taskbar. Check this option to display the MIDI Input/Output Activity icon on the Windows taskbar.

Display All Times as SMPTE. This option, when checked, forces all time displays to appear in SMPTE time regardless of the setting you have in the Time Ruler.

Display Left on Top for MIDI Pan Envelopes. When checked, left is at the top of a clip for MIDI pan envelopes.

Display Channels as Prefix in Port Menus. When checked, audio and instrument port channels are shown as a prefix in port menus. When disabled, channels are shown as a suffix in port menus. Channel information is always shown in menus, except for hardware ports when using friendly names.

Display Envelopes on Percentage Scale. This option, when checked, causes new envelopes to be placed in the clip based on a range where 0 dB is in the middle of the clip. If the current volume is other than 0 dB, a new envelope is created at that location. For example a new envelope created at 6 dB would appear at the very top of the clip where a new envelope created at -20 dB would appear near the bottom of the clip.

Display Waveform Preview While Recording. This option (on by default), when checked, causes Sonar to draw a preview waveform of any audio data that you record while you are recording it. If you turn this option off, Sonar creates a red swath in the Clips pane in the area you are recording, while you are recording.

Display Clip Fade/Envelope Attenuation. This option causes waveforms to respond to clip fades and clip gain/pan automation envelopes.

Enable X-Ray. Enable this check box to turn on the X-Ray Windows feature, which allows you to see through plug-in windows and certain view windows to work in the window behind the current window. You use the X-Ray Windows feature by pressing a hotkey while the mouse is over an X-Rayable window.

In addition to choosing hotkeys (Edit > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts), you can set these X-Ray Windows options:

Opacity. Choose how transparent you want the X-Rayed window to become when it is X-Rayed.

Fade Out Time (Milliseconds). Choose how fast you want the X-Rayed window to reach its maximum transparency.

Fade In Time (Milliseconds). Choose how fast you want the X-Rayed window to restore its normal state.

Base Octave for Pitches. There is no industry standard for numbering octaves. By default, Sonar calls MIDI note 0 (the lowest possible note) C0. The Yamaha FB-01, for example, shows MIDI note 0 as C-2 (C negative 2). To match Sonar to that standard, set Base Octave to –2.

Enable DPI Awareness. Enable DPI Awareness, which improves rendering and reduces blurriness, particularly for font rendering. DPI Awareness may sharpen graphics and make text easier to read. Improvements will be most noticeable when using large, high resolution displays (such as 4K) and with Windows display scaling set higher than 100%. For details, see DPI Awareness.

Enable GPU Acceleration. Use GPU acceleration in the Piano Roll view.

Display Scale (Experimental). Change the size of text, buttons, graphics and other UI items. Select a custom scaling size between 75%–125%.

 

Note: Low Display Scale values work better at higher DPI resolutions. For example, a 1080p screen at 96 DPI is low resolution, so a Display Scale value of 75% will result in a tiny UI that appears fuzzy. On the other hand, a 4K screen at 75% will also show a tiny UI, but it will be very clear because it has 4x the number of pixels.

 

See also:

Preferences dialog

Customization - Colors (Advanced)

Customization - Nudge (Advanced)

Customization - Snap to Grid (Advanced)

Customization - Editing (Advanced)

Customization - Keyboard Shortcuts (Advanced)

Customization - Audio Meter (Advanced)

Customization - Analytics

Customization - Backup/Restore Settings