Importing a midi file X1 Essential

Be sure you are looking at the right place. It could be loaded further down in the project.

Is there a video  showing how to use the soft synths.
Spent hours with the written documentation.  
 

Thanks for your reply!
 
The midi file I'm using (I made it myself long ago) has about 10 tracks in it.  
I tried to change it to TTS-1 and think I did, but when I see the mixer and click the note
at the bottom, I still hear no sound.  Maybe the basic settings are screwed up?

No that is broken Dave. Its a bug and has been confirmed. When you open a MIDI file global output wont work. It has to be done one track at a time. A work around is to save the project and it may work when it is reopened. 

debb
but when I see the mixer and click the note at the bottom, I still hear no sound.  Maybe the basic settings are screwed up?

When you inserted the TTS-1 did you let SONAR create the first audio output track? If not, you need to insert an audio track and set it's input to the TTS-1. The track receives the output of the synth and routes the signal it to the Master bus, and from there to the Main outs on the audio interface.

John
No that is broken Dave. Its a bug and has been confirmed. When you open a MIDI file global output wont work. It has to be done one track at a time. A work around is to save the project and it may work when it is reopened. 

John, I just tried it on a MIDI (.MID) file with 19 MIDI tracks. I inserted the TTS-1. Then on the first track I held down the CTRL key and selected the TTS-1 as the output and all of the MIDI tracks changed their outputs to the TTS-1. I didn't even have to select the tracks. 

Thanks. I'm taking notes. Much appreciated!  :)

Dave you are right. It will work with soft synths. However, it will not work with hardware synths. I Don't use TTS1 as a rule. I have a Roland Sound Canvas for that.   

Debb - You are probably a bit frustrated now, but just hang on a bit.
 
When you imported your MIDI file into X2, all that was imported was the sequencing information.  You need to also load one or more synthesizers to play the midi tracks that you imported. 
 
The TTS-1 synth is a good one to start with as it can play 16 different instruments (patches) at the same time.  The Synth actually creates the sounds, not the MIDI tracks. 
 
The first step after you have your MIDI tracks imported (or loaded or whatever) is to patch each of these tracks to an instrument in the synthesizer.  If you look at the bottom of the inspector view for a MIDI track it should have a dropdown box for output.  If you set this to one of the 16 inputs on TTS-1 it will play that MIDI information to that channel of the TTS-1.
 
On the TTS-1, you will probably need to select the bank and patch.  A bank is a set of up to 127 different instruments(sounds) like piano or trombone.  TTS-1 has about 20 banks of patches.  select a bank (bank 0 is good for starters - preset rythm for drums) and then pick an instrument.  Do this for each of your 10 tracks.  Select a different channel on the TTS-1 for each of these tracks or you will send the notes to the same instrument.
 
Now look at the output for the synthesizer track.  It needs to be set to something that gets to your speakers.  This is usually a bus when you get a little more familiar with things, but for now you can point it directly to the output device (that is assuming of course that you have gotten your hardware configured in Sonar so that it can be accessed).
 
Glen
 
 

Thanks. Will try this out as soon as I can ... hopefully by this weekend at least.
 
Debb

Have had some computer problems, and when resolved, will write more.
 
Thanks again everyone for the suggestions. :)