can't record midi-to-audio in stereo

Would love to hear if anyone else has experienced, solved or could take a stab at diagnosing this problem: I’m recording midi from a Yamaha S08 synth keyboard into Sonar 5 PE through an M-Audio OmniStudio soundcard. The Yamaha’s outputs are plugged into the stereo auxiliary inputs in the Omni, and the monitor outputs from Omni are plugged into powered speakers.

When I want to convert the midi to audio, I can record the (hardware synth) midi track onto an audio track, but it only records on the left channel. If I set the audio track input to record in stereo, the waveform appears as expected in the left channel, but the right channel shows a flat line and my audio output can only be heard through the left speaker.

I’ve checked my cables, and they all work fine elsewhere, so I took the soundcard to my retailer, presuming Omni was the culprit, and everything seemed to work properly there, like that weird noise in your car you can't reproduce for the mechanic, I guess... The store's suggestion was to un-and-reinstall the Omni drivers, which I've done, without improvement or any behavioral change.

Any ideas? Is it Sonar perhaps, or my PC? I should note that I've been getting some weird dropouts of late, intermittently including during the midi-to-audio recording process, but when I hard reboot, that particular problem goes dormant... Should be enough processing power in the PC (O/S is XP with SP2.*). Any suggestions gratefully welcomed, cheers.

Thanks for the prompt reply Wookiee. The available input choices from the soundcard appear in Sonar, so I don't think that's the problem, though I wish it were.

Hmm, thanks Bit, will check that. I appreciate the output setting affecting my ability to hear the recorded output in both channels, but would it also affect the actual midi-to-audio recording?

ORIGINAL: MTurnbull

Hmm, thanks Bit, will check that. I appreciate the output setting affecting my ability to hear the recorded output in both channels, but would it also affect the actual midi-to-audio recording?

Yes, it would. Based on your description of the problem I can only think of two things...

1) Check the mixer panel of the Omni to make sure the right channel analog output isn't muted or turned down. If everything looks fine there move on to step two.

2) Before the days of digital recording the first thing I would have suspected would be a faulty audio connection (cable, plug, or jack). Try switching the audio output cables on the Yamaha (switch the left and right output cables) At this point don't change anything about the Omni connections.

We know the "left" cable works (you can see it in SONAR's waveform/metering display---errr, you DID check to see if there was any right channel meter activity, didn't you?). Oh well, I'm guessing you didn't otherwise you'd have mentioned it. Anyway, now try recording exactly the way you did before. What are the results now?

If my ESP is functioning properly I'll bet you either have only Right channel input into SONAR, orrrrrrrrr, you now have L&R input activity on the track meter (meaning you hadn't properly plugged into the output jacks of the Yamaha or there's a minor short in the cable or the jack).

You mentioned an "intermittency" and that rebooting temporarily resolves the issue. It is imperative you have rock-solid connections everywhere in your chain--This includes soundcard seating, USB/Firewire cables, Audio & MIDI cables, etc.,...One weak link can create havoc with your system.