DMXIS and Sonar X3

I have used dmxis for some years. The best way to run it is is in standalone mode, then use a virtual midi cable utility such as loopbe30 to trigger scenes. This way dmxis stays open in the background, and saves lading the vsti version with every song, which slows down loading, may cause problems with the Sonar playlist, and will cause your lightshow to blackout between songs. It is much more efficient and works flawlessly with Sonar in standalone mode. You simply have midi tracks for banks and scenes, and route them internally via loopbe30 to dmxis.

Hey Tony. How much experience do you have with DMX, and what type of lights are you tryjng to control?
 
I can talk you through the installation and configuration of Loopbe midi and configuring it to run DMXIS, but you will need to have an understanding of how a DMX controller works in order to program your lightshow.

You dont really even need loopbe 30 - there is a free version that has only a single virtual connection, but that is all you need. Install Loopbe, and after restart it will show up as a midi output channel in Sonar. Make sure you select it as active under sonar>edit>preferences>midi>devices>outputs by selecting it's check box.
 
Next, open dmxis in standalaone mode from the windows start menu. The dmxis control desk will appear, and all of the banks/presets you have already created will be intact and can be found under the preset manager. Select file>preferences>audio/midi settings, then select the loopbe virtual midi cable as the active midi input by ticking it's checkbox.
 
In Sonar, you need to create 2 midi tracks to control DMXIS, both set to the Loopbe midi virtual output. One track (set to channel 15) will control DMXIS bank changes, so label it Bank.  The other track (set to channel 16) will control dmxis scene changes and should be labelled Scene. Now the note c1 on the the bank track set to channel 15  will select bank 1 in dmxis, and the note c1 on the scene track set to chanell 16 will select scene 1 in dmxis. Bank and scene messages can be sent concurrently - there need not be any delay. Just move up through the scale to choose higher banks/scenes.
 
You can of course create multiple bank and scene tracks for more complex lighsthows. Their outputs are set exactky as described above.
 
Having DMXIS open in the background all of the time uses very few resources, and also speeds up the loading of songs as compared to inserting it as a vst device. The reason for this is that all banks/resets are loaded into memory for quick access. Run in standalone mode, this happens only once when you first open the program. Inserted as a vst, the presets are reloaded with every song, which can also cause issues with Sonars playlist and cause blackouts between songs.. The method of controlling DMXIS (Bank Ch 15/Scene Ch16) is the same regardless.
 
DMXIS is a great program and well worth taking the time to master. It works beautifully with sonar as well.

Yes - you need to add the bank and scene tracks to trigger your lighting scenes in every project.

Hi Tony.
 
You will not see DMXIS as a controller. Sonar does not even know it is attached. It is simply an 'instrument' to which sonar is sending midi notes to on 2 midi channels via loopbe. As far as having 'grand piano' etc show up as the patch, this is happening because the loopbe channels instrument assignment settings have defaulted to gm midi patch changes. You should not be using patch changes at all, so it makes no difference to the functioning of dmxis and should always be set to 'none' on both tracks controlling dmxis.
 
(FWIW, however unnecessary in this instance, for future reference this can be changed by assigning generic patches 1-128 instead of gm patches under instrument definitions.  Details can be found here: 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR%20X3&language=3&help=Instrument_Defs.02.html)
 
Again, Keep in mind you are using only midi notes, not patch changes to change dmxis banks on ch15 and dmxis scenes on ch 16. Leave the patch name set to none on both tracks. On one track, set to loopbe midi output ch 15, insert a note to change the DMXIS bank, and on another track set to loopbe midi output ch 16, insert a  midi note to choose the dmxis scene within that bank. Thats it!

Hey Tony. That is all set up correctly. You do not need midi sync or timecode settings. Leave the patch set to 'none' on both tracks that are controlling DMXIS. You can either play the notes in from a keyboard, or write them in in Piano Roll View, which I find more accurate than the in line note editor you are trying touse. Just leave the track set to clips and do the following:
 
Select the track that is going to Ch 15,  Loopbe that controls the DMXIS bank (track 16 in your example project) by clicking on it's track number) and from the views menu at the top of the Sonar screen choose 'Piano Roll View'. Scroll down to the bottom of the Piano Roll View screen that opens  and you will see the bottom note on the keyboard is C-0. With the smart tool selected from the control bar, you will notice that the cursor turns to a pencil when you move over the blank space to right of the keyboard. You simply left click and drag  in line with the C-0 anywhere on the piano roll view that you wish to select bank One on DMXIS. The next note up (Db1)will select bank two and so on, up to bank 99. It is easy to check that this is working by having DMXIS open, selecting preset manager, and then clicking on C-0 and Db-0 on the Piano Roll View keyboard in Sonar to check that the bank selected in DMXIS changes from 1 to 2 (Obviously you will need to have created at least two Banks)
 
Scene selection works exactly the same way,  Just open the Piano Roll View for track 17in your project and do the same.
 
Once you get more familiar with the system works you will find it much quicker to create a master project with scenes and chases set up in clips and just drag them from the master lighting project into your song project.

A  few things to check Tony.
 
Under Sonar>edit>preferences>midi>devices, makesure that loopbe is selected (ticked) ONLY as an output, not as an input. If checked as an input, deselect it. 
 
Next check the loopbe monitor by double clicking on it's icon (a small midi plug) in the windows notification area to the bottom right of your windows task bar (you may need to open the notification area to view it as it may be hidden by default). Make sure that it has not disabled the midi through because it detected a 'feedback loop'. If any loopbe channel HAS a tick in its checkbox, it is disabled. Clear this by unticking the chanels checkbox.
 
In DMXIS, double check under File>preferences>audio midi settings that your loopbe internal midi chanel is selected (ticked) as the active midi input.
 
Lastly, try playing each note from the bottom of the keyboard in piano roll view upwards to make sure that higher octaves do not trigger DMXIS, as the bottom note of the midi scale (C-0) can be changed and interpretated differently by different programs, including Sonar. 
 
Just do be doubly clear, you have created more than one Bank in DMXIS, and each Bank has more than one scene in it? It is the banks and scenes you are selecting. There is no direct connection from Sonar to the DMXIS DMX chanel faders other than this.