Synth Tracks [Solved]

[Bill Phillips]

Have Synth Tracks been eliminated? I tried to add a Synth Track which exist according to the 26.11.00. See screenshot below. But I don't see a "Insert Synth Track" option on the Track Pane dropdown menu. See gif below. I wanted separate MIDI and Synth Tracks so that I could hopefully record the arpeggiated MIDI output so that I could better understand and edit MIDI track arpeggiator patterns.

Edited January 16, 2021 by Bill Phillips

[user 905133]

There are at least three ways to insert a software synth [aka Instrument] that I have used.  (1) from the menu [Insert > Soft Synth], (2) from the Browser, (3) by right clicking in the track header area, (4) using the + button in the Synth Rack.  Some of the methods have been updated quite a bit fairly recently, including new options in the Insert wizard accessible via insertion method three.  The old insertions dialog [the one with the check boxes - synth properties] has been updated, too.  I know there are discussions in the forum.  Maybe look at some of the New/Updated Features from the past 6-8 months, too.  

But if you try the three methods above, I think you'll find it to be rather "intuitive" from past versions of SONAR/Cakewalk.  There may be other ways, but I like these:

(1)   

(2)    

(3)     

  (4)   

2 hours ago, Bill Phillips said:

I wanted separate MIDI and Synth Tracks so that I could hopefully record the arpeggiated MIDI output so that I could better understand and edit MIDI track arpeggiator patterns.

For this, I usually use the Split Instrument Track option once the combined track has been made. (See below.) IIRC there are also ways to get separate tracks using the Insert Soft Synth Track wizard [Advanced Options button] and the old check-box dialog method.  Those are some of the newer features I had in mind, but I am a slow learner and gravitate towards methods I've used for ages.

Splitting tracks using the Advanced button options in the Insert Instrument / Add Track Wizard (method 3 above)--see below.  For me, I tend not to do it this way (1) because it is a fairly recent method that (2) has changed a few times over the past year, (3) because different soft synths have differences which produce different track results that boggle my old school mind, and (4) I am so used to just splitting the track it is "intuitive." Not knocking the new methods at all--if I had the mind I had a couple of decades ago, I'd struggle with the newer methods until they became second nature. 

Hope this helps.

BTW,  the Enable MIDI Output (if available) checkbox option in the synth properties/ insert soft synth options dialog is relatively new (or had been missing)--from UI change list to a late 2020 update: "Enable MIDI Output check box was missing from Insert Synth Options dialog when opened from the Synth Rack."

  

Edited January 16, 2021 by User 905133
added a 4th method; correction; to add images

[Bill Phillips]

Wow, what a thorough response (or more accurately tutorial). Thank you very much. I was recalling from the distant past when there were separate MIDI and Synth tracks. I think at some point the Make Instrument Track option came along. It looks like the option to insert a Soft Synth track without a MIDI track is gone, but that 's not a problem. As you pointed out, the Split Instrument Track option separates the Synth and MIDI tracks.

In hind site, all I needed to do was turn the page to 856. Given that I'd been stewing over that problem for quite a while basically using the search box and entering different phrases, it's disappointing that I didn't turn the page.