I currently use Sonar 8 and have recently bought Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 and MIR Pro and I am having difficulty learning to use it. Does anyone here use the same setup? I would like to talk to users willing to help me out. Thank you, Mike Coyle

Mike... do they have any user forums for that software?   I'd go there for the specifics and little tricks people use in those packages. 

Aside from that, are you at all familiar with how to use synths?  Basically each one of those packages is a synth (player) with a library of patches or samples depending..... Vienna is a sampled synth IIRC. 

Are you up to speed on how to insert synths and get the midi data to properly trigger the samples? 

If not..... reply back and we can get you pointed in the right direction.  Otherwise.....

Insert the synth, be sure it knows where the samples are located and select the sample from that library and load it. Be sure the keyboard you use sends midi data in the same channel the synth is using to receive and you should be good to go. 

Since most synths operate in similar manner, if you know one, they should all work along the same lines. 

Hello from the Sonar forum . I'll try to give this a go. I'm on X1, but the steps should apply to Sonar 8 as well. 
First, let's get the basics working on one machine. 
1. Open Vienna Ensemble Pro Server.
2. Open Sonar, load a project.
3. In your Sonar project, load the soft synth: Vienna Ensemble Pro.
4. The VEP soft synth should say "NOT CONNECTED". Press the Connect button, and you should see "127.0.0.1 localhost [64] (NEW)" under AVAILABLE INSTANCES. (the [64] is for the 64-bit version of the server. The important part is the 127.0... part)
5. If you don't see that, then there's a problem.
6. Select the 127.0... and press the CONNECT button.
7. That should have loaded the main VEP interface.
 
These steps are all in VEP
8. In VEP make sure you're in the Mixer interface. F3 will toggle it on and off.
9. Right Click and Add Instrument. This will load a "Vienna Instrument" plugin.
10. Load an instrument into that Vienna Instrument. At this point, doesn't matter which one. If you lose the plugin's UI, double click the track name in the VEP mixer to open it up.
11. At this point, when the instrument is loaded, you should be able to click the little piano keys at the bottom of the Vienna Instrument and it should play through VEP into Sonar.
 
Now back to Sonar.
12. Set a MIDI track (insert one if you don't have one) output to the Vienna Ensemble Pro soft synth.
13. Record or Enter MIDI notes into that track.
14. Play it back, and all should be well.
 
The main thing about VEP, is that the Vienna Ensemble Pro soft synth in Sonar handles all the audio output of the VEP mixer interface, including MIR. MIR is another level of complexity. Report back, and then we'll try to tackle MIR.
 
 
 
 

  Herb, Thanks for your reply. I am pretty familiar with everything you mentioned. When I first learned to use Sonar I would create an audio track, insert the softsynth in the FX bin, then create a midi track and point the output tp the instrument. Then someone told me about the inert method where both tracks are created for you. Vienna Ensemble Pro is a weird program and I'll be honest, I am not even sure how to explain its purpose, but I do know it is necessary to run MIR which is the software I really want. Another member of this forum has offered help and he has the same setup, so I think I'll get the answers I need. I'm sure all of you will hear more from me over the next few weeks though! :-) Thanks, Mike

Steve thank you, I will try all this tomorrow when I get back to the computer. I'm sure I'll be in touch again! Mike

Before I type up MIR instructions, there are two possibilities: 1. Run audio out of Sonar, into VEP and MIR, back to Sonar.

2. Send MIDI from Sonar to a Synth in VEP, run through MIR, output to Sonar.

Which do you want to do?

Steve Corey, please see my reply below - I was using Firefox which was not allowing me to format text on this forum so I am using IE for now.  It will make my reply much easier to read and reply to.
 
Thanks,
 
Mike

Ignore this post - it was about the formatting issue.  Turns out Firefox was the problem.

Steve, once again, see below - I reposted this quesrtion after I switched browsers. 
 
Mike

I just stumbled on this thread because I'm interested in VEPro. I have no clue about the program but to answer your question about the text format.
If  your using Firefox to browse  and reply in this forum, that's the problem. Try using a different browser. Chrome seems to work. 

Good luck