jcole
Hi, I am new to the sonar software, and do not have much experience recording drums. I just got a roland td-11 kit. I bought an M-track usb interface (with midi input and output). I can not figure out how to record my drums into sonar x3 studio. I would like to know how to record my drums with the kit sound, as well as record through midi (I have zero midi experience). My end goal is to record my guitar tract and then my drum tract, or vice versa, becoming a one man band :) I am new to all of this so bare with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bryon
I'd suggest watching my freebie video on MIDI routing which you can find
here.
That will give you a basic idea of MIDI routing and how it works.
Assuming you want to record the MIDI output initially (which is the sensible route) you need to insert a MIDI track. Set the input and output of that track to your TD-11.
There are choices here. You can either monitor the drums directly from their output in which case you need to turn "input echo" off.That's one of the widgets in the track header next to the "record" widget.
You could also monitor them via Sonar but in that case will need to make sure that the "input echo" button is lit to hear the output. On the TD-11 you would also need to turn "local" off or you will hear the direct sound and the sound generated by the returning MIDI signal which will create a phasing sound at best or double hit at worst.
Remember either way you will be monitoring the output from the kit itself so will need to have the output of that attached to some form of monitoring system.
Unless you are using the first "Direct Monitoring" method you'll also need to make sure the amount of latency is reasonably small or you will find it very difficult to play because of the delay.
To record all you have to do is arm the MIDI track by clicking on the track's record widget so it turns red and then press record.
Once you have the MIDI recorded you can then edit it as need be. To turn that into permanent audio you insert an audio track, set the input to the audio input that has your TD-11 attached, arm the track for recording and then press record. Sonar plays back the MIDI and records the output of the TD-11 into the audio track.
HTH