Sonar & Gr55 guitarsynth pedal...

I've heard good things about the GR-55 over at futureguitarnow.com - an excellent forum for tech guitar junkies.

I still use my old GR-30.  (If it's good enough for Robert Fripp...)

I feed my GR-30 output into SONAR in two ways.   First being the simple audio out direct into my sound card, to record the audio.   Of course, this is easy & works fine. 

But you can also pass the MIDI from your GR-XX thru to SONAR, which opens up a lot of possibilities.   I use my guitar synth to play everything, even drums.  I use it to drive Pentagon, RaptureLE, etc.   I can use it to record the guitar MIDI data in SONAR, then play that MIDI data thru different synths later.   Even different voices back on the GR30.  

Just in case you're new to this - there are TWO things you need to setup properly to nail the desired behavior...  

(1)  Make sure both SONAR and the GR-55 are using the same channels, e.g., 11-16.   Also ensure the guitar synth is in MONO mode, which means it is sending out data for each guitar string on its own channel.   TO TEST...  If you've done it right, when you are in the staff view in X1 with the guitar fretboard displayed, and you play a bar chord up the neck, you actually see the chord displayed on the fretboard in X1 exactly as played on your guitar.  If the notes are all over the place, you need to either align the channels or get everything in MONO mode. 

(2)  Align the PBRs (pitch bend ranges) for whatever voices you're using.  Slide guitars, whammy bars, etc., will work perfectly if you have the PBRs aligned between your guitar synth & the target synthesizer.   

ALIGNING THESE SETTINGS BETWEEN THE GUITAR SYNTH AND X1 IS VERY IMPORTANT, otherwise bending notes, etc., won't work AT ALL...   

I have used my GR-30 as well as my VG-99 very successfully with SONAR.  

Hope this makes sense.  If you need further explanation, just let me know.  

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This all works fine for me in X1, btw...   I'm one of the lucky ones, X1 is rock solid stable for me, in fact, I think the most stable SONAR ever...   This may have everything to do with the facts that I have (1) a brand new Win7 64-bit PC, (2) a Roland audio device (UA-101), and (3) fairly simple projects (rarely more than 20 tracks) and (4) I don't need any 32-bit support at all, stayed away from all of that.   I use no 3rd party plugins I use other than what is provided with SONAR.  I stuck with 64-bit everything in my install.   

Thanks. Well I do have a 8x8 midi patchbay aswell so if the GR55 has midi I/O I might as well go that route.... We'll see. I learnd the hard way this kinda gear needs to be investigated bigtime...

And some additional thoughts. How does one work in Sonar with a Masterkeyboard. A Drumpad-keyboard, a guitarsynth -midi module and a electronic drumkit?

shawnbulen




I still use my old GR-30.  (If it's good enough for Robert Fripp...)

What guitar are you using?