I have MIDI tracks set up in Sonar so that I can record alongside a Maschine plugin which has 16 MIDI inputs (and output 16 sounds to audio tracks).
It is set this way:
 
Maschine Group MIDI In = Not Active.
 
 Maschine MIDI Ins:
 Sound 1 = Input -> MIDI -> Active -> channel 1
 Sound 2 = Input -> MIDI -> Active -> channel 2
 Sound 3 = Input -> MIDI -> Active -> channel 3
 to 16 etc
 
 Maschine MIDI Outs:
 Sound 1 = Output -> MIDI -> Host -> channel 1 (transpose = 0)
 Sound 2 = Output -> MIDI -> Host -> channel 2 (transpose = 0)
 Sound 3 = Output -> MIDI -> Host -> channel 3 (transpose = 0)
 to 16 etc
 
 DAW MIDI Ins:
 DAW track 1 MIDI Input = Maschine channel 1
 DAW track 2 MIDI Input = Maschine channel 2
 DAW track 3 MIDI Input = Maschine channel 3
 to 16 etc
 
 DAW MIDI Outs:
 DAW track 1 MIDI Output = Maschine channel 1
 DAW track 2 MIDI Output = Maschine channel 2
 DAW track 3 MIDI Output = Maschine channel 3
 to 16 etc
 
I am not using keyboard mode in Maschine and I can record and play back fine with this configuration.

However my problem is that if I look at Sonar Piano roll every sound is on one note (see screenshot). If I move a note up the scale all I do is change the Pitch of a Maschine sound, not the sound itself. Also all Maschine will allow me to do it seems is transpose a note. I could work with this but it would be much better to have different sounds on different notes in the DAW!
 
Any ideas, is this where I'm supposed to go into Sonar Drum Map Manager maybe?
Any Maschine 2 users here have a better way? (Another reason why I had it set up like this was to be able to drag notes from the Maschine plugin, which will create 16 midi tracks rather than just one, although it wouldn't be necessary to use this workflow all the time, it just allows flexibility).
 
Thanks
 
Alex
 

Alex I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to accomplish.
 
Are you trying to drive a softsynth via Maschine? If so I'm not sure what all of those assignments are for, what I do is have a template setup in Maschine for what I want to drive and I just set Maschine to MIDI mode and then select it as the MIDI input for that track with the subject template loaded.
 
As it happens I have been editing a Maschine template for use with Battery all day today so I may be assuming something here that is false. Maybe just describe what the end result your trying to get to...
 
Regards,

Thanks Mike...

Well basically I'm using 16 Sonar MIDI tracks to trigger Maschine sounds (one per MIDI channel), Maschine can then record what is in Sonar into it's sequencer. I'm also getting Sonar to record Maschine from each of it's 16 MIDI output tracks. I'm trying to get the process as seamless as possible between sequencers so I can flip between one and the other.
 
I've just implemented a cunning plan and my piano roll view in Sonar now looks like this (just how I wanted it to be, please check post 1 for a picture of how it was), and it is triggering sounds correctly (well almost):



 
How figured this one out was to have the Maschine plugin transpose the 16 MIDI outputs assigned to each of the 16 sounds. So Sound 1 has been transposed by a value of 1, sound 2 has been transposed by a value of 2, etc all the way to Sound 16.
 
At the Sonar end I've added a drum map for the 16 MIDI channels like this to compensate for the transposition:
 

 
It's working but sadly I'm getting into feedback MIDI loops and inability to SOLO buttons! So still scratching my head on this, so near and yet so far! Taken me ages!


UPDATE:

Fixed the MIDI loops issue (schoolboy error) however SOLO buttons have stopped working now, tracks mute just don't SOLO in this project, i.e. No sound will come out when SOLO'ing  :( Weird!!! SOLO'ing will return if I stop using the Maschine transpose drum map (as above screenshot).

Well that was worth a couple of days work only to fall down at the last hurdle with a Sonar bug with SOLO buttons :(
frustrated... oh well..
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Drum-Map-Affecting-Track-Solo-m2926042.aspx
 

That's an interesting concept Alex. I'm curious what the application would be on say Sonar MIDI driving NIM, couldn't you just bring the MIDI file into NIM? It's almost as if in concept NIM is an external synth.
 
