yes Cactus Music I have had trouble with that too -- the volume controller doesn't show up in the event list -- it seems like I remember seeing in another thread somewhere that there is another way to get to it (the volume controller command) but I can't remember what it that method was -- I sure wish I knew because I do spend some time working with old midi files where time is of the essence and I need to be able to control the volumes of the tracks for a remix.
 
perhaps if I change the volume setting on the midi track header that  Brundlefly has referenced above, perhaps that changes the value of any invisible volume control command that would be sitting in the track data?

Anvil is a free sequencer that will remind you of where we all started from in the ancient times.
 
But it will show you everything about the midi file in easy to understand midi language. 
 
And example of this is you open a midi sequence and then open TTS-1 GUI.
You'll see faders, pan pots, reverb and chorus settings as well as the instrument assignments. Nice. But I what to change it all,, after all what kind of idiot puts reverb on a Bass?? 
Make changes, rewind hit play, they all revert back.   So there's no point using the GUI of any soft synth to make changes. It won't work. Those changes are hidden in Sonar. Why these thing are not on the event list I do not know. 
 
So fine, you make the changes in the track inspector and hope they stick...but the author got fancy and put a PG change in the chorus ..And volume settings  in the middle of songs can be elusive. 
So the only solution I have found is open the file in a REAL sequencer and delete what you don't want. 
 If anyone here has figured this one out let me know.
 
 

Cactus Music
 
So the only solution I have found is open the file in a REAL sequencer and delete what you don't want. 
 If anyone here has figured this one out let me know.
 
 

I can remember when Cakewalk was a real MIDI sequencer!

Exactly! And you cou;ld edit everything in the event list too I think.  That's where I did all my editing with Dr T. 
And this is why I have problems with my own creations. Every sequence had the Tempo ( TM) the patch assignments ( PG ) and channel Volumes where simple  cc7 CH 6 110 panning was cc7 ch 6 64  and on and on depending on how deep you wanted to dive into midi control. I would also write in my PG changes for my vocal and guitar effects some in the middle and then at the end of the song so it would kill the reverb so I could talk. 
You open my sequences and none of that is to be found on Sonars event list. No that's wrong,, the CC changes are there but  that's all.
There are blank tracks for my effect control channels ( 14 and 15 )  
 
I doubt if this ever bothers anybody else here and I have my workaround, but the question often comes up from other trying to work with sequences they downloaded. 
 
 
 

I agree that all MIDI data should be viewable.  No point in dumbing it down.

brundlefly
'Q' is MIDI Volume in this screenshot of a MIDI track header:
 

When you save a project as a MIDI file, the value of this control will be written to the file as a CC7 continuous controller event. Conversely, when you open such a file, the CC7=0 event will be read into the Volume control widget in SONAR and removed from the clip. Every time you start playback, SONAR sends a CC7 message on the basis of this control setting, so the result is the same as having the event in the MIDI clip.
 
But l'm starting to wonder why you're saving files as .MID at all. Are you working with these files in another application?

I will try it again.  However, when I adjusted the volume in the header as you show, it appears to have no affect.
 
With regards to your question about wonder why I'm saving files as .mid, why wouldn't I?  I am using the files to drive a sound module for live stage performance.

"With regards to your question about wonder why I'm saving files as .mid, why wouldn't I?  I am using the files to drive a sound module for live stage performance."
 
It helps us understand what your trying to do. I now have a very clear idea of what your doing. 
I used to use midi files back in the 80's for my backing tracks so been there done that. 
And I'm totally aware of the need to kill certain tracks if say that night you have a real bass player. 
 
Back then a friend of mine used a Roland Sound brush and a Dr Synth sound module which all you had to do was push a button to toggle playback channels. The instrument sounds were pretty good in those days but now would be considered cheesy. 
 
