View all Midi channels used at once?

You could use the List view and filter out everything but channels. All you would need do is select all your MIDI tracks. Unfortunately there is no channel event. But you can see most via the patch event. 

I think all the criticism of sonar as a toy (from the midi point of view) boils down to this one simple design feature: so much of it assumes that "midi channel 1" is it, period, for all tracks and all uses.   Maybe the decades old "midi channel 10" for drums.  

williamcopper
I think all the criticism of sonar as a toy (from the midi point of view) boils down to this one simple design feature: so much of it assumes that "midi channel 1" is it, period, for all tracks and all uses.   Maybe the decades old "midi channel 10" for drums.  

 
I started this thread to ask a question about Sonar, not to criticize it. No way do I feel it is a toy. I was just hoping there was a way to do this. Not sure what your talking about because I have been using midi since the late 80's in Cakewalk Pro Audio to start. Midi I what brought me to Sonar and keeps me here- for over 20+ years.
Midi functionality is great. I certainly will not lose sleep over the fact that I cannot just pop up a list of used or free midi channels. It was just a question and it was answered.

To the OP, when you say "all midi", do you mean VSTs or are you driving outboard gear? I ask because I primarily use VSTs and have never seen the need see all channels in use. Maybe if I were using hardware then it would matter more.

Just wondering.

Guys-Sometimes I want to add, say a fender Rhodes thru Kontakt, I need to assign a midi channel and I want one that is not used. If I already have 10 midi tracks, I really don't remember the channel of each one. Maybe I don't work th normal way, but what can I say. Thanks

OK- No big deal- I like to have things on different midi channels so I can assign commands, be it pitch wheel, expression, whatever to each instrument as I please. I guess I really am unorthodox here-- but after using midi since the 80's, yes 80's.using a Kawai Q-80 and\or mastertracks before I bought Cakewalk Pro audio 6. So this is the way I do things. Why would you want to send the same midi messages to , say a bass guitar synth as you would an electric piano? Hmmm. I must really be weird I guess.
Anyway, I am happy with my methods. Thanks

Hey Beepster-Thanks---I kind of thought it was fine also......I understand what Bristol, Jatoh, etc meant.....It really depends how you work. I usually always try to use the same midi channels and actually match the track. Just habit and also easy to remember. But sometimes I cannot do that.
 
You didn't derail the thread-I understood perfectly.
Thanks for chiming in
 
Frank

stratman70
Hey Beepster-Thanks---I kind of thought it was fine also......I understand what Bristol, Jatoh, etc meant.....It really depends how you work. I usually always try to use the same midi channels and actually match the track. Just habit and also easy to remember. But sometimes I cannot do that.
 
You didn't derail the thread-I understood perfectly.
Thanks for chiming in
 
Frank

It works as is but your idea is interesting. I once made a Feature Request to have an overview of a project. One where all ins and outs were listed with routing. I can see a use for a display for all the MIDI ports and channels used in a project along with their patches in a single overview.  
 
So I would ask you to do a feature request on this and I will be happy to support it. I am sure others would like it too. 

John

stratman70
Hey Beepster-Thanks---I kind of thought it was fine also......I understand what Bristol, Jatoh, etc meant.....It really depends how you work. I usually always try to use the same midi channels and actually match the track. Just habit and also easy to remember. But sometimes I cannot do that.
 
You didn't derail the thread-I understood perfectly.
Thanks for chiming in
 
Frank

It works as is but your idea is interesting. I once made a Feature Request to have an overview of a project. One where all ins and outs were listed with routing. I can see a use for a display for all the MIDI ports and channels used in a project along with their patches in a single overview.  
 
So I would ask you to do a feature request on this and I will be happy to support it. I am sure others would like it too. 

OK _john-I will do that tonight-Thanks very much-Frank

stratman70
Guys-Sometimes I want to add, say a fender Rhodes thru Kontakt, I need to assign a midi channel and I want one that is not used. If I already have 10 midi tracks, I really don't remember the channel of each one. Maybe I don't work th normal way, but what can I say. Thanks

It's very easy to assign MIDI channells in Sonar (I'm sure you know this, but I'll post screenshots for those who don't)
Method A:

Method B:

 
Then use F key for low track count or AutoZoom feature and mouse wheel scrolling for high track count to view all tracks' I/O assignment.
 

 
Well, it's not exactly what you were looking for. But once you have your project organized checking assigned MIDI channel isn't difficult.
 
I like to use separate MIDI source tracks and soft synths in dedicated folders. Then you can use Console view to see routing of MIDI strips to soft synths and what MIDI channels are used. Not the simplest solution, yet it's rock-solid and bullet-proof.
Hope that helps.

Frank one never knows where good questions will lead. I think some of the answers are not aimed at you but at others that have a limited understanding. I know I wasn't posting to you in all my responses. I know you have a thorough understanding of MIDI and Sonar.
 
Don't forget we have a lot of new users that don't have a lot of knowledge about MIDI in Sonar. Because of that its a good thing when members add information to the thread.     

Here's a crude CAL script that will indirectly tell you which channels are used or not -- if there are 0 channel events, then that channel is unused.    Which means -- no midi events.   It's still possible there is some empty track assigned to a midi channel for input or output.     You must select all midi tracks for this to work, or you could use it only for a group of selected tracks.  
 
Copy & paste into notepad or some text editor, save it under Cakewalk Content/Sonar Platinum/Cal Scripts" -- or whereever your cal scripts live. 
 
 
;; show_channel.cal  Count Midi Channels for selected events.
;;

(do
    (include "need20.cal")    ; Require version 2.0 or higher of CAL

    (int c1 0)        ; counters
    (int c2 0)        ; counters
    (int c3 0)        ; counters
    (int c4 0)        ; counters
    (int c5 0)        ; counters
    (int c6 0)        ; counters
    (int c7 0)        ; counters
    (int c8 0)        ; counters
    (int c9 0)        ; counters
    (int c10 0)        ; counters
    (int c11 0)        ; counters
    (int c12 0)        ; counters
    (int c13 0)        ; counters
    (int c14 0)        ; counters
    (int c15 0)        ; counters
    (int c16 0)        ; counters


    (forEachEvent
        (switch Event.Chan
            0 (do
                      (+= c1 1 ) )
            1 (do
                      (+= c2 1 ) )
            2 (do
                      (+= c3 1 ) )
            3 (do
                      (+= c4 1 ) )
            4 (do
                      (+= c5 1 ) )
            5 (do
                      (+= c6 1 ) )
            6 (do
                      (+= c7 1 ) )
            7 (do
                      (+= c8 1 ) )
            8 (do
                      (+= c9 1 ) )
            9 (do
                      (+= c10 1 ) )
            10 (do
                      (+= c11 1 ) )
            11 (do
                      (+= c12 1 ) )
            12 (do
                      (+= c13 1 ) )
            13 (do
                      (+= c14 1 ) )
            14 (do
                      (+= c15 1 ) )
            15 (do
                      (+= c16 1 ) )
        )
    )
       
    (pause " Ch 1: " c1 " Ch 2: " c2 " Ch 3: " c3 " Ch 4: " c4 " events" )
    (pause " Ch 5: " c5 " Ch 6: " c6 " Ch 7: " c7 " Ch 8: " c8 " events" )
    (pause " Ch 9: " c9 " Ch 10: " c10 " Ch 11: " c11 "Ch 12: " c12 " events" )
    (pause " Ch 13: " c13 " Ch 14: " c14 " Ch 15: " c15 " Ch 16: " c16 " events" )
)


 

Kontakt has a midi monitor, easy to use.   Not sure about Kontakt player ... possibly not.