Recording audio from VST in real-time

I have difficulty doing something in Sonar that probably means I'm not understanding correctly. 

I use Reaktor a lot and I'm constantly manipulating things in real-time - lot's of knob tweaks and lots of randomized internal modulations. 

I tend to record a lot of this as a trial and then extract samples from the final mix-down and these become samples for other things or other projects - it is a process of several iterations of sound manipulation.

If I put Reaktor in a track - I can only record the MIDI in, which is not what I want - I want the audio out. I really can't record all the automation because the randomization stuff will just give me something else for every recording take. I react moment-to-moment with what I hear - if I record my automation it will not sound the same when I run it through Reaktor the second or third time - each is unique.

If I try to send the audio to a bus, I still can't record the bus.

What I end up doing is convoluted - I send the Reaktor output to my audio card loopback channel and then insert a track with the loopback channel set to record. Then I send this track to the DAW headphone monitor ports so I don't get a feedback loop (or output = NONE since I hear the stuff on the Master output).

I used to do all this in Live and it was rather simple, but lately I need 64-bit support, so I've been using Sonar almost exclusively this past year and I guess I'm not completely comfortable with my understanding of Sonar yet.

Can someone explain what I am missing?

swamptooth


in reaktor under options/view select "view player and recorder" then select an output file under the record section. this will record a wav file of what you are playing which you can then import back into sonar. 
you could also enable write automation on your midi track and save all the automation by selecting reaktor on the synth rack and enabling midi output. then insert a blank midi track and set reaktor as the midi in source.  i think that works with some of the random generators, but not sure...

I often send the Reaktor stuff to other effects, so the internal recorder is not an option.


The randomizers I use make new sequences on every instantiation.

You might be able to do this by doing something in your Saffire 14 interface. It may be possible to use the Mix Control Software to perhaps route the DAW outs somehow back to some input channels which would in turn appear as the inputs to a track in Sonar.

Or you could connect the Spdif OUT to the Spdif IN and create a track in Sonar and select the SPDIF IN as the source. As long as you were not software monitoring the input on that track you should be OK without any digital feedback.

That Mix Control Software also looks like it might be able to do what you want as well. I use Patch Mix software in conjunction with an EMU sound card and that is very versatile. It allows you to patch any output to any input etc.. Looks like you might be able to do it in your sound card software as well. You could have a normal patch for regular things and a special patch for doing this.

The only other way I know of is your and Jeff's loopback solutions. There is nothing else available in SONAR at this time. BTW, I would use a similar loopback when faced with this issue.

insert an instance of guitar rig on the master bus and use the recorder then drag it into a track.

yeah the routing is a bit lacking. reaper has one of the better tools via routing by a matrix of all ins and outs. neat to play with.