Not disagreeing here I'm curious...and I am reminded of a little utility I once wrote that I was quite proud of and I called a co-worker over to show them and when they saw it they said: "Yes that cool...or you could just use the copy command." lol
 
Regards,

Well the goal I was trying to achieve is to be able to quickly flip my workflow easily between Sonar and Maschine, in detail:
 
1) Sonar to record 16 separate audio outs from Maschine.
 
2) Be able to drag the notes out of Maschine into 16 MIDI tracks, then delete the notes from the Maschine, and be able to press play in Sonar and it will play back in Sonar without any further fiddling or moving around.
 
3) Be able to easily drag MIDI notes around in the DAW in piano view.

4) After this, press record in the Maschine plugin and record the MIDI notes back into Maschine. Delete the notes in Sonar and you will be exactly where you started off (nb it's a total **** that you can't drag the notes back into Maschine plugin, it looks like it will work but then it doesn't, I wonder if it will work with other PC DAWs, not sure if it's a Sonar or NI issue but you can certainly drag a MIDI file into the plugin).
 
5) Easy to map drum pads etc.
 
This is accomplished in Maschine pad mode not keyboard mode.
 
If you can find a dead easy way to do exactly this without any fiddling then please do let me know :) I'd be interested in any feedback, I will be releasing a template soon so I definitely will want to improve it.
 
Thanks...

CakeAlexS
...
 
If you can find a dead easy way to do exactly this without any fiddling then please do let me know :) I'd be interested in any feedback, I will be releasing a template soon so I definitely will want to improve it.

Sadly I don't think there is an easy way to do what you are trying to do. I think there will always be issues keeping NIM to DAW (and vice versa) communication in sync. The Battery template I've been working on has issues of this nature, I have knob pages that I am trying to keep in sync with the tabs (Edit, Effects, Main etc) in Battery...it's a real beach.
 
It's admirable what you have accomplished so far.
 
Regards,

Thanks Mike, well we will see how it actually fares in workflow.
 
Here is to hoping Sonar fixes all the solo button issues for X3E, I also hope we will be able to drag clips into plugins so MIDI and AUDIO can be transferred into plugins like other Daws can (assuming this is a Sonar issue, not sure about that).
 
I wrote a little review reflecting on my Maschine experience so far (as I can easily be classed as a newbie, done about 120 hours on it, and now I'm feel I can seriously use it in my workflow)... This is not really anything to do with Sonar:


1) SOLO buttons, come off it NI are you serious!!! You need to put these everywhere in the next (free) update (tomorrow). That's the only thing I'm annoyed with (yes I can right click on mute but that's confusing).
 The below is what I would gladly pay for (but rather have it free of course).
 
 2) It appears a mapping UI is needed much like the Battery synth, moving octaves up and down to get into the frame works right now, but what if you need to use more than one controller that is handling the same samples in different octave scopes, well it can get messy if not impossible? Once this is done I could throw away battery.
 
34) ARA integration for the plugin whereby it could slaves along with the DAW would be nice... or is this not possible with a more MIDI centric plugin?
 
4) I feel Traktor (and related interfaces) can be integrated more easily, although this is a gap in my knowledge right now it seems.
 
5) If you are mixing back into the DAW 16 audio outputs may not be enough, 24 would have been better. I'm not really sure why there is a limitation here anyway. If there is a limitation to force good practice, that limitation is best set in preferences.
 
I'd be interested in other peoples alternative workflows with Maschine and Sonar. I know I did a similar thread a while back but that was concentrating on audio rather than MIDI.
 
 
 

Way too much work considering it's already set up with seperate ins and outs within maschine that can be edited within maschine as midi or easily exported as individual or group wavs. Learn to edit within Maschine. You'll thank yourself! I love Maschine! I do all of Maschine's programming IN maschine while it's running as VST inside Sonar then export Maschines wavs for mixing and mastering. Half of the fun is automating fx parameters into your loop patterns for breaks or buildups. By the way, Maschine can export all 16 pads of all 8 groups individually for 128 individual sounds separated as wav file. Need more, load in another Maschine plug.

> Learn to edit within Maschine. You'll thank yourself
 
I have and I do ;)
 
Anyway that's the idea of this template, you can sequence with the Maschine software or sequence with Cakewalk or both, or you can flip it midday through the project or stick to whatever workflow you like, the workflow choice is yours...... the flexibility is always there however to swap between them at a whim (#6), well any workflow you like really.
 
Cheers...