Under my radar as is most of life, but just discovered something late to the party and don't know when or where it happened.
 
My biggest gripe about Sonar was the lack of being able to chain vsti synths. I needed that function for the fat sounds to mask lack of content as a mediocre keyboard player. Hoping Sonar would evolve like Reaper in this function.
I was one of the most vocal irritants and pissed many of you off over the years demanding a fix to bring Sonar out of the stone age.
 
Request fell on deaf ears from the devs. They obviously didn't give a fork. Apologists fired back at me saying it's easy. Quit griping, just create a template with many tracks to cover the shortfall.
Cool but too many steps to replicate what is possible otherwise on a single track. Look at what Studio One has achieved at the cutting edge.
 
To the point, fired up an old version of Bandlab, and the damned thing now chains vsti synths. Still not as elegant as Reaper in terms of individual volume controls of a synth, but has the forced midi thru function (in case a synth blocks data downstream).
Not Studio One level which currently I consider the Holy Grail of the native modular environment. However a major advancement I missed in the change log. Levels the playing field between Reaper, and Bandlab with now only a slight disadvantage under Reaper.
 
Have no idea when Bandlab added this, and hate to thing I had been blubbering about not having a basic function that was already put in Sonar before Bandlab took over. Happy camper even if a bit late in the game.
 
John
 
 

Not sure when that was added John. I don't use it so it passed under my radar too!!

I had no idea either.  How exactly does this work?

This function allows you to add multiple keyboard synths in a chain on a single track. At least as of awhile back, you could have a professional DAW with a midi track but could only put one synthesizer in the chain. This was the norm. Sonar let you put one synth and could add series effects, but if you tried to add a second synth, the first one was deleted. Reaper came to the front with chains, series only, that let you play a piano synth followed by a string section, followed by an organ, etc. The wet dry effects knob for each synth in Reaper acted as the volume for each synth. The volume control for each channel is missing in Bandlab, but you can insert one soft synth on top of another in the same track and they will all play.
 
What is still missing in both Reaper and Bandlab is an individual synth pan control and a parallel routing. Studio One came out with this in ver 3 and took the lead. With a series only routing you can insert effects in the series chain but everything on one side of the effect is processed. In Studio one you can route a synth parallel with effects that will not color the other synths.
 
I stopped at Sonar X2 and am sure you could not chain synths. Maybe they put it in X3, but it is definitely an option in Bandlab making it quite an attractive option for a keyboard player.
 
John
 
 
 

I wonder if the downside to doing that in a single chain might be that it would be limited to one CPU thread/core.
 
Plus the accumulated latency as your PC processed the signal chain in serial fashion from input to output, compared to running parallel tracks, synths, and effects on parallel threads/cores.

Hm... I am puzzled how you have managed to make it work.
It is long time possible to technically insert several Synths as "effects" into single track FX bin. The feature was added to simplify MIDI routing to audio effects like guitar amps, since only "synth" has MIDI input routing ability.
But the problems are with routing MIDI input and getting the sound from everything except the last synth in the chain. At least for me, the situation is still the same (not working) in Bandlab.
 
REAPER supports arbitrary routing, so one MIDI track can be routed to several synths. Here I do not understand where you see any limitation. In case someone wants several synths inside one track with separate processing for each (f.e. to use the track as a "modular synth" template), there are up to 64 channels in each track and so up to 32 stereo pairs for absolutely independent processing. For independent MIDI processing there are 16 MIDI buses (16 channels each) and configurable MIDI behavior for each FX/Synth in the chain.
I am not sure about Studio One, but Bandlab with its single MIDI bus and fixed (1-2) channels per track is not even close to that.

Abacab,
Fortunately haven't noticed any appreciable latency issues running series connections either in Reaper or in Bandlab although I see your point and the chains have to be set to accept a midi thru or workaround from one to the next. Bandlab does this by having the input echo checked for each synth. Reaper gets around a blocked midi thru by (on the synth's individual rack) "2 out" (or however many, right click the tab) > Midi Output > Merges with Midi Bus. This creates a limited parallel routing delivering the midi input to each synth that would otherwise stall the chain if one synth doesn't have a built in thru function.
 
Azslow, got to check this out on Reaper and may unfortunately have to read the manual if I understand what you are getting at. My use has been to simply drop one synth after another in a series chain so all work. Limitation in doing it this way is no pan control for the individual synth and any effect placed anywhere in the chain processes any synth before it, so you couldn't for instance load 3 synths and have 3 different delays in line for the individual synth. You seem to be saying that you can set up multiple true parallel routings in Reaper. This would be dynamite. You've got me on a mission to figure this out.
I was quite surprised when I fired up Bandlab for some reason and found that at minimum, the series chain now works. I'll get a step by step guide to how I did this in case I magically blundered into something that is not supposed to work.
Thanks guys,
John

Well guys...
 
I really forked this one up good. (Sorry again) Looks like Bandlab or Sonar cannot chain synths. Was working under a resolution problem that appeared like the second synth was added to the same track. The addition was actually creating the next track when the pixels were corrected and I put my glasses on... Oh well...
 
Thanks though for the info on Reaper. The more recent developments going toward ver 6 have been visual layouts of routings. Groundless rumors running around that ver 6 may incorporate a Bidule type option to drag and drop synths and effects around in series and parallel chains. According to Azslow, the ability already exists hidden deeper under the hood and without a graphic presentation.
Back to the drawing board with Bandlab.
 
John

JohnKenn
Well guys...
 
I really forked this one up good. (Sorry again) Looks like Bandlab or Sonar cannot chain synths. 

Stick a fork in it, it's done?

Amen bro.. Done stuk the fork and yesterday's news already, although hope nobody got as excited as I did.
 
Working with an excellent 17 yo surf guitarist whose laptop went screwed up south in the video mode, unknown reason from a lay perspective. Reaper's TCP track rack disappeared and couldn't get it back unless plugged into a second HDMI TV monitor. Wanted to dump Reaper and look at alternatives. Suggested Bandlab. Installed it and tested the system but as a budding keyboard newbie, advised that he couldn't chain synths like in Reaper. We fired Bandlab up and holy s**t. You could gang synths on the same track. Mind blowing. Artifact of whatever problem yet unresolved that took Reaper down, looked like you were able to chain synths.
 
Was so inspired and washed in the blood over this, opened up Bandlab on my home computer and the celebration was over. Insert was creating another track, not adding to the same track.
 
Would want to ask something however of Azslow, some help if you got time to advise.
 
Can't get Reaper to route parallel paths and probably my ignorance. Do you have an example, simplest how you can run two synths parallel so that independent effects can be installed in either path. Thanks.
 
John