Hello all, 
I'm new here. I use Sonar X3 and a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 firewire interface. I've been looking online and on cakewalk.com for an answer with no luck. I don't see an option for External Insert in any of my fx bins. I only see FX Chain and all my plugins.
All I want to so is send audio out:
1. for 1 track to a compressor and back in to Sonar
2. send my entire mix out to a compressor and back in to Sonar
I think this has to be possible without using ProChannel (which i don't have).
 
ANY help is appreciated
Tim 

Thats doable. Sonar has an external insert plugin. If you have more than just the one stereo output that is outputs 3 and 4 you can use those as a stereo out to you compressor and bring is back in with inputs 3 and 4. 
 
From page 1291 in the Sonar manual. 
 
External Insert plug-in (Platinum and Professional only)
The purpose of the External Insert plug-in is to route audio to and from existing I/O ports in SONAR, allowing an
external audio device to be effectively patched into any FX Rack. This allows you to seamlessly incorporate your
favorite outboard gear in a SONAR project.
The External Insert plug-in is able to measure and automatically compensate for the round-trip delay through your
audio hardware (the time it takes for the audio to exit you computer, be processed by your external audio
hardware and finally returned to the computer).
External Insert interface
The left-hand side contains the hardware/external Send controls and the right-hand side contains the hardware/
external Return controls.
Send Stereo Mode buttons:
L (Left). This toggle enables/disables the left channel send output (enabled by default).
R (Right). This toggle enables/disables the right channel send output (enabled by default).
Mono. This toggle sums the stereo signal to make it dual-mono so the send output has the same audio on the
left and right channels.
Send Level. This is a +/- 24 dB trim to the level that is passed to the external send. This parameter is
automatable.
Send VU Meter. This meter shows the signal level being delivered to the external send. Since this is feeding a
sound card output, it is important to avoid clipping at this stage.
Send Port Picker. This control lets you choose an audio output that currently has nothing routed to it. This is the
port that you should connect to the input(s) of your external gear. All output ports that are already used in the
project are excluded (except for master buses that have other instances of the External Insert plug-in routed to
them).
Return Phase Control. This control flips the phase of the signal being returned to the external return input. This
parameter is automatable.
Return Level. This is a +/- 24 dB trim to the level that is passed from the external send. This parameter is
automatable.
Return VU Meter. This meter shows the signal level entering the external return.
 
Welcome to the forum.

timwhite74
...I don't see an option for External Insert in any of my fx bins. I only see FX Chain and all my plugins...

 
It's definitely there. It's one of the menu options when you right-click on the fx bin.

This is how I used my External Insert for an external Lexicon M200  Reverb Unit for a cue mix with reverb not being recorded in Sonar Platinum.
 
Under Properties for Sonar
I first set a friendly label for the Ins in Sonar for In 7/ 8 in my Roland Octa-Capture  I/O 
I then set a friendly label for the Outs in Sonar for 7/8 in my Roland Octa-Capture I/O
 
7 Input =  left = L-HW Reverb
8 Input = Right = R-HW Reverb
===================
7 Output =  left = L-HW Reverb
8 Output = Right = R-HW Reverb
 
I then create a bus and select External Insert and set the IN to L-HW Reverb and the OUT to R-HW Reverb.
 
I then set the vocal track's output to the bus that has the External Insert on it and then create a send to Out 3/ 4 on that bus for a vocal cue mix with other tracks going to send out 3/4 .  (You can set your buss out to the master bus for the compression)
 
Reverb heard nice and clear by the singer.
 
I am writing this while I am at work, so I may have missed a detail, but as I recall, this is how i set it up for my studio using HW reverb and a Headphone amp for the singer.
 
Hope this helps.

I've read about the fact there should be an External Insert option in my FX Bins, but i swear it's not there.
I don't have Platinum or Professional, its just Sonar X3. I also don't have ProChannel.
 
tim

If you have X3 Studio it may not be in there. 

timwhite74
I don't have Platinum or Professional, its just Sonar X3.

The basic version of X3 does not have the External Insert plug-in. The External Insert plug-in was included with X3 Studio and Producer. See http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR%20X3&language=3&help=Comparison.html
 

Sorry that it's not there for you timwhite74. Sonar External Inserts are really nice to have with hardware you want to use in Sonar.

It's still possible to 'insert' hardware processors without using the external fx plugin.

Route the track with the audio you want processing to a bus of its own instead of the master and output that bus to suitable audio outs on your interface. Connect the processor to the interface outputs and then back to inputs on the interface.

Create a new stereo/mono track as applicable, arm it for recording and hit 'record'.

And that will do the job. The problem is that the latency on the looped-back audio will differ from the rest of the project's audio. Which means monitoring might be an issue, though if you monitor from Sonar's master bus and directly from the processor's feed into the interface that should be managable. I think.

The resulting recording will almost certainly need shifting along the time-line a bit to get it in the right place. One way to make this easier is to do a test run using a track containing a percussive sound with a very obvious transient at the beginning. The time difference between the original source track and how delayed the freshly recorded processed track is how far you'll need to shift the audio.

The external insert plugin basically does the test for you, which makes things a bit simpler.

One thing to watch is that hardware processors must be switched on and active to get any kind of accuracy from a loopback test because the processor itself might add latency, especially if it's a digital unit of any kind.

TLW,
 
That's a good explanation of how this is done without External Inserts   You DA MAN !!!