Re-thinking of MIDI is a good thing. MIDI was invented over 30 years ago for hardware synthesizers. There was no way the originators could have predicted USB MIDI, let alone Bluetooth MIDI or 2.67 billion devices incorporating MIDI by the end of this year. In fact MIDI seemed like it was going to become solely a control medium after ADAT came out, and digital audio became affordable. VST came along that used MIDI but the original virtual instruments were so unresponsive they were more of a curiosity than anything else.
 
Then computer power increased exponentially, and people could no longer find vintage harwdare synthesizers. Virtual instruments started doing emulations, and that was their cue to come back into vogue (rhymes with "Moog"). When instruments like Kontakt came along that beat the living crap out of systems but the computers could actually cope, MIDI became super-relevant again.
 
While some DAWs have appended MIDI features, like what Cubase has done with expression, all DAWs -- not just SONAR -- need to consider the implications of how computers, virtual instruments, and control affect workflow with MIDI. We're not just sending MIDI data via an output port to a piece of hardware.
 
If all this thread does is point fingers at problems, real or especially imagined, and opine that Cakewalk's engineers are dysfunctional idiots who probably can't tie their shoelaces without help, it won't contribute any more than previous threads with a similar theme. But if it makes an actual attempt to analyze workflow and come up with solutions on how best to handle MIDI in the 21st century, then it will definitely have value. Of course as with all re-assessments of workflow, it's essential to take into account a multiplicity of applications, as well as the Law of Unintended Consequences.  
 
Should MIDI clips be like audio clips, in that they stake out a claim on a certain space on the timeline, and silence is treated the same as audio silence? Is lack of data the MIDI equivalent of silence? Should clips shorten automatically if data is removed, or retain their space on the timeline? How do you handle parallel streams of data? Should MIDI clips incorporate clip automation like audio, automation controllers in lanes or tracks, or graphical editing in strips? Or all three? And if all three, how would you display them? The solutions to these questions may appear easy, but they're not...

brundlefly
New MIDI Events will go into existing clips if they're within a measure of the nearest event; otherwise a new clip is created.

FYI, this is no longer true; not sure if it ever was that simple.  

Here is an illustration of three different clips, the one on the left created first, then the one on the right, then the one in the middle.    Within.   No merging of clips happened.    You can also see the odd way selection is highlighted -- it happens that the middle two notes selected are one clip, with the outer two notes part of two different clips. 
 
This is not a staged picture -- this is very simply how clips get multiplied by note entry in PRV.  

 

A bit more unusual info:   if you simply keep clicking notes into a clip from PRV, yes the clip expands if the notes are close.   But if you do something very typical like select, copy, and paste a small group of notes into place, exactly where you would have clicked a new note,  then 1) a new clip is created and 2) the user interface goes peculiar immediately.  You cannot, for instance, go over to track view and select a clip with the smart tool -- not sure if this is always or only a sign that sonar is getting overrun with clips and signalling a fail to come soon. 

williamcopper

brundlefly
New MIDI Events will go into existing clips if they're within a measure of the nearest event; otherwise a new clip is created.

FYI, this is no longer true; not sure if it ever was that simple. 

Still works for me, I do not remember cases when I hit other behavior.

John
Is there some purpose for this thread?

Such question sounds provoking to me. The thread was kept on topic before. The origin of this thread is may be hard to understand without reading http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3345794 (at least the second page). There is an "inconvenience", people trying to understand the situation / find workarounds / may be crystallize future requests.
 

Anderton
If all this thread does is point fingers at problems, real or especially imagined, and opine that Cakewalk's engineers are dysfunctional idiots who probably can't tie their shoelaces without help, it won't contribute any more than previous threads with a similar theme. But if it makes an actual attempt to analyze workflow and come up with solutions on how best to handle MIDI in the 21st century, then it will definitely have value. Of course as with all re-assessments of workflow, it's essential to take into account a multiplicity of applications, as well as the Law of Unintended Consequences.  

In the link I have mentioned you can find why these two threads exists. It was not clear for me either.
 
Just imagine you record your guitar and let say every 5-10 seconds recorded audio goes into different clip or take lane. You then merge all recorded clips, bounce them. And so every day, many times per day. Probably at some point you will start to ask what is going on. Is there something wrong with your settings or workflow? Is there some way to avoid that? This topic is about such behavior which exist in Sonar for MIDI recording, if you use williamcoppers composing approach. I believe the situation can be improved without workflow changes. If small additions can significantly simplify life for someone, why not discuss that?

williamcopper
But if you do something very typical like select, copy, and paste a small group of notes into place, exactly where you would have clicked a new note,  then 1) a new clip is created

You can till some degree control that using "Paste special..." parameters. Note that once set there, "normal" Paste will also do the same.

I have already commented in another thread that it is unclear, while in PRV, which clip (if any) you're editing. I find this thread and its musings very relevant. I'm always mystified by the way Sonar organizes and creates midi clips. About the only thing that always goes as expected is a linear recording from my midi controller. I cope by merging and trimming manually but I'd love a better workflow. 

Thank you, aslow, true what you say and I had never realized that --- using paste special once, setting the option under Advanced to "Paste into Existing Clips" does in fact affect how normal paste works thereafter, and then a paste of notes within a bar of an existing clip seems to work as said earlier by Brundlefly.   
 
Good to know, though not sure it's a great idea to have a modification of one action be hidden within a different action's parameters!   

Sanderxpander
I have already commented in another thread that it is unclear, while in PRV, which clip (if any) you're editing.

Russian language has much more words then English to describe the result after moving notes in some clip you do now want to change, while editing overlapped clips or clips on different tracks...
In such cases I usually prefer to do an extra step and lock every I do not want to modify. In case of multitrack, "Lock"/"Show" buttons and colors are handy. For overlapped clips I lock clips in question.
 

williamcopper
Good to know, though not sure it's a great idea to have a modification of one action be hidden within a different action's parameters!

You should try Autodesk Animator (DOS version, it is free now). Once you used to set options is 2-3 different menus just to change the behavior of one "tool", "Paste" and "Paste special..." will no longer look like different actions
 

MIDI clips have driven me nuts on many occasions. Two clips touch each other and suddenly there's clips created in take lanes. My solution so far is telling Sonar not to be so smart and let me do the thinking. Mind you, that's only because I've not spent enough time with modern MIDI to understand what it's about. When there was only 1 stream of 16 channels it was easy. The MIDI cable plugged into my computer and no interface was required. Basic and simple. There were no clips, it was just a track that you sprinkled notes into and moved them around until things were right. Sometimes Sonar is too smart for me.