To add reverb to a midi track using the generic surface, you need to add send 2 level (reverb).
The catch22 is that the generic control surface usually does not show a Send 2 Level (reverb).
Here is how to access Send 2 Level (reverb) and Send 1 Level (chorus) in a Cakewalk Generic Surface
in Sonar 8.5 LE, so that moving the rotators and sliders on the external midi controller
will control reverb and chorus in a midi track in the Sonar project.
You can optionally later also record and save automation of volume, pan, reverb and chorus
performed realtime on the external midi controller.
In your project, add 2 Aux buses. Save the project, close it, and re-open it.
Presto! The hard part is done. Now Sonar will work better. All fixed up.
Sonar won't hide Send 2 Level (reverb) and Send 1 Level (chorus) from you anymore.
Now, I know it sounds bizzare that you have to add 2 audio buses to get reverb and chorus to work
on a Sonar midi track from a Edirol midi controller. But hey, it works!
The answer seems so intuitive and obvious now. Midi sends only work if you have audio buses.
Of course! How stupid of me! Why didn't I try that before?
Hmmm, if I had 3 Aux Buses, where would the midi Send 3 Level go? ...Fantom zone?
Sonar's requirement that you have to add 2 audio buses to get reverb and chorus to work
on a midi track from a midi controller is no less bizzare than Bill Gates requirement that
Microsoft XP users must press the shut down button, before they can press the sleep button.
When users try that in Windows 7, the shut down button really does shut down.
Anyway, now that the 2 audio buses have been added,
the generic control surface will let you add
Send 1 Level, Send 1 Pan, Send 1 Enable, Send 1 Pre/Post,
Send 2 Level, Send 2 Pan, Send 2 Enable, Send 2 Pre/Post.
Send 1 and 2 can be used for midi or audio tracks.
In the case of midi, Send 1 is chorus (cc93) whereas Send 2 is reverb (cc91).
In the case of audio tracks, Send 1 and Send 2 are routed to the 2 Aux Buses you just created.
Here is some additional information and tips to help decide what control surface to use, and
how to troubleshoot control surface unexpected behaviour and common problems.
The Concept.
The concept of the Edirol 300/500/800 controller MAP is to assign physical controller buttons
(rotators, sliders, pads, buttons and transport) to a midi control code.
In GM, GM2 mode, GS mode, etc. standard midi codes such as reverb, chorus,
volume, pan do not need any control surface to control Sonar Midi tracks.
Midi codes typically specify a single channel, whereas control surfaces typically specify a single track.
Both (hardware) midi controllers and (software) control surfaces specify the output port.
The concept of the Sonar control surface is to intercept the midi controller code and re-assign it
so now the controller can perform more functions than otherwise possible, such as play, arm record, record,
arm write, record automation, etc.
The concept of ACT adds the ability for the physical controller buttons to control plugins as well as Sonar,
depending on the active window in Sonar.
The concept of DYNAMIC MAPPING (such as found on the Edirol PCR 300/500/800 series controllers,
and likely also on the new Cakewalk controllers) has all the above, plus automatically loads
a read-only controller MAP, the control surface and the preset. By utilizing multiple banks,
the control surface can access over 200 Sonar functions out-of-the-box with ZERO programming effort
on the part of the Sonar user. User presets can be still saved as an option.
There are 4 control surface methods available in Sonar. All methods require an external midi controller:
1. The first is to use a midi controller such as an Edirol PCR 300 and a MAP that uses standard midi codes.
This method requires no control surface whatsoever, but requires that you find, get or make the correct
midi control codes, which are difficult to learn.
2. The Cakewalk generic surface is the oldest and most limited.
It does not support standard codes such as modulation or Tempo, which can instead be sent
directly from the MAP and require no control surface, but if there is a control surface, it
must not intercept and re-assign those midi control codes to a different function.
3 ACT control surface is newer and more powerful, offers controller support for plugins.
4. Edirol PCR 300/500/800 series is the easiest, most powerful, works straight out-of-the box with Sonar,
supports DYNAMIC MAPPING, ACT, multiple banks, and requires ZERO programming of the surface - that is
entirely optional. Just load Edirol PCR 300/500/800 as the control surface, set input port to PCR 2,
output port to PCR, press the DYNAMIC MAPPING button,
and PRESTO, you can control over 200 Sonar elements from 44 controller buttons.
Control surface tips:
-Avoid using 2 control surface unless you have 2 midi controllers and know their MAP assignments and ports.
Turning off ACT on one of them turns off plugin support, it does not turn off the control surface for Sonar.
If you add 2 control surfaces to 1 controller and press 1 button, you can expect 2 Sonar actions, not 1.
Both control surfaces will intercept the controller code and both will perform 1 action each,
depending on the MAP assignments, and control surface ports and presets.
-Realtime Tempo Control. A control surface is not required to for realtime control of things like
pitch bend range or Tempo from the controller. Eg. midi sync used with Edirol PCR 300/500/800 Series
controller can provide realtime Tempo control via jogwheel in Sonar playback mode.
-For realtime tempo control via jogwheel in performance mode, just play a loop of an empty bar.
This is a handy setup to jam along with the drum and bass of a performance style, while playing
the performance thru Sonar plugins and still having realtime tempo control perfectly in sync.
-Sonar will not move the Sonar element until the controller knob reaches the current value in Sonar.
It is not latency. This is a good thing - its stops stuff from jumping around.