I really dislike the cakewalk midi Arpeggiator plug in that ships with Sonar. So I tried to download a couple of freeware arp plugins and I can't get them to show up in the midi folder so that I can install them on the midi tracks and inputs. Any ideas?

It may help if you specified the plugin(s) :)  My first guess with an arp plugin is that perhaps it needs to be setup as an instrument and the midi track routed to the arp track.

Here is an example using Blue Arp http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3027917
If you have another arp in mind and it does not work like Blue