I am trying to install a light show with my Sonar X3 and a DMXIS controller. Does anyone have any experience with this? 

I have used dmxis for some years. The best way to run it is is in standalone mode, then use a virtual midi cable utility such as loopbe30 to trigger scenes. This way dmxis stays open in the background, and saves lading the vsti version with every song, which slows down loading, may cause problems with the Sonar playlist, and will cause your lightshow to blackout between songs. It is much more efficient and works flawlessly with Sonar in standalone mode. You simply have midi tracks for banks and scenes, and route them internally via loopbe30 to dmxis.

I am glad to know it can be done, but you are speaking Greek to me. If you can email me your email address or some other way to contact you, I will gladly pay you to help me set this up. Thanks, TonyC

Hey Tony. How much experience do you have with DMX, and what type of lights are you tryjng to control?
 
I can talk you through the installation and configuration of Loopbe midi and configuring it to run DMXIS, but you will need to have an understanding of how a DMX controller works in order to program your lightshow.

I have been getting accustomed to the DMXIS   I have set up songs in bank and attached a few presets, then moved thru the presets with a foot switch. I am still in the learning stage yet fairly confident with how it works. As far as addressing specific lights, addressing dmx channels, etc.... I have no issues with that. I currently use 3 Chauvet 4 light bars and 1 spoke machine.
 
My issue is I do not understand how to connect the Sonar to DMXIS with the Loopbe30, though I did look at the program online. The other issue I am not sure about is how once the two programs are linked, what is the process for addressing the lights from Sonar. Do I use the song/presets I already created or do I now have to trigger the lights in a different fashion?

You dont really even need loopbe 30 - there is a free version that has only a single virtual connection, but that is all you need. Install Loopbe, and after restart it will show up as a midi output channel in Sonar. Make sure you select it as active under sonar>edit>preferences>midi>devices>outputs by selecting it's check box.
 
Next, open dmxis in standalaone mode from the windows start menu. The dmxis control desk will appear, and all of the banks/presets you have already created will be intact and can be found under the preset manager. Select file>preferences>audio/midi settings, then select the loopbe virtual midi cable as the active midi input by ticking it's checkbox.
 
In Sonar, you need to create 2 midi tracks to control DMXIS, both set to the Loopbe midi virtual output. One track (set to channel 15) will control DMXIS bank changes, so label it Bank.  The other track (set to channel 16) will control dmxis scene changes and should be labelled Scene. Now the note c1 on the the bank track set to channel 15  will select bank 1 in dmxis, and the note c1 on the scene track set to chanell 16 will select scene 1 in dmxis. Bank and scene messages can be sent concurrently - there need not be any delay. Just move up through the scale to choose higher banks/scenes.
 
You can of course create multiple bank and scene tracks for more complex lighsthows. Their outputs are set exactky as described above.
 
Having DMXIS open in the background all of the time uses very few resources, and also speeds up the loading of songs as compared to inserting it as a vst device. The reason for this is that all banks/resets are loaded into memory for quick access. Run in standalone mode, this happens only once when you first open the program. Inserted as a vst, the presets are reloaded with every song, which can also cause issues with Sonars playlist and cause blackouts between songs.. The method of controlling DMXIS (Bank Ch 15/Scene Ch16) is the same regardless.
 
DMXIS is a great program and well worth taking the time to master. It works beautifully with sonar as well.

I will get this set up tonight  On every sequence I need to add a midi output channel 15 & 16? I have a few questions regarding the bank and scene selections as well.... but I will get started and see what happens. Thanks for all the info!

Yes - you need to add the bank and scene tracks to trigger your lighting scenes in every project.

Hi Bruce,
 
It took a little longer than anticipated to get back into the midi/Sonar/DMXSIS thing. Too many gigs, not enough free time!
Anyway.... I loaded the LoopBe, set in Midi Devices as an output and an input for the DMXIS  I then loaded a song, added a midi track, whichwas channel 12, midi channel 15 for Bank and channel 13, midi channel 16 for scene. Initially.... I got things to change, but instead of being DMXIS definitions, such as 01 Blue, it was Grand Piano, 02 Midnight Blue was electric grand etc.... channel 15 didn;t change between bank 1 or 2, but the colors/scenes as midi channel 16 did. So, trying to figure it out myself, which ended up with what I had been able to do stop. Under Preferences > midi > control surfaces there are 2 connected controllers  #1. ACT Midi Controller 1  and #2 Cakewalk Generic Surface Controll  I am sure some how I added them into the box.... I can't seem to make either of them disappear. Nor do I see a controller called DMXIS   Any ideas?
 
I also have questions about the actual assignment of scenes, etc.... but I think this needs to respond correctly before I forge ahead. Thank you in advance for any info you may have.
 
TonyC

Hi Tony.
 
You will not see DMXIS as a controller. Sonar does not even know it is attached. It is simply an 'instrument' to which sonar is sending midi notes to on 2 midi channels via loopbe. As far as having 'grand piano' etc show up as the patch, this is happening because the loopbe channels instrument assignment settings have defaulted to gm midi patch changes. You should not be using patch changes at all, so it makes no difference to the functioning of dmxis and should always be set to 'none' on both tracks controlling dmxis.
 
(FWIW, however unnecessary in this instance, for future reference this can be changed by assigning generic patches 1-128 instead of gm patches under instrument definitions.  Details can be found here: 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR%20X3&language=3&help=Instrument_Defs.02.html)
 
Again, Keep in mind you are using only midi notes, not patch changes to change dmxis banks on ch15 and dmxis scenes on ch 16. Leave the patch name set to none on both tracks. On one track, set to loopbe midi output ch 15, insert a note to change the DMXIS bank, and on another track set to loopbe midi output ch 16, insert a  midi note to choose the dmxis scene within that bank. Thats it!