Snap to Scale

When Snap to Scale is enabled, any notes that you draw in the Piano Roll view (or Inline Piano Roll view) stay within the selected scale. Also, any notes that you move with the Select tool stay within the selected scale. When Snap to Scale is enabled, both Piano Roll views display grey rows at the pitch levels that are not in the selected scale. Also, both the Select tool and the Draw tool display a tuning fork icon when you create or modify notes to show that Snap to Scale is enabled.

You can create custom scales, modify existing ones, and choose how SONAR handles non-scale notes.

To enable or disable Snap to Scale for a single track

Open the Track Inspector

Figure 255. Snap to Scale settings in the Track Inspector

A. Root Note menu B. Scale Snap button C. Scale menu

Or

In the Piano Roll view, in the Track List pane, right-click the track that you want to affect, and choose Enable/Disable Snap to Scale from the pop-up menu.

To momentarily bypass the Snap to Scale feature

Hold down both mouse buttons while you edit.

To choose a root note for a single track

Do either of the following:

In the Track Inspector, click the drop-down arrow in a track’s Root Note control, and choose a root note from the menu that appears.

In the Piano Roll view, right-click a track’s name in the Track List pane, and choose Root Note > (name of root note) from the pop-up menu.

To choose a scale for a single track

Do either or the following:

In the Track Inspector, click the drop-down arrow in a track’s Scale control, and choose a scale note from the menu that appears. The scale options in the menu contain both factory-supplied scales and ones that you create and/or edit.

In the Piano Roll view, right-click a track’s name in the Track List pane, and choose Scales > (kind of scale) > (name of scale) from the pop-up menu.

To create a scale

1.	Open the Scale Manager dialog by clicking the drop-down arrow in the Scale menu, and choosing Scale Manager from the menu that appears.

2.	In the Scale Family field, click the scale family that you want your scale to appear under when your scale appears in the Scale menu.

3.	Click the Create New Scale button .

The Scale Manager displays a default name (New Scale “n”) for the new scale, and automatically selects C as the root note of the scale.

Note: All scales in the Scale Manager dialog box use C as the root note.

4.	Edit the name of the new scale by clicking the default name (New Scale “n”) where it appears at the very top of the Scale field, and then typing a new name for the scale.

5.

Include or exclude individual notes for the scale by clicking either the keys in the keyboard display, or by clicking the scale degree buttons under the Scale Degrees field. Included notes appear as blue dots in the keyboard display, as depressed scale degree buttons, and as scale degrees in the Scale Degrees field.

Figure 256. The Scale Manager dialog

A. Keyboard display B. Scale degree buttons 

6.	When you’re through choosing scale degrees, click the Close button to save your changes. If you want to delete your scale, just highlight it in the Scale field, and click the Delete button .

To edit or delete a scale

1.	Open the Scale Manager dialog box (click the drop-down arrow in the Scale menu, and choose Scale Manager from the menu, or the right-click menu in the Track List pane of the Piano Roll view).

2.	In the Scale Family field, click the scale family that the desired scale is filed under.

3.	Select the desired scale by clicking the scale’s name in the Scale field. If you want to delete the scale, click the Delete button .

4.

Include or exclude individual notes for the scale by clicking either the keys in the keyboard display, or by clicking the scale degree buttons under the Scale Degrees field. Included notes appear as blue dots in the keyboard display, as depressed scale degree buttons, and as scale degrees in the Scale Degrees field.

A. Keyboard display B. Scale degree buttons 

5.	When you’re through choosing scale degrees, click the Close button to save your changes.

To restore a scale or scales to factory settings

1.	Open the Scale Manager dialog box.

2.	If you want to restore a particular scale to factory settings, select it in the Scale field, click the Defaults button, and in the Scale Defaults dialog box, select Restore Current Scale (if factory), and click OK.

3.	If you have deleted a factory-supplied scale and want to replace it with the original version, click the Defaults button, and in the Scale Defaults dialog box, select Restore Any Missing Scales, and click OK.

4.	If you want to restore all factory-supplied scales to factory settings, click the Defaults button, and in the Scale Defaults dialog box, select Restore All Factory Scales, and click OK.

To choose how SONAR handles non-scale notes

1.	Open the Snap Settings dialog by clicking the drop-down arrow in the Scale menu, and choosing Snap Settings from the menu that appears.

2.	Choose one of the following options:

Adjust to Next, Higher Note. If you choose this option, SONAR moves any non-scale note that you move to the next higher note in the selected scale.

Adjust to Previous, Lower Note. If you choose this option, SONAR moves any non-scale note that you move to the previous, lower note in the selected scale.

Adjust to Nearest Note. If you choose this option, SONAR moves any non-scale note that you move to the note that is closest in pitch in the selected scale.