I still have my Korg 05 R/W module which was my band in 1991, I got tired of lugging around an Atari computer and in mid 90's switched to Sony Mini disks for a decade.  I recorded all my sequences to mini disk using the Korg as a sound source. The transfers had to be in real time at first, later Sony came out with software for drag and drop. 
This was cool, was the exact same sound live in a very small box. But I had to pack around a bunch of disks and set lists where not flexible. 
But My son started playing bass so now I needed tracks that were just the drums and keyboards. PITA. it was easier just to drag the old Atari around and mute the bass channel in the Korg. 
 
I got my first Laptop in 2004 and have been living in playback heaven ever since. 
With the much better VST synths that have hugely improved since those days I still use my old sequences and breath new life into them with Sonars amazing pallet of sounds. My Korg has some pretty cool polysynths but the drums and bass are terrible, I can't believe I subjected all those people to that for almost 15 years! 
 
I've been using WAVE files played back in Win Amp since 2004. At first I used close to the same format as the Korg because all I had was TTS-1 in Guitar Studio. I started recording real bass too. The drums are what have been improving over time for me as I progressed through Session drummer, AD2 and now I'm loving Strike2.
 
I have no need to change my playback live, it's exactly what I want night after night.
 
My new project is to use Home Studio instead of Win Amp and have multi channel output and midi back to change my Effects for each song, just like I did in the 80's. Have you ever though about using Sonars playlist? or is this why your wanting muted channels?  
 

I'm using a SR18 for drums and a Yamaha MU50 Tone Generator for some fill in sounds and effects besides also using for drums as well.  I am running Sonar through my Microsoft Surface Pro 4 connected to those devices.   They don't sound cheesy at all.  I also back in the day used to tour with 3 dedicated hardware sequencers, 4 drum machines and 3 racks of keyboards and modules.  All of my dedicated hardware sequencers were/are a breeze to program/edit compared to Sonar. 
 
It certainly would be ideal if I was able to mute certain tracks.  However, it does appear that I can adjust the volume on some of the tracks and save that.  It is certainly a drag trying to go through tracks to find multiple volume (CC7) changes in Sonar.  It's actually much easier to do on dedicated hardware sequencers.  Perhaps I will go that route to edit the volume on some tracks.

We are not a large enough market anymore, live performers. It's all DJ's now so nobody is making software for us. The Dj's have a lot to choose from, we have only DAW's which are out to lunch for live playback. 
I had better software on my Atari for live performance of midi. 
Jeff Koftonoffs Midi Performer. 
Lyrics would pop up, foot controller. easy set list management. And it never crashed unless the power went out.. 

Cactus Music
Anvil is a free sequencer that will remind you of where we all started from in the ancient times.
 
But it will show you everything about the midi file in easy to understand midi language. 
 
And example of this is you open a midi sequence and then open TTS-1 GUI.
You'll see faders, pan pots, reverb and chorus settings as well as the instrument assignments. Nice. But I what to change it all,, after all what kind of idiot puts reverb on a Bass?? 
Make changes, rewind hit play, they all revert back.   So there's no point using the GUI of any soft synth to make changes. It won't work. Those changes are hidden in Sonar. Why these thing are not on the event list I do not know. 
 
So fine, you make the changes in the track inspector and hope they stick...but the author got fancy and put a PG change in the chorus ..And volume settings  in the middle of songs can be elusive. 
So the only solution I have found is open the file in a REAL sequencer and delete what you don't want. 
 If anyone here has figured this one out let me know.
 

Hey Johnny, thanks for the tip, have downloaded the Anvil.  Should be very handy! 
 
I already had LoopBe30 on-board so it was no trouble to run a virtual MIDI port out of Anvil over to my VST's in Sonar.  This way I can audition/test MIDI files in Anvil, while listening to them play back on my Sonar instruments and effects.  No audio out needs to be set up in Anvil that way, so no conflict with ASIO.  You can also run Anvil MIDI direct to a standalone soft synth this way.
 
There is a freeware one port version of LoopBe1 here > http://www.nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html