Guitarists vs Keyboard Players using Sonar

I guess it's never going to be Wind Controller centric

i use sonar just like a tape deck.
 
and when i DO play keys (not very often, but it does happen) i simply plug the midi into my soundcard,
trigger the sounds i want with VST's, and once i get the performance down, i freeze the synth and bounce to audio, and never go back to any of the midi.
 
i mostly put up mics, capture performances, and mix just like a tape deck.
 
does that answer a question? i'm not sure....
 

I play bass cuz I can't dance.
 
I use SONAR cuz I can.

Stopped wearing glasses?

charlyg
It was mentioned in another thread how CW went from midi-centric  to a Guitar centered DAW.
 
From my point of view(fwiw), it is a keyboard(synth) based DAW. Since a keyboard based synth can mimic any instrument, many new features come from that world view IMO. Us bassists are just along for the ride!
 
Discuss, and keep it friendly, we're not discussing whirrled peas.

I don't think there are that many people that have any idea of what midi does or can do, and how to work with it. And when you ask them, it's even worse!
 
Not surprised to see it become more guitar centered, if that is the case. The big problem is that it is killing keyboards, and their use. Nowadays, even Beacocks over here only has 3 keyboards and the rest are pianos. But they have 55 basses and 100 guitars!
 
Maybe one day there will be a DAW that will be "music-centric" instead of just helpful for one of them!  It's one of the weirdest things ... I can't even just plug in the bass and record something ... but I can invent it with software!  But in the end, even a guitar is easier on the DAW ... learning the notes and chords is for the birds and the purists now! Did you see that pianist that did his encore on an iPad?  THAT is a future, that you and I are starting to see! It probably won't matter what instrument it would feature

Hi,
 
Not my experience, with 2 classes on Abelton and one on DAW's in general at Portland Music!
 
The only thing they can teach you is how to DJ ... the rest of the DAW is totally worthless as far as those folks are concerned, and over here, it's even more difficult although there are 2 folks that I will hope to get some assist here in the near future.

If I only know two people and they do not know about how to brew beer, then conclude I know many people who do not know how to brew beer.
 
Does that make them bad people?

Well, I am probably the lamest guitarist in the world, and that is probably my primary instrument. I am better on trumpet, pennywhistle, recorder,  kalimba, monkey spanking, and harmonica than on keyboard. So for me MIDI is about the only way I can communicate in music. MIDI is certainly NOT the driving force in the current evolution of Sonar. What I have found from the days when I first got Cakewalk (a MIDI sequencer) is that there has been a movement away from MIDI and toward sound recording and editing. That is all pretty useless unless you are a skilled instrumentalist or singer. The problem for guitarists is not that Sonar is oriented toward MIDI, but that MIDI is difficult to orient toward guitar. Most of the expression that can be captured with fingers and fretboard is difficult to capture from a guitar controller to a MIDI file. If you can play guitar well, there is little reason to worry about MIDI relating to your instrument--you just make sound, record sound and process. Making a synth (and none are truly keyboard based) as subtle as a string and wire instrument, is much more complicated than hitting the right key on a typewriter. Most keyboards can deliver a note-on and a velocity--good enough for a piano recital, and maybe a sustain pedal and pitch bend. If you think a keyboard based synth can deliver the subtle performance of a guitar, let alone unfretted string or wind instrument using those parameters--well congratulations on your ability. If you are totally committed to audio signal recording, then the MIDI aspects of Sonar may well be useless to you, and a good audio editor with plug-in capability may be the best option. 

charlyg

Moshkito
 I can't even just plug in the bass and record something ... but I can invent it with software! 

Not sure what you mean by that. I plug my bass straight in, with as little processing as possible. I dial in the bass tone last...I may have misunderstood

WHAT!!!!!??????!!!!!!!
 
I am supposed to plug my bass in?
 
Dang, a whole new world just opened up for me.

I used to think midi meant something small cuz of the nursery rhyme "inny midi moe" Now I Am Shure it means "plug in here"

slartabartfast
Well, I am probably the lamest guitarist in the world, and that is probably my primary instrument. I am better on trumpet, pennywhistle, recorder,  kalimba, monkey spanking, and harmonica than on keyboard. So for me MIDI is about the only way I can communicate in music. MIDI is certainly NOT the driving force in the current evolution of Sonar. What I have found from the days when I first got Cakewalk (a MIDI sequencer) is that there has been a movement away from MIDI and toward sound recording and editing. That is all pretty useless unless you are a skilled instrumentalist or singer. The problem for guitarists is not that Sonar is oriented toward MIDI, but that MIDI is difficult to orient toward guitar. Most of the expression that can be captured with fingers and fretboard is difficult to capture from a guitar controller to a MIDI file. If you can play guitar well, there is little reason to worry about MIDI relating to your instrument--you just make sound, record sound and process. Making a synth (and none are truly keyboard based) as subtle as a string and wire instrument, is much more complicated than hitting the right key on a typewriter. Most keyboards can deliver a note-on and a velocity--good enough for a piano recital, and maybe a sustain pedal and pitch bend. If you think a keyboard based synth can deliver the subtle performance of a guitar, let alone unfretted string or wind instrument using those parameters--well congratulations on your ability. If you are totally committed to audio signal recording, then the MIDI aspects of Sonar may well be useless to you, and a good audio editor with plug-in capability may be the best option. 

excellent points, I'd like to remind everyone tho, that MIDI is not necessary even for keyboardists.  I've got to the point where I use softsynths only for sounds I don't have (or don't have as good as) sounds on my hardware, so MOST of the time I'm recording hardware audio from my keyboards, especially from SK-3.
 
I record MIDI from my stage piano because Kontakt has much better sounding pianos than my PX-3 and I record any strings as MIDI and use Kontakt.  But those are pretty much it.  Most other sounds, I don't use the softsynths any more - just record the audio directly. 
 
I attribute a lot of this due to A.S.  A.S. is mature enough now that I can change any small timing errors in audio where I had to use MIDI before.