Hello,
I came across a couple hardware synths that had been stored away for 15 years or so in my closet... I bought them way before I ever used a DAW of any type.  Anyway, I am looking for some assistance hooking up the two synths together.
 
1- Roland JV-880 sound module (no keyboard)
 
2- Alesis Micron (will be the controller)
 
The two synths have midi in, out and thru.   My audio interface is a Echo Audiofire4 with in and out midi ports. Running win7.
 
In addition to the initial hardware connection with midi cables, I will probably need to go into Sonar PLAT prefs and do some tweaking, correct?  As you can tell, I am a midiot...
 
Is it possible to access the sounds from both these synths and to play vst synths also(have access to them , not necessarily layer them etc.)???   I have a sneaky feeling that I would need more than two midi in/outs that are available on the audio interface...
 
Thanks in advance for your time and help.
 
Salud...
Freq

VST synths do not require a hardware midi port. Each synth creates its own when it is instantiated. You will need at least two outs, and one in for your hardware synths. Connect the Alesis midi out to the midi in on your interface. The last big hurdle is to add instrument definitions to Sonar for the hardware synths. You can set those up in Preferences.
 
Once you've got everything properly defined, connected and configured, you can record the midi and have it drive any synth, virtual or hardware, simply by selecting the appropriate port and channel. As I recall, the JV-880 has 16 channels, with channel 10 normally set aside for drums/percussion.
 
To record the sound of the hardware synths, you will need to patch the audio outputs into your audio interface. Then create an audio track, arm it, and you can record what it plays.
 
Regards,
Dan

Thanks, Dan. 
 
Do you mean two outs on the interface, or total outs of the synths and interface?  Also, where does the JV-880 connection fit in here... out to interface in?
 
I will give this a shot after work... the instrument defs sounds a bit daunting but doable...

Once the Micro is connected to Sonar (or any other DAW) you'll probably need to set it to "local control off', especially if you want it to control other hardware/software synths.

Other wise every time you press a key the Micron will make a sound no matter what it's connected to and when recording MIDI intended to control the Mocron itself the DAW will echo the MIDI back to the Micron. If local control is on the Micron will then sound twice coe every note - once when you press a key and again a couple of milliseconds later as the DAW echoes the recorded MIDI back to it.

Ideally you would have a separate MIDI Out from the DAW to each hardware unit, but it dosn;t sound like you have that capability with your interface, and neither unit has USB MIDI so you'll have to daisy chain the Roland on the Alesis' THRU.
 
Here's the complete drill: 
- Connect the Alesis to MIDI I/O on the Echo, and the Roland's IN to the Alesis THRU.
- Turn off Local Control on the Alesis (check the manual).
- Connect audio outputs of each unit to the Echo (mono or stereo, depending on how many inputs you want to use up).
- In a SONAR project insert a MIDI track for the Alesis, set Input and Ouput to the Echo's MIDI ports, and enable the Input Echo button - looks like ))). When setting the Input, you don't have to select a specific channel, but you do need to set a specific output channel using the track's 'CH' field that matches the Receive channel on the Alesis.
- Similarly, create a MIDI track for the Roland, set a different output channel, and set the Roland's receive channel to match (agian, see it's manual).
- Insert an audio track for each hardware unit, assign the inputs to the corresponding inputs on the interface (you can add friendly names in MIDI Devices to tell them apart), and enable Input Echo on those as well.
- Perform on the Alesis, and you should hear sound from both units if both MIDI tracks have Input Echo enabled.
- The Alesis is 4-part multitimbral, so I assume it can receive on 4 different channels. You can set up an adiditonal trackf or each part if you want to use them. Again, the input channel can be 1 for everything, and you use the ouput CH. setting in the track to re-write the channel of the MIDI events on the fly to match the destination.
- With this setup, you can layer then synths in real time by having Input Echo enabled on more than one track or you can just echo one track and hear that instrument while performing. SONAR has an option in preferences to Always Echo Current MIDI Track that';s enabled by default to echo the track that currently has focus. I prefer to leave this off, and manage Input Echo manually.
 
I'm sure the above seems a little complicated, but it's not as bad as it sounds once you really get how MIDI and audio signals flow. By turning off Local Control on the Alesis, you're basically using it as a separate MIDI controller and sound module which is the best way to go for keyboard synths. You can record MIDI for any instrument individually (or simultaneously for layered parts) edit it as necessary, an when you;re ready, enable record on the audio track and recrod the hardware synth. Or you can leave the hardware synth 'live' indefinitely.
 
Good results willd epend on keeping your ASIo buffer low so that you don;t have more than 6-12ms of round-trip audio latency for the synth I/O the MIDI roud trip will ad a fe more milliseconds, but that shouldn't be too bothersome. 
 
Give it a whirl, and let us know if you run in to trouble. Later you can set up Instrument Definitions for the MIDI port by channels to help you manage patch changes on the two modules.

Thanks for your help, fly...
 
 I will report back this weekend.

I didn't realize the JV-880 is also multitimbral. If it has 8 'parts' (Roland terminology) plus drums like my old D-110, you'll still have enough channels to use all parts on both modules.

Sounds like Brundlefly's got you covered. I used to own a JV-1080, and still have a 2080, plus a few others. It's easy to get things setup once you wrap your head around it.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Couldn't wait til tonight so I went home for lunch ...lol
 
Here's what I've done so far:
 
Connect the Alesis to MIDI I/O on the Echo, and the Roland's IN to the Alesis THRU.

Turn off Local Control on the Alesis (check the manual).

Connect audio outputs of each unit to the Echo (using mono due to lack of inputs available on Echo).
 
In a SONAR project insert a MIDI track for the Alesis, set Input and Ouput to the Echo's MIDI ports
 
 
---After setting up a midi track, I set input to omni, but did not have a specific choice for the Echo's output--- my only choices were MIDI-1 or New Drum Map, so I chose the MIDI-1
 
Enable the Input Echo button - When setting the Input, you don't have to select a specific channel, but you do need to set a specific output channel using the track's 'CH' field that matches the Receive channel on the Alesis.
 
Similarly, create a MIDI track for the Roland, set a different output channel, and set the Roland's receive channel to match (agian, see it's manual).
 
Don't have the manual so I played around with the system settings-not sure I achieved the correct channel to receive midi on the Roland
 
So, I'm able to play the Micron via the computer, but no sound from the JV880.   It's not receiving midi as far as I can tell as the midi indicator is lighting up while i play the Micron.
 
Thanks guys...
 
 
 
 

Got the Micron to play and record audio/midi, but no love for the Roland yet.  Should I load a soft synth to see if the Micron will play a vst instrument?  Something simple like SI-Strings? Any partcular track setting for the soft synth that I need to engage?  Thx!