jjvibes
 
ok, thank you. i am going to re read this and give it a shot!

I guarantee it will work.  I just did it as I was typing that

so steps 1 -2 should look like this:
 
1 midi 
2 midi and inst
3 midi and inst
4 midi symbol then saying bass (inst. i picked)
 
would do a screen shot but drop box doesn't want to play nice..
btw, when I was at step 2 the dialogue box opened and the midi source was checked and mono left channel was checked..
 

abacab

jjvibes
 
ok, thank you. i am going to re read this and give it a shot!

I guarantee it will work.  I just did it as I was typing that

ok, cool..feeling stupid..i did re do and did achieve a bunch TT-S

jjvibes
so steps 1 -2 should look like this:
 
1 midi 
2 midi and inst
3 midi and inst
4 midi symbol then saying bass (inst. i picked)
 
would do a screen shot but drop box doesn't want to play nice..
btw, when I was at step 2 the dialogue box opened and the midi source was checked and mono left channel was checked..

Start a new project and delete all tracks that appear by default.
 
Now with a completely empty blank project ...
 
1. Insert one MIDI track.
2. Insert one Soft Synth (Insert soft synth options, check create "Simple Instrument Track").
Now your first MIDI track (from step 1) should be already assigned by default to output to the soft synth (from step 2) and transmit on MIDI channel 1.
 
You can then add additional MIDI tracks, but you will need to change the MIDI channel outputs ON EACH new MIDI track respectively, to channel 2, channel 3, etc., up to 16.  Let all of the MIDI tracks output to the same instrument plugin instance. 
 
In this case there will only be one instrument plugin instance for the entire project, but each MIDI track will communicate on it's own channel.  So this way one multi-timbral instrument plugin can receive data for up 16 MIDI Tracks (channels) simultaneously 

OK I think it went sideways when though meaning well Jonesey Gave a different example. 
the trouble is ---- there is more than one way to achieve most tasks in Sonar ( or any DAW) 
 
abacab's post #2 was the way I would have done it too. I don't use simple instrument tracks which is a combonation audio and midi track, I find that restricting if I want to change the VST I'm using. Much simpler to use a pure midi track and then you can easily change it's output to different synths while looking for the right sounds. 
 
so in less detail of what abacab has clearly described already. 
 
Insert tts-1 choose the single output option.  Other options can be yours to use later once you get the hang of it. 
 
You insert as many midi tracks as you will need.  A fast way is use the "insert multiple tracks"  
And now it's a matter of changing the dialog in all those little boxes in the track pane or inspector. 
Input= Midi port or USB from controller. 
Output= TTS_1 (or any soft synth) 
Midi channel = each track will be assigned a different channel.  ( 1: Cakewalk TTS_1 )  ( 2: Cakewalk TTS_1 ) 
Bank selection= choose bank 0 to start, later you can explore sounds in other banks
Patch or Program = select the sound for that channel for each track. 
 
Now you just set the track in record mode for the instrument you wish to use and go at it. 
 
If you want to see what TTS-1 can do download a midi file and "open it" TTS-1 will automatically load with all 16 tracks and all the instruments and play the way the composer wanted it to sound. 
 
https://freemidi.org/download-4224-silver-bells-christmas
 
Terribly played like most of them but I was in a hurry :) 
 
 

Cactus Music
OK I think it went sideways when though meaning well Jonesey Gave a different example. 
the trouble is ---- there is more than one way to achieve most tasks in Sonar ( or any DAW) 
 
abacab's post #2 was the way I would have done it too. I don't use simple instrument tracks which is a combonation audio and midi track, I find that restricting if I want to change the VST I'm using. Much simpler to use a pure midi track and then you can easily change it's output to different synths while looking for the right sounds. 
 
so in less detail of what abacab has clearly described already. 
 
Insert tts-1 choose the single output option.  Other options can be yours to use later once you get the hang of it. 
 
You insert as many midi tracks as you will need.  A fast way is use the "insert multiple tracks"  
And now it's a matter of changing the dialog in all those little boxes in the track pane or inspector. 
Input= Midi port or USB from controller. 
Output= TTS_1 (or any soft synth) 
Midi channel = each track will be assigned a different channel.  ( 1: Cakewalk TTS_1 )  ( 2: Cakewalk TTS_1 ) 
Bank selection= choose bank 0 to start, later you can explore sounds in other banks
Patch or Program = select the sound for that channel for each track. 
 
Now you just set the track in record mode for the instrument you wish to use and go at it. 
 
If you want to see what TTS-1 can do download a midi file and "open it" TTS-1 will automatically load with all 16 tracks and all the instruments and play the way the composer wanted it to sound. 
 
https://freemidi.org/download-4224-silver-bells-christmas
 
Terribly played like most of them but I was in a hurry :) 
 
 

I think you are on the same track as me.  The OP apparently is still learning about the different types of tracks that Sonar supports. What is the difference between a MIDI track, an audio track, or an instrument track?  What are the relationships between them?  How does it all work together?
 
Back when I started out there were MIDI only sequencers, and MIDI ports to external instruments, so the options were fairly basic way back then, LOL!!!  Audio sequencers, ha!  Only if we reverse engineer alien technology someday!
 
I think the OP's intent is to use the Garritan Aria personal orchestra.  My impression is that he keeps ending up with multiple instances of the plugin, where he actually only needs one.  I am trying to start out with an example of one MIDI track and one plugin instrument track, so that he understands the basic relationship there, and can build additional MIDI tracks in as he needs to add parts to his plugin instrument.  I used TTS-1 simply because the principle is the same, and transferring the knowledge gained to Aria should be a Cakewalk !  Plus we all have it if we need to compare notes!  I don't have Garritan, but looked it up on their website. http://www.garritan.com/powered-by-aria-player/
http://www.garritan.com/p...chestra-5/aria-player/
https://wpmedia.garritan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Additional-Strings-in-Garritan-Personal-Orchestra-5.png
 

ok. this is awesome, i thank you both for your efforts! Not bad for my first "real day with SONAR"
 
question: If i do load instruments on separate instances shall i worry about computer pwr? or if I try to mix it down as a wav file..will i have problems?
 
so much to learn!

jjvibes
ok. this is awesome, i thank you both for your efforts! Not bad for my first "real day with SONAR"
 
question: If i do load instruments on separate instances shall i worry about computer pwr? or if I try to mix it down as a wav file..will i have problems?
 
so much to learn!

Question: why do you want to run separate instances?
 
If you only need several instruments, you certainly can do that.  But you are not taking advantage of the mult-timbral features of your plugin that way.  If you work within one plugin instance, you can build your mix in the plugin, using it's features, and it all gets sent back to the Sonar master audio bus as one mix in a single stereo audio track. (Aria has options for multi-audio outputs, but file that away for later).
 
It could take more computer power and RAM if you try to run each track with a separate instrument plugin instance.  It is much, much simpler to use up to 16 tracks in one instance of your plugin.  This results in one audio output to mess with in Sonar, until you need more...
 
If you use only one sound from each plugin instance, you will have to do all of the mixing as audio at the Sonar console, as if you were recording up to 16 external analog instruments or microphones.  Each plugin instance will return a stereo audio track to the Sonar master bus.  So you either mix it here, or there, LOL!
 
The only reason I could see for running several plugin instances, would be to separate instruments into sub-mixes in order to treat each sub-mix separately with FX in Sonar on the audio return output from the plugin.  But that's for the advanced mixing tutorial

hey abacab, you articulated everything clearly and I was running to make things easier (short term) shall i run everything as separate instances?  Although I don't want to as I had a hunch about what communicated in this regards! So, NO i would rather not run instruments separately.
 
thanks for the deeper understand!
 
now I will be posting exporting midi from my notation program to DAW and building in aria player..i hope!

jjvibes
hey abacab, you articulated everything clearly and I was running to make things easier (short term) shall i run everything as separate instances?  Although I don't want to as I had a hunch about what communicated in this regards! So, NO i would rather not run instruments separately.
 
thanks for the deeper understand!
 
now I will be posting exporting midi from my notation program to DAW and building in aria player..i hope!

Great!  Have fun with some MIDI now!
 
Sonar is pretty smart as far as opening MIDI (.mid) files. Just open one in Sonar and see what happens
 
The .mid file will open up as many MIDI track(s) as it needs for each part and will automatically be set up as multi-timbral mode with the TTS-1 instrument by default.  You can play this as is, or swap the synth for another plugin by right-clicking on the TTS-1 and selecting "Replace Synth".  Choose your preferred VST instrument plugin and off you go!
 
For example, say I create a quick 3 part score in MuseScore and export it as a .mid file.  Then, when I open that file in Sonar it becomes 3 MIDI tracks and one TTS-1 instrument track.  Track 1, 2, and 3 are already routed to MIDI channels 1, 2, 3, which can be observed by watching the track level meters when playing it.  Also by viewing the TTS-1 GUI you can see the first three instrument slots are playing along with MIDI channels 1-3.
 
Alternately, you can just drag a .mid file directly onto the track pane of an already open project, and it will create new MIDI tracks for each track in the file.  Or if you have single parts in .mid format, you can drag them into existing MIDI tracks in the clips pane.
 
Don't forget to save the project in Sonar as a "Normal" .cwp project file after you finish the setup.  The .mid format won't retain most of your Sonar settings.  Don't ask me how I know, LOL!
 
Sonar is very cool with MIDI