Hello.  I have a question about midi.  Recently, I traded in my old Roland RD700sx for a newer Roland RD700nx.  Tonight, I tried to get the RD700nx to play back some midi data coming from Sonar.  The piano played all the notes, but it would only play a ac. piano sound.  Changes patches on the RD700nx did not change the sound being played back.  Changing the midi channel on which the data was transmitted did not change the sound being played back.
 
The Roland manual says only that the RD700nx will respond to patch and bank change messages.  Really!! other than saying you need to use a midi cable to connect the RD700nx to your computer, the only thing the manual says is that the keyboard will respond to bank and patch data.
 
With my older Roland RD700sx, when playing back midi data, the sound being played back would be whatever sound I choose in the RD700sx.
 
It may be that the RD700nx will only play back the ac. piano sound unless instructed otherwise using bank and patch change messages.
 
And speaking of which, doesn't Sonar come with some pre-made Instrument Definitions - like one for a Roland RD700nx?  Where can I find this?
 
Thanks.

Unless someone else here owns that piano, your answer will be in the manual on how to set it up to receive midi data. If it plays piano then you've got half the battle won. 
It might be set to ignore patch changes and you have to toggle that. 
 
You are aware that better midi sounds come already built in to Sonar as Soft synths. There is no reason to use an outboard GM midi device anymore. The piano might have one or 2 sounds you just can't live without, but probably you haven't explored what Sonars soft synths do yet?? 

johnnyV
You are aware that better midi sounds come already built in to Sonar as Soft synths. There is no reason to use an outboard GM midi device anymore. The piano might have one or 2 sounds you just can't live without, but probably you haven't explored what Sonars soft synths do yet?? 

TTS-1 does fine for GM and GS, but it's nice to have a Yamaha XG if you happen to run into an XG file.
 

Hello.  I think I have figured it out.
 
It's funny, but of course Sonar comes with some wonderful plug-in instruments.  My habit has been to first use my keyboard as a sound module, so I have been going on habit and did not think to use a plug-in instead.  Evidence that I am getting old and set in my ways.
 
Anyways, for those who own a Roland RD700nx and want to know: In the System menu, there is a switch called Edit Mode.  When set to "16PART", the upper layer 1 will respond to midi messages on ch.1, the upper layer 2 will respond to midi messages on ch. 2, the lower layer 1 will respond to midi messages on ch. 3, and the lower layer 2 will respond to midi messages on ch. 4.  When Edit Mode is set to "16PART+PERF", the 4 internal layers will not respond to midi messages, and can then be controlled by the player using the keyboard controllers. 
 
So, in my case, the Edit Mode switch was set to "16PART+PERF", the sound being played was the ac. piano, and would not change when I called up different patch on any of the layers.
 
This still does not explain to me how the keyboard knew to play an ac. piano sound when receiving midi.  But at least I now know how to call up a patch and have it played by midi.

If I remember correctly, patch 1, bank 1 in General Midi is your basic piano patch followed by a few variations in patchs 2 - 5.
 
In other words,  it didn't know to play that piano, it just defaulted to it.

Sorry, I have to amend my previous post.
 
The relevant switch is called "Part Mode"; not "Edit Mode" as I incorrectly stated in my previous post.
 
My apologies.

I use a Yamaha piano that has a few alternative sounds on it. Instrument files are the way to go for recalling those. If there isn't an existing one on the web somewhere they are relatively straightforward to write.
 
You just need to assign the correct bank change number for bank changing, that info will be in your piano manual, in the MIDI implementation section.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013272/Instrument-Definitions
 
in particular (it looks like the registration is not required):
http://www.rolandus.com/support/patch_script_builder/
 

BbAltered
The Roland manual says only that the RD700nx will respond to patch and bank change messages.  Really!! other than saying you need to use a midi cable to connect the RD700nx to your computer, the only thing the manual says is that the keyboard will respond to bank and patch data.

http://www.roland.com/support/article/?q=manuals&p=RD-700NX
Includes complete MIDI specification as well...
 

Thank you Azslow for the links.
 
The web-page for the manual downloads was working and useful.
 
The web-page for the "patch-script builder" results in an error message.  It looks like a useful utility, so I'll investigate further.

BbAltered
The web-page for the "patch-script builder" results in an error message.  It looks like a useful utility, so I'll investigate further.

I have rechecked right now (using Firefox) and I have got "RD-700NX.ins" file at the end. Unfortunately I am not sure it is legal to upload it to my server for you...