RealGuitar basic setup in Sonar x3?

Hi there, sorry for yet another newb question...
 
I used to use RealGuitar in my old DAW, Acid Pro7. I'm new(ish) to Sonar X3 though and am unsure how to set it up. I see nothing in the RG manual about this.
 
To keep it simple: suppose I have a an existing chord sequence in the form of a pre-recorded midi file. Suppose the chords are just simple sustained, block triads.
 
How do I feed these chords to RG? Just drag RG into the project as a Synth, as normal, and then set the output of the midi track to RG?
 
Also -- suppose I want RG to articulate the chords using more than one RG playing pattern (e.g. using one picking pattern for the verse, another for the bridge, etc) without having to launch more than one instance of RG. I recall that RG is supposed to let you drag and drop the patterns clips (some kind of specialised midi files, I believe) from RG's pattern lists directly to a track, though in Acid I could never get this to work.
 
Assuming it does work in Sonar, how? Where would I drag these pattern clips? To the RG synth track? Or is somthing more elaborate involved?
 
I'd be grateful for any help.

I am not familiar with the program you are talking about but you should...
 
1) Insert RG into your project (Press B on your keyboard to open the Browser, click the Plugins Tab, click the Instruments button, go through the menus to find Real Guitar, drag and drop it into the track pane)
2) In the Insert Synth Dialog that pops up select the following: MIDI Source, Synth Track Folder, All Synth Outputs Stereo (or Mono depending on what you want), Enable MIDI Output (probably not necessary but leave it), Synth Property Page (which will pop open the GUI... again not necessary).
That will create a track folder with one MIDI track and audio output tracks for all the outputs the synth has.
 
Now you want to get your MIDI clip into the MIDI track. It will have different icon than the audio output tracks. Your MIDI track icon is a circle with some dots at the top and a notch at the bottom (it's supposed to look like an old DIN MIDI connector). You audio tracks will have a different icon that is that same circle superimposed over a little keyboard (do not drag the clip onto those).
 
I'm saying "drag it" onto the track but there are many ways to do it. Drag and drop would involve the Browser again so if you do not see the Browser cpress B on your keyboard again, click the Media tab and this will show a file folder structure of your computer. Move up or down through the folders to find the MIDI file you want to insert. Once you find it click and drag it to the MIDI track I described earlier and release it when it is hovering over the spot on the timeline you want. If it does not land exactly where you want just click in the bar at the top of the clip to drag it where you want (enabling Snap will help).
 
The other way would be to select the MIDI track by pressing the number on the track so it turns blue (make sure you do not have any other tracks selected). Set the Now Time to where you want the MIDI clip to start at. Then in the Global menus at the top of Sonar (the Windows style menus at the top of your Sonar screen) click File > Import > MIDI. A wWindows Explorer dialog will pop up where you can navigate to the file. Once you find it click Open and it will import the file into the track strating at the Now Time.
 
As far as the other stuff regarding different styles I guess that depends on the synth. If it has multiple channel outputs you could maybe feed different clips into the multiple channels. This would require creating some new MIDI tracks and importing the appropriate clips at the correct time and setting the output to the correct channel in the synth. Or you could do it through automation of the synth so it changes sounds as the project plays back.
 
If there is only one channel then I think you are stuck with multiple instances and creating a set of MIDI and output tracks for each.
 
Be forewarned that if you are using Sonar 64bit and this Real Guitar thing is 32 bit it will be "bridged" and may cause glitches.
 
Sorry if that was too elaborate or not elaborate enough... or completely wrong.
 
Cheers.

I was hoping the Beepster would jump in here with all the technical stuff!  Thanks.
 
How do you type so fast?  That's practically a book!
 

 
 

It is probably a good idea to disable "Enable MID Output" unless you really need it. This is because the default input for any new MIDI track is Omni, which means everything from all MIDI controllers as well as (gasp) all output from all VSTis sending MIDI out.
 
The VSTi MIDI output functionality was basically an afterthought and was never really tested since it was broken for many many years. I assume this was because there weren't many VSTis sending MIDI data out at that time. The most severe of the issues with it have now been fixed (somewhere in one of the X3 releases I believe), but there are still enough issues that it is probably a good idea to not tempt fate.
 
Some of the remaining issues are that sometimes even though you set a MIDI track input to something specific, MIDI data from VSTis would still bleed into that track. You need to temporarily set the MIDI input to something else, and then back again to make it work right. Also, sometimes when a song is playing and you highlight a different MIDI track, for a brief moment MIDI data will bleed all over the project causing a loud noise as different synths play some garbage notes. Strange but true.
 
Just saying, leaving Enable MIDI Output on if you don't absolutely need it isn't harmless.

I defer to the knowledge of the other posters on this. I'm just starting to finally get my head wrapped around MIDI stuff but it's still a little fuzzy for me so what I posted was more a general outline.
 
@Silktone... thanks for the extra info.
 
Cheers.

lingyai
Until then, one question , about RG's midi output feature: has anyone gotten this to work in Sonar? I used to use it in Acid and also Studio One I believe; it was pretty awesome, in that you could use it to have a RG performance played back through a better-sampled-library, e.g. Orange Tree Sample's guitars. 
 
Thanks again, everyone. This is a great forum.

I just tested this, and it works. The trick is you have to do the following:

1. In RG, select Setup -> Output Mode -> Midi or Both
2. Make sure Enable MIDI Output is enabled for RG.
3. Insert the other synth you want RG to drive.
4. On the other synth, set the MIDI input to RG Omni.
5. On the other synth's MIDI track, make sure to cycle the Input Echo mode to be On, not Auto Thru (the default).