I'm trying to get back into recording after taking a long while off from it. I've forgotten so many simple things about SONAR that it is more of a frustration than anything. I guess it's time to watch some tutorials to get caught back up! 
 
I have Omnisphere 2 and a few other VSTs and I'm wondering how others like to set these up. If you are going to have multiple tracks, do you set Omnisphere (or whatever synth) up to have multiple outs or do you create individual tracks with multiple instances of the synth?
 
I tried setting up Omnisphere with multiple outputs and I just couldn't get it to work how I would like. Since the MIDI is in omni mode, whenever I play a key on my keyboard, every program on all channels plays. And since there only seems to be one MIDI track for the entire track folder, it makes it hard for me to tell what is going on. Working with multiple individual instrument tracks seems easier, but isn't that an inefficient use of system resources?
 
I would love to get some tips and advice.
 
Thanks!

As a general rule, using one instance for multiple voices is more CPU- and memory-efficient. However, that benefit might be reduced or even become irrelevant if the instruments are very big, especially if you want to freeze them individually.
 
Looking at my current project I have up as I type this, there are three instances of Kontakt and two instances of Omnisphere. I could have done it all with one instance of each, but didn't, for convenience.
 
The Kontakt instances each have 3 (related) instruments loaded, the Omnispheres have one each.
 
For example, I have 3 percussion instruments in one Kontakt instance; because they're all related, I'll likely finish with all of them around the same time and can then freeze them as a group. The Omnisphere patches are short effects, not principal instruments, so I finished them quickly and froze them. Once rendered, it doesn't matter how many instances were used, because they're gone.

While I don't always do it right away when I'm in writing mode, by the time I get to the mix phase, I generally have everything configured so each element outputs on its own audio track. So if I'm using 4 patches from one instance of Omnisphere, I'll have 4 audio outputs assigned to Omnisphere. Same with Kontakt or any other plugin capable of playing multiple simultaneous patches.

Perhaps your issue is with using omni mode. When I'm using multiple patches from Omnisphere, each patch gets its own MIDI track transmitting on its own MIDI channel. Then when mix time comes, I add an audio track route its input to one Omnisphere's aux outputs and then route the patch to the same aux output within Omnisphere.

neiby
I tried setting up Omnisphere with multiple outputs and I just couldn't get it to work how I would like. Since the MIDI is in omni mode, whenever I play a key on my keyboard, every program on all channels plays. And since there only seems to be one MIDI track for the entire track folder, it makes it hard for me to tell what is going on.

 
You can add midi tracks for each channel/patch you want to use - just add them to the Omnisphere folder (for convenience) and set their output to the instance of Omnisphere in that folder and the inputs to a different midi channel and set the corresponding channel in the Omnisphere mixer. I'm currently working on a project that uses an arp and has three variations of the arp - it was easier doing that in one instance rather than multiple instances.

 

Why are you in MIDI omni mode?

I usually use one instance of Omnisphere. I load up one sound in each of the 8 tracks and save the multi. that way it can even be like a template when you are working on another song.
 
I am not catching everything you are saying. Seems you are saying whenever you play any of the loaded sounds (up to 8 in a multi) it plays the same note on all eight? 
 
Is it possible that in Sonar you are not making 8 individual tracks for the synth and assigning each of the 8 tracks to the different parts?

You can also save that correctly configured instance of Omnisphere,
8 midi tracks and 8 audio tracks correctly routed and in folders,
as a track template and save the setup time when you want to use it again.

I never use multi-outs apart from on drum synths simply because I always freeze synths once I'm done and if I later want to unfreeze/refreeze something for a tweak it's far quicker when it's one track than having to wait for multiple tracks to freeze again and it's not like you can do anything else while they are doing their thing.

I tend to use a single, discrete, insert of Omnisphere for each specific part.  In other words if I have a piano, pad and bass line all using Omnisphere I'll have a unique version of the VST for each one.  I have a fairly powerful pc so perhaps it's because I'm lazy, but I just find it easier that way.  Also, it means I can just leave the stereo outputs and midi settings alone without getting confused if I press anything!