Thierry Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 I have imported pure MIDI tracks to Cakewalk, and now need to assign instruments and sound files to them. I have trying for hours but cannot seem to find how to do this, since drag&drop definitely is not helping, and other "soft synth" additions only create new tracks. Could someone help me please? Other than that, I have recently discovered Sonar and like it so far. I am trying to "migrate" my songs from Ableton and Reaper to it, any tip welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapasoa Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Simple. Insert a soft synth and then copy and paste your midi tracks into soft synth track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thierry Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 Thanks. Basically I did not understand the logic in managing instruments or sounds in tracks. In other DAWs you can mostly just drag&drop something in instruments or FX and then use them, how does this work in Sonar? In particular: How can I add one more instrument in a track? (and have multiple instruments) dropping them in FX will not work. How can I just use one sound from a file in a midi track? like a beat for a drum? How can I change a midi track to an instrument/sound track? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 5 hours ago, Thierry said: I have imported pure MIDI tracks to Cakewalk, and now need to assign instruments and sound files to them. I have trying for hours but cannot seem to find how to do this, since drag&drop definitely is not helping, and other "soft synth" additions only create new tracks. Could someone help me please? MIDI import is primarily used to bring MIDI clips into an existing project. The import process strips tempo info out of the MIDI file. Use File > Open to open full MIDI performances. If there is no MIDI output device selected in preferences when opening a MIDI file, TTS-1 will automatically be added and setup to play the file. Opened this way the file is ready to play and is a good way to see how a file is routed to a synth. Make sure when saving for the first time to change the file type to a Cakewalk project in the File > Save As dialog. By default, open MIDI files save as MIDI files and MIDI files do not retain plug-in assignments or other non-MIDI data. 3 hours ago, Thierry said: How can I add one more instrument in a track? (and have multiple instruments) dropping them in FX will not work. A simple instrument track and MIDI track may drive one synth. The classic way to use the same MIDI data with multiple instruments is duplicate the MIDI track using linked clips, however; there are other ways. For a while I used a "master" MIDI tracks and connected it using a LoopBe1 virtual MIDI cable to a series of other simple instrument and MIDI tracks to drive multiple synths. Recently it occurred to me to set up the master track using a simple instrument track and a plug-in capable of sending MIDI (such as CodeFN42 NoteMapper, VeloScaler or MIDIChFilter) to perform the routing instead of a virtual MIDI cable. Adding a synth to the FX rack is the old method of synth routing. It still works (for a single synth) but should be reserved for synths that operate on an audio stream such as a Vocoder. Traditional synth plug-ins should use a simple instrument track or one or more MIDI tracks for the synth input and one or more audio tracks with their inputs set to the synth instead of placing the synth in the audio FX rack. 3 hours ago, Thierry said: How can I just use one sound from a file in a midi track? like a beat for a drum? Not sure I understand. Do you want to map the notes in a MIDI track to multiple instruments like a drum kit? 3 hours ago, Thierry said: How can I change a midi track to an instrument/sound track? There are two basic track types in CbB: audio and MIDI tracks. A third track composed of a MIDI track input and audio track output exists too. It is called a simple instrument track. In order to use a Synth plug-in, it must have at least one audio and one MIDI track OR a simple instrument track. The tracks may be added at any time. There are a variety of ways to add synths to a project. Here are some of them Add Track menu. For info about this method see midway down this page http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=0x18A8C Drag and drop from the plug-in browser Insert synth option in the upper right of the synth rack Insert in the main menu Right-click in the track view header area All of the methods have options to add tracks. Tracks may also be added at any time and routed to synths as needed. In the track context menu are options to make instrument tracks from existing audio and MIDI track pairs routed to a synth and split instrument tracks into audio and MIDI tracks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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