FX Chain automation only works when ProChannel is open

I have a drum track with a few FX chains in the PC, which I've automated to on/off. During playback, those automation lanes only have an effect when the ProChannel is open (either in the inspector or the console). Once I hide the ProChannel, the automation stops working. Is this a bug or is this normal? 

Edited this because I had described the problem incorrectly earlier. 

I don't use instrument tracks for those reasons and others. They were never intended to replace the older method but to allow those with a modest requirement to have a simple solution. 

If you have needs that an instrument track can't fulfill use the separate MIDI and audio track. I doubt that the limitations can be removed from instrument tracks because the need to combine MIDI and audio in to one track precludes that. 

With the old method when you are done with the MIDI those tracks can be hidden and work only with the audio only tracks. Freezing gives one the ability to hide the MIDI in a project and thus clutter is no longer a problem. 

For me I don't see it as clutter anyway. But yes I do hide the MIDI tracks when I no longer need them.



Well this is weird. Sharke removed the post this was intended to reply to. No harm done. It may stand on its own anyway.

Its not so much a bug as a known limitation. Addressing this issue was too involved and risky for a point release.

The Google dictionary cites Wikipedia's definition of a bug as "...an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways" - so I guess it's pretty much a bug  - especially from the perspective of the user. 


This is a pretty big issue for me. The problem arises when you have effects in an FX Chain that you need to automate on and off. It's all very well when the effect in question has bypass automation enabled, but what about something that doesn't have bypass automation, like Guitar Rig? If you're using a large effects chain within Guitar Rig, it's simply not practical to automate the on/off of every individual effect in that chain. Which means the only other option is to automate the enabling of the ProChannel FX Chain itself. 


It would be good if we could automate the on/off of effects within the FX Chain, but alas Sonar does not provide that option. 


Thanks for the info Noel, but do you have any suggestions as to how I can automate the enabling of an effect like Guitar RIg within the FX Chain without having to have the PC open all the time? 


Also, can you confirm whether this same "limitation" is effecting the on/off automation of the arpeggiator, as I outlined in another post? It only works if the MIDI track in question is selected. This is also a huge issue as I definitely need to automate the arpeggiator, and it's simply out of the question to have to have the relevant track selected all the time during playback. 

scook


If the FX chain is not sandwiched between other PC modules, would placing the chain in the FX bin and setting the PC to post FX bin work for you?

Unfortunately not, I do have them in a particular order. Besides which, even if I do put GR in the FX bin, I'm even more limited since Sonar does not give me the option to turn individual effects on and off via automation.