Just a question for you guys,,, I'm think about going this route, right now I just use stereo audio tracks and Win Amp. But do you use audio tracks only or do you play the midi live into a soft synth?
I was thinking of freezing or bouncing all the tracks to audio for live playback.
 
The reason I wish to convert to using Sonar and the playlist is to have the MIDI control effects and lighting. I would also like to send my Bass out on it's own output.
Thanks.

Your awesome thank you so much man. I appreciate your help so much!!!!

Cactus Music
Just a question for you guys,,, I'm think about going this route, right now I just use stereo audio tracks and Win Amp. But do you use audio tracks only or do you play the midi live into a soft synth?
I was thinking of freezing or bouncing all the tracks to audio for live playback.
 
The reason I wish to convert to using Sonar and the playlist is to have the MIDI control effects and lighting. I would also like to send my Bass out on it's own output.
Thanks.

Hey Johnny.
 
I have been using the playlist since Cakelive for DOS days when it was just a midifile player. I switched to audio tracks many years ago and have stayed with the playlist for exactly the reasons you mention: the ability to mix tracks separately, sending tracks to different external outputs (no click through FOH) and to control midi devices like dmx lighting and other midi outboard gear. It also means you can go back and quickly change a mix anytime you like. I started by having about 8 tracks (mono kick, mono snare, stereo hats/crash, mono bass, stereo general mix and mono click track) because that would pretty much max out any computer in those days! Now of course there are no such constraints.
 
I do always bounce tracks to audio (as dry tracks), then add track fx and fx busses as required. I generally run around the 16 to 32 track mark now, which doesn't even go close to taxing even a fairly ordinarily specd laptop, so load times are fast and I have no difficulty loading one song whilst another is playing. I also run midi tracks for outboard mixer scene control of live vocal and instrumental fx, guitar patch changes, harmony control and multiple channels of lighting via a great little computer based lighting controller called DMXIS.
 
I personally don't run vst synths for live performance, but there certainly are others on the forum who do.
 
I have always been amazed that the playlist isn't a more heavily used and discussed feature. Once you get into it and get your head around its quirks you realise it is a unique and powerful feature that no other DAW has (Ableton Live comes closest but is not as well equipped for multi track loading and playback). I am sure you won't regret the move.
 
Another very handy device is the x-tempo POK Foot controller, which when combined with a program like Bome Midi Translator, allows you to control Sonar and the rest of your live show without ever touching your keyboard. Pretty neat:)
 
Good luck!

ThePanacheBand
Your awesome thank you so much man. I appreciate your help so much!!!!

You are very welcome Mark. I hope you find what is interrupting your playlist!

Wow thank for your thumbs up. Your right and there is not much talk about using it here on the forum. I think us live players are pretty much 1% of the user base. 80% are not even musicians  :)  
Anyhow that's good news as I think I need to return to what I did in the 80's when I used an Atari and Pro MIDI player. It played my rack full of midi modules  and changed my guitar and vocal effects for each song. One thing it did that Sonar does not do is it would display a TXT file for lyrics when the song was played. I have that working now with a second laptop and power point and a USB footswitch.  Only bummer is I have to match the order to my playlist and that takes time. 
http://www.jdkoftinoff.com/main/Historic_Projects/The_Pro_MIDI_Player/
 
I won't need to many tracks as I only use Bass, drums and Keyboard. The Keyboard is either piano , Wurly or Organ. I do have a few songs that use Horns, strings or weird percussion but because my interfaces only have 4 outs I'll stick with that. 
Down the road I want to use a harmonizer, but then again I could always cheat and use a pre recorded audio vocal.. The danger is avoiding sounding like a Karaoke idiot.   
 
 
Someone else just started a thread about X3 and the Playlist. 
 

I hear you on all fronts there Johnny! The atari brings back some memories - the days when our whole operating system was loaded from a 720kb floppy disc:)
 
Just in case you haven't tried it, Sonar does have an excellent lyric view feature that will display text synced to a midi track. Like many features in such a huge program it has it's quirks, particularly when entering and editing sylables, but once you get used to them its a breeze to set up and works really well. I save each project so that a small trackview window sits to the side of the playlist, with a 4 line lyric view that scrolls underneath in case of seniors moments. Details on lyric view here:
 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR%20X3&language=3&help=Notation.51.html
 
Haha....karaokeism is indeed to be avoided at all costs:)
 

Thanks Bruce, I just found your reply so missed it. I have printed off that page and will try again. I remember trying it a few years ago and it was clunky so I gave up. All I need is a window that pops up while the song plays with very basic text. I don't even need the whole song , just the parts I screw up every time :) and only a few song right now.. But I can see the day coming where I will need more help with my memory.... :0

Cactus Music
Thanks Bruce, I just found your reply so missed it. I have printed off that page and will try again. I remember trying it a few years ago and it was clunky so I gave up. All I need is a window that pops up while the song plays with very basic text. I don't even need the whole song , just the parts I screw up every time :) and only a few song right now.. But I can see the day coming where I will need more help with my memory.... :0

Haha - we can all see that coming Johnny!
 
It is a bit clunky. I have found it best not to edit text inside the lyric view once I have set up the midi track and played in the trigger notes. I edit the lyrics in a text file, then paste them in complete (make sure you select all of the dashes created by Sonar in lyric view and paste over the top). If there are any problems, I delete all of the lyrics in lyric view,  edit in the text file, then re-paste. This avoids Sonar adding extra notes to the midi file when you edit the text. It also works in reverse - if you need to edit the midi notes that trigger the text it is best to cut and re-paste the text after, as Sonar will add extra characters for any new notes. I know it sounds fiddly, but once you try it you'll see the advantages.
 
You certainly don't have to display all of the lyrics - you can set it up however you like. There are a couple of songs that I changed the key of recently anbd I used text viewc as a chord cue in a couple of sections where I just couldn't quite overcome the muscle memory!.

I find having the lyrics available conforting the first few times performing new songs, or if I pull something from the archive. I have two screen sets (one with and one without lyric view) and once I am confident with the song I turn it off.  I am not a big fan of performers staring at a screen or lyric sheet - I suspect you are not either. It's that dreaded karaoke thing again Johnny:)

I will not go back,I`m using Platinum for my live performances,still improving the whole system and i`m taking a fraction of the gear for my shows,everything is soft synth or plugin.
Soon i`m gonna buy the Motu ultralite AVB and that will open much more options because of its powerfull routing.
Go for it.
Peace

Yes I'm all for making set up super simple and one thing does it all... Right now I use 2 laptops.. one is just a little netbook, but  it all takes up time.I now use powered speakers which eliminated dragging a power amp along, and that's also 2 less cables to patch. 
You made me think that it is also possible to run everything through an audio interface, use Sonar for my effects etc.