I just installed SONAR X3 Producer on a new computer and I can't get MIDI audio to play. The MIDI in and out are flashing on my interface and I can see the audio signal in my mixing board, but no audio coming out  of SONAR when I play back the track.
 
Any thoughts?
 
Thanks,
John 

My first thought is that MIDI is not audio, so no one can hear it. MIDI is a set of machine instructions to make an instrument (outboard synth or softsynth program in the computer) play music. So obviously we do not know what you are trying to do. If you want help, you will need to spend some time and effort explaining your problem. Most of the time this question comes from someone who does not have his MIDI tracks set up properly to feed their data into a softsynth. 
 
www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR X3&language=3&help=Tutorial4.1.html
 
 
 
 
 

Hi slartabartfast, thanks for posting.
OK, here's what's happening:

• When I run SONAR on the timeline, I see MIDI IN and OUT flashing on my MIDI interface so I know that the interface is reading the MIDI file that already exists on a track in my project.
• My Mackie mixing board is showing the audio from my MIDI-driven Roland XP-80 as SONAR runs. (The XP-80 output is on channel strips 19-20)
• When I record a vocal (channel strip 18), it records successfully on a track in my SONAR project and I hear it coming through my speakers, so I know that the audio is being passed from the Mackie board.
• But the audio coming through channel strips 19-20 is not audible.

For what it's worth, one peculiarity is that when I unplug and re-plug the line input cable (blue jack) on the back of my computer, the MIDI signal no longer appears on channel strips 19-20 of my Mackie mixer. I'm mentioning it just in case that gives you a clue to what's going on.
 
Hope that helps clarify matters.
 
Thanks,
John

OK, so now we know you have at least two pieces of equipment (mixer and outboard synth) that we would not have guessed from the OP. The problem remains that it is not clear how they are connected and what you are trying to accomplish. Since the Roland XP-80 is a MIDI keyboard controller, a MIDI controlled sound module and a MIDI sequencer in its own right there are a lot of possibilities. Is it that you want an already recorded MIDI track in Sonar to control the Roland XP-80 sound module via a midi connection (how is that connection established?) and then to record the audio output from the XP-80 back into Sonar? 

Basically I just want to hear the pre-existing MIDI track played back while it's still MIDI only. As I run the track in SONAR, Channels 19 and 20 on my mixer light up indicating that the MIDI is being received and the audio is being fed to the mixer, but I can't hear it. However if i record the MIDI tracks onto an audio track, then I can hear them on the newly recorded audio track.
The IN and OUT of the MIDI tracks are:
    IN: USB Uno MIDI Interface
    OUT: 1-USB Uno MIDI Interface
As I recall this is how they were configured in SONAR X1, and I could always hear the MIDI tracks played back.
 
Does that information help?
 

Just to be clear, you are never going to be able to hear a MIDI track while it is still MIDI only. The sound has to come from something else that is controlled by the MIDI track. I think you are saying you want the MIDI track to make the XP-80 play audio. But how does it get to your speakers.
 
If I have this right (and I am not sure that I do) you are using the Uno as the output from the Sonar MIDI track, the MIDI out from the Uno is connected to the MIDI in of the XP-80, the audio outs from the XP-80 are going into a mixer ... and that is as far as I can guess. Somehow the audio out from the mixer channels that the XP-80 is feeding has to be routed to your speakers. It sounds like you may have your speakers as output from Sonar, but not have the mixer output running directly to the speakers. If that is the case you would not expect to hear anything from the speakers (via Sonar's main outs, through an as yet unspecified audio interface) unless you send the XP-80 audio signal out from the mixer in to the input of a Sonar audio track. At that point, Sonar can record the audio in its audio track and also echo it out to the Sonar main outs.
 
Can you hear the output you want from the headphone jack of the XP-80?
If you connect your speakers directly to the output from the channels on your mixer that are taking the XP-80 as input can you hear it?

In 'very' short:
MIDI is not sound, its just data. MIDI needs a synth or softsynth to produce sounds. The MIDI data will trigger the synth and then the  synth will make the sound.
 
CJ

Also to be clear, if MIDI is being routed to an outboard synth, the AUDIO made by that synth is what needs to be recorded (not the MIDI out of the synth).

I just realized that it's not a MIDI specific problem at all. The audio master out of the mixer goes to the line-in of the computer, but the audio does not go to the speakers even though the output setting for master is "Speakers / Headphones (IDT High ..."  The only thing that goes to the speakers is the pre-recorded material on the tracks!
 
There must be some setting somewhere that will enable the line-in audio to get to the speakers the same way the pre-recorded audio tracks do.  But what?

By the way, does anybody know why Cakewalk has been closed for the last week. I'm in pretty desperate need of technical support  (for more than just this). 
 
Concerned,
John