Bass Guitar

While researching about GM midi I found that the track name box can hold 128 characters. This is saved in the midi data.

@Starship Krupa I’m not debating anything. I realize that there is 2 choices and possibly a 50/50 split between how everyone will choose. Im just curious about a use case that if they did remove the split instrument option as to what would happen to those who work that way? Example you could still have the simple instrument track as well as a midi track or tracks that go there. In other words you don’t have to place the midi data on the instrument track. This is what Im curious about. The only difference I can think of is that you can’t put midi data on a split instrument track. But?

Im confused. What can’t you do with a simple instrument track that you can do with a split?? Im curious.

Yes the Steinberg driver has known issues with Sonar. You have to delete it in the RegEdit app. Look for Software/ASIO. Delete everything except your audio interface drivers. It’s OK to have other ASIO drivers for legitimate hardware as long as they are not connected. Example I have ASIO drivers for Motu, SSL and Zoom. But if you spot any 3rd party ASIO drivers like Magix or FL or Steinberg delete them. MIDI drivers don’t interfere with your audio. Not that this is the cause of your problem but it’s still best to eliminate any known issues when troubleshooting.

Im not sure what you mean by “ Configure” button? As I said all I needed to do was go into the mixer for the drum vst and re- assign each channel to a different output. I choose to use only 6 of the 32 available. Then you add the new tracks and choose the channel you want as track inputs. It’s very simple. This works perfectly for me using SSD 5, Mondo drums and Addictive drums. As well as it is the same in 2 other Daw’s that I use. To create a track template I first created a special project that has my Buses and a limiter on the master. This is saved as a project template just for creating track templates. Then I inserted the drum VST as a stereo track. I had saved the 6 output set up as a preset in SSD5. This is the Simple Instrument Track for the midi data . Using the add track/ Audio tracks/ advanced mode to choose the Drum Bus as output I inserted 5 Audio tracks. I assigned the 5 other inputs and named and coloured them I created a folder and saved this as a Track Template. So in the folder is the drum vst track and 5 more output audio tracks. The first output uses the VST track. Now if I want the 6 outputs I just use the template. If it was an older project that was using a different drum vst I then drag the midi to the new track template folder and remove the old synth.

@Starship Krupa Yes absolutely the way it was made no common sense. Sonar is the only Daw Im aware of that has the two types of instrument tracks. There is actually no reason I can think of to have the split tracks. For me I think it was I started using them because it must’ve been the default back in 2005. The day I discovered the simple instrument track I immediately started using that. They had an opportunity the eliminate the split track when they re did new Sonar. They seem to prefer leaving old bits behind instead of updating them and removing the old ones. Over time this bad habit has made for a 2,000 page user manual and I think we have 6 or 7 ways to add an instrument track and even then that has a dozen options. You really don’t see that anywhere else.

When that happens the first thing I do is toggle the global bypass all effects. Another thing that happens is that windows update is running. Try airplane mode.

Follow up. Yes the track template works great.

I really don’t expect anything to get fixed, I was just wondering if it was something that got changed. These projects are only backing tracks and probably won’t get any more attention from me. All important projects when I see a split track I re insert the instrument as a simple track and drag the midi to it and delete the split track. Much more tidy.

I toss in that yes it has always been a pain. And my biggest complaint is that I click on the dialogue to edit the name and that never seems to stick. Next thing you know you’ve just triggered 4 keyboard shortcuts. I forget which Daw it is that has a track info section where you can name , colour and icon tracks and it doesn’t loose focus. And every other Daw I use seems to only use the track number as the default. And the name of the synth will change when you swap it out. Sonar rarely changes the name to reflect the change if you use Replace synth.

@Base 57 did you try inserting a split instrument track to confirm? I guess the question is this intended or another graphic bug? How come nobody has noticed this? It’s been almost two years?

Look at the project at the top That is New Sonar. It contains a mixture of Simple and Split instruments but all the icons are the same. It should look like the picture below which shows a combination of icons. Unless they have recently changed this? These are old projects from back when I was still splitting tracks.

In another thread here we are sorting out how to add multi output drums after the fact. All is fine but then I thought to save time I would create a track template and then use that. Take note that these are all my backing track projects which are all very much the same layout and are pure midi. Many are also holdovers from the early days when I used split instrument tracks. More on that in a minute. So I opened another project and I inserted the track template. All went as planed and I now had the SSD5 drums with 6 outputs all properly named and routing all good. I dragged the Midi drums into the what I assumed was an instrument track and it wouldn't play? I dragged the midi back to the midi track and set the output to the instrument track and it plays?? ( by the way holding down shift does not keep the data in sync) Then I start noticing that all the icons for the midi tracks look like what I remember as instrument tracks as there is just a little keyboard. I confirmed that this was happening by first inserting an instrument and then inserting a split instrument. Both have the same icon? Now the question? is this something new or is this yet another graphics issue? So as it is there is no way to distinguish between the two types of instrument tracks. If you look at my screen shot you can see that Addictive drums is a split track. True pianos is not. And then the Combi organ, orange track is a instrument track and below the green tracks are split instrument tracks but all use same icon. Here is new Sonar Here is Platinum

Here's a few more tips: Reading what @Chaps posted a light bulb went off. I saved the 6 output set up as a Pre Set in SSD5. Opened a different project. I didn't bother opening the Synth Properties this time. It's not necessary. Loaded the Pre set. This saved a lot of work. and then using Add tracks set the output to my C bus and added 5 new tracks. Now just assign the inputs and name, done. The SSD5 routing options like in the case of choosing the multi output option on first inserting, creates way to many tracks to my liking. For me 6 or 8 stereo tracks is plenty. In many cases I really only want to process the snare and kick separately from the rest of the kit. Any fine tuning can be done in the drum GUI mixer. What I will do is create a few different track templates for this and see if that works even faster.

For me the deal breaker with the free version was no workspaces and as a rule I won't use any software that has a nag screen. I always toss them a few pennies to just get rid of them. I don't like wasting time when I open a program no matter how brief. And you never realize how dependent you are on simple things like the Workspaces. It is also a time waster for my workflow to have to re set up my views. I prefer the one button reset that workspaces allows. The rest I could care less about. I have hundreds of plug ins including the ones from Platinum etc. I haven't used Sonitus plug ins for years and don't plan on returning to them. Sonar is not my main Daw but I have important workflows that I need to use it for because it is still the best at doing certain things for me. Especially working with Midi. I think no one should only use only one Daw. I am 100% am against the Membership plan but that looks like it will never go away now. And when asked if the Free version would be available forever a staff member said there was no answer to that because it's a business and things can always change. The membership is on sale right now for a reasonable price. I am just going year by years for now. I can always use Platinum in an emergency but it become very apparent how far we have come since then and it's like driving an old car with no ABS brakes.