Hi, I have a midi track (for bass line) that has many pitch wheel events in it (and the creator of the track says the pitch wheel events are correct).    When I send this track through a software synth for bass, it doesn't seem to handle the pitch wheel events correctly and the resultant notes are not right.    I'm guessing that the synth isn't observing the proper range for the pitch wheel and treating it as +/- 1 semitone, when in fact it should be much larger - something like +/- 1 octave.
 
I have tried 2 different soft synths - Cakewalk Sound Center (bass instrument) and  SI Bass Guitar synth and same behavior.
 
I cannot seem to tell the soft synth what the range of the pitch bend is.
 
I did try putting some midi CCs / RPN in beginning of event list in order to instruct it to use a different pitch bend sensitivity but the soft synths either don't observe it or do not work afterwards.
 
Can someone please tell me the right way to tell the soft synth what the pitch bend sensitivity is ?
 
 

I don't know about the Cakewalk Sound Center, but other synths like Dim Pro & Rapture have a dedicated pitch bend parameter

Pitchbend data uses a fixed range of 65536 values. This is simply part of the midi spec. How much "maximum bend" is is handled at the sound engine level and each engine handles this differently. Every engine/VST instrument I know that supports pitchbend at all has some setting (perhaps in a menu) for the pitchbend range. It will be different for each instrument, but that is where you need to be looking. It's not something that can be handled at the "Sonar" level.

You simply can't do it with either of these synths.  

Maybe you could try to get the original creator of the track to render an audio version using the tempo you want the track to run at and load it into your project as an audio track,,, or get a copy of the softsynth that person used and install it in your DAW and point the midi track to it.  Just a thought. 

Have you tried automating the pitchbend range parameter for these soft synths that have that paramter.  For instance with Dimension Pro, you can choose a bass from the real bases and then automate the pitch bend range paramters as required.  You can even write the automation paramters from the softsynth (click "w" from the top right of the soft synth dialogue window, then record while changing the pitchbend range of the soft synth).  Because most basses are single element sounds, you only have to change two sets of pitch bend parameters (one for up, one for down)
You would have to look at the RPN values to work out the intended pitch bend range.

note: be careful when sending the actual RPN values to this soft synth (and others) and doing so will silence the synth (or it does on mine). 

Thanks to all for responses.   I was hoping there was a generic way to tell any synth (that adheres to a general midi spec) what the pitch bend range is.    I am definitely a newbie here and probably am a bit naïve on what to expect from a basic soft synth.    Sounds like some do, some don't, and the ones that do have some way to set it in UI.    I will definitely try out other synths then.   Thx again. 

I think most synths default to +/- 2 semitones. But yes, not all synths have an adjustable pitch bend range. I often use +/- 1 octave so instruments can do slides and that limits which synths I can use.

Actually .. how do you change the range in Dim Pro?  I can see the 2 semitones figures, but can't work out how to change them. How's it done?
 

Click and hold the number and move your pointer up or down or double click the number and enter a value.