Recording soft synth audio live in Sonar

I read some posts on this now - sorry, too quick to post without first checking.

But, as I'm using still Sonar 7 - has the issue been fixed in any later editions of Sonar?

Probably wants to mess with settings in real time,  you know elvelope filters and space farts.

Yes you can easily, There are a few ways depending on if you use a mixer etc.

The simple method is simply patch your audio interface outputs to it's inputs and route those to an audio track. Do not use input monitoring of you'll get a loop you didn't want.

I'm a bit confused.

You say -

as it plays back, live rather than first recording it as  MIDI

Then go on to say -

sounds from 8 different midi channels playing back simultaneously

What, all 8 Midi tracks?

first, again, why (you're still not really answering the WHY question)?  what difference does it make if you have one output track or 8?  if the reason is simply because you want to apply the same FX or automation to them all at the same time then you just have to route all 8 of them to a bus and apply everything there.  having all of the outputs routed to a bus puts all 8 tracks in one "track" for you to manipulate.

2nd - if it really is necessary to make all 8 outputs be rendered down to 1 track, then there's still no "limitation" of sonar, you're just not thinking about it clearly.  the easiest way I can think of to do this would be to export all 8 outputs as a stereo wave file.  then import it back into sonar as a new stereo wave file.  then you can archive the MIDI/RMX tracks and you've got all 8 outputs on one stereo wave track now.

And there ya go! From the man who pioneered the method! Good one Bill. Good thing he caught this thread.

but why doesn't bouncing accomplish the same thing?
and why do you need it on ONE track instead of 8?
have you tried bill's live bounce technique?

let me start again - I may have confused myself/everyone by a poor explanation :

The main reason I need to record the Stylus RMX output LIVE, rather than bounce is becuase there are no MIDI notes  ... the 8 channel output in RMX is not activated by a Midi note, but by a "play button" inside the RMX software.  So, I have to press this play button to get the multi playing (at least all channels together, the complete sound - individual channels within this 8 channel multi can be activated by a Midi note).  

I can get around this in a clunky way by adding 8 parts in Sonar, one for each Midi channel in RMX, then dragging-and-dropping each RMX channel part into Sonar.   Then I have MIDI on each channel inside Sonar, and I can use Bounce to record the audio.

in Cubase (and Ableton live, and no doubt others), there appears to be a R record button that allows direct recording of whatever the soft synth is outputting (just like I can do with my hardware sysnths).   I'm using Sonar 7, and I read other threads that address the same issue - eg, http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1667272

 I just wonder now, for example in X1, will that be able to record directly as I'm wanting to?

I don't know if this will work on that soft synth but when you insert the soft synth you have the option of enabling Midi Output on the Soft Synth. Then that soft synth can be used as the Input of a Midi track. I have seen it record Midi data generated buy other soft synths. Might be worth a try.

he 8 channel output in RMX is not activated by a Midi note, but by a "play button" inside the RMX software. So, I have to press this play button

Is it possible to automate this button?

I do this all the time. (However I have digital mixer). Actually, I usually just hit record while I'm auditioning so if I like it, I keep it. Otherwise, cntrl/z. Just rout your mixer monitoring channels into a new track on sonar. If your analog, you'll have to adjust for latency.

For those that don't know, Stylus is kind of a pain getting what you want quickly into sonar using bounce or freeze..

I copied this from the MOTU Ultralite Mk-3 Manual (page 32) . Maybe it will help.

Return Assign
The Return Assign menu lets you choose any pair of UltraLite-mk3 audio outputs. The audio signal
from this output pair is then sent back to the computer via the Stereo Return 1-2 bus. This stereo
return bus from the UltraLite-mk3 appears in your host software alongside all other UltraLite-mk3
inputs, wherever your host software lists them. The UltraLite-mk3 stereo return bus can be used
for a variety of purposes. For example, you could use it to send a final mix being played through the
UltraLite-mk3 back to the computer, where you could record it for mastering or archiving purposes.

As another example, you could use the stereo return bus to capture tracks played from your host
software, along with live inputs being routed directly through the UltraLite-mk3 hardware via
CueMix FX (with or without CueMix effects processing on the live inputs).

Well, you know the old saying... "when all else fails, read the manual".

OK, now I tried it.    I didn't get it to work yet, but I think I must be close.  Could you tell where I might have gone wrong here :    I set the Return Assign in the MOTU Audio console to be "Analog 3-4".  I left Main Out assign as it was ("S/PDIF").  I then went to Sonar, and added a new Audio track, and put its input to be MOTU Analog 3-4.    When I pressed "play" in Stylus RMX I got sound, and I saw the metre in the RMX "audio" track (that is, the one without the "R" button :-)), but I saw no movement in the metres in the new Audio track set as input "MOTU Analog 3-4".   Can you see form this where I went wrong?   Thanks for your advice.

Chappel


I copied this from the MOTU Ultralite Mk-3 Manual (page 32) . Maybe it will help.

Return Assign
The Return Assign menu lets you choose any pair of UltraLite-mk3 audio outputs. The audio signal
from this output pair is then sent back to the computer via the Stereo Return 1-2 bus. This stereo
return bus from the UltraLite-mk3 appears in your host software alongside all other UltraLite-mk3
inputs, wherever your host software lists them. The UltraLite-mk3 stereo return bus can be used
for a variety of purposes. For example, you could use it to send a final mix being played through the
UltraLite-mk3 back to the computer, where you could record it for mastering or archiving purposes.

As another example, you could use the stereo return bus to capture tracks played from your host
software, along with live inputs being routed directly through the UltraLite-mk3 hardware via
CueMix FX (with or without CueMix effects processing on the live inputs).

Not sure with Motu, but on my M Audio SPDIF shares with 3/4, I can only use one or the other. Try switching to analog out.
Some interfaces can do it internally, yours looks like it will.
If not grab some short patch cables and patch output to input.