Hi all 
I am wondering how if possible at all I can get 32 midi channels in Sonar for my sound module?
Its a Roland XV5080 and has 32 midi channels built in , however Sonar only allows me to use 16 channels?
Some may say this is overkill, but I am doing orchestral compositions so need more than 16
 
Any help is appreciated

One physical MIDI connection (think of MIDI cable) support at most 16 midi channels.
So to control 32 parallel voices you need 2 connections and so at least 2 tracks, 16 channels each.
 
EDIT. Quick looking in the documentation confirms that, you should connect both "MIDI IN 1" and "MIDI IN 2", so you need MIDI interface with 2 outputs (so in total 3 cables, on Roland side 2 inputs and 1 output connected to 2 outputs and 1 input on the MIDI interface side)

Error

The XV5080 in fact does have two Midi IN connectors on the rear panel.  So yes it can be used as a 32 channel module. I have a Kawai K5000W which also has the same facilities.
 
You need a midi interface with at least two Midi OUT ports and then you can make the physical connection from the two Midi ports on your interface into the XV5080. Then you should be able to send each separate 16 channel multitimbral sequence to each port.
 
There is no USB port on this. It is all a little before USB time.
 

azslow3
One physical MIDI connection (think of MIDI cable) support at most 16 midi channels.
So to control 32 parallel voices you need 2 connections and so at least 2 tracks, 16 channels each.

To illustrate what azslow3 has already explained :
I own an Edirol SC-8850 which offers 64 channels.
To access to all those channels, I use the USB connection (and install the appropriate driver for my SC8850 from Edirol) and from SONAR, I see "4 devices" : SC8850 MIDI PORT-A, SC8850 MIDI PORT B, SC8850 MIDI PORT C and SC8850 MIDI PORT D.
All those "devices" are connected to the same sound module.
Then in SONAR you only have to route your MIDI tracks to the right Device/Channel
 
Hope this help.

Thanks
 
That makes sense, next question if I may
I am using a Alesis midi controller which has a USB connection to my PC and a single midi out which I connect to the xv5080 "midi in 1"
The XV5080 has the following midi connections
"In 1", In 2", "Out" and "In 1 Thru"
As the Alesis transmits the data to the PC - Sonar, what would I need to add or change to make 32 channels possible? The XV5080 does not have USB

Thanks 
 

From looking at the connections it would seem that you can feed 32 channels into the XV making use of its onboard sounds. As there is only one output I don't know if you can use the XV to access 32 Midi channels in Sonar.

You'll need a device that creates seperate ports within Sonar to send out 2x16 channels of midi data.

Fantastic Instrument though. The cool thing is there are 8 expansions in it and 4 of them are the older SR-JV 80 cards and the other four are the later SRX series. I have got a JV2080 pretty well expanded too and it sounds incredible still to this day.
 
The other thing is this is the only model that runs at the higher sample rate.  All the others run at 30K. I think this one is 44.1K not sure but it is higher. They say it has a very nice sound because of it. 
 
You will only get the full 32 channels when you connect a hardware midi interface that has at least two MIDI OUT ports. There is no other way. You may have to invest in it. You can always connect your Alesis midi controller via the Midi IN on the midi interface and not use USB at all. (which in most cases will work better) 
 
Once you do this any DAW will see the midi ports listed in the outputs that the midi tracks are addressing. Then you can have 16 midi tracks on different midi channels all talking to one port and another 16 tracks using the same midi channels but addressing the other port.
 
For example I have got a midi interface that has 9 output ports so I can address 9 x 16 channels at once e.g. 144 midi channels at once! Be aware though that when you are addressing 16 channels of midi data down a single port midi timing is not great because of the serial nature of midi. e.g. some parts will be 16 mS late compared to others. (note this is only an issue if you want say 16 instruments to all sound at the exact same time e.g. on the same beat. It just means that the beat will end up being 16 mS wide. In an orchestra you would be lucky to get 16 different instruments to all sound within 16 mS anyway. The beat would be wider than this due to human nature)
 
I use all 9 ports but may only send 3 parts down each port e.g. 27 parts but timing will be way better. So the timing on each port with be tight to within 3 mS. But you need at least 9 multi timbral instruments to do it though!
 
The trick is when you are converting all the midi tracks to audio you can solo each part and only transfer one part at time thus preserving pretty tight midi timing. But for general composing duties using the midi live is fine usually.
 
 
 

It sounds like you don't have the module hooked up to the computer at all, or do you send midi from the computer through the Alesis to the module?

One way or another, you need two MIDI OUTs on your PC. The Alesis USB is providing one, and assuming the Roland is connected to the Alesis' THRU (or THRU-enabled OUT), you will be able to drive 16 channels of the Roland via that port. But you still need another physical MIDI OUT on your PC to connect to the Roland's IN 2. A You'll need to add a MIDI interface to your PC or a second USB keyboard with MIDI THRU capability.
 
Or you can just use the 16 channels of the Roland, and do the rest with soft synths which are likely to have better sound quality than the Roland and give you more control over the audio output of individual instruments. With an external multitimbral sound module, you have to do a lot of mixing using MIDI controllers and onboard FX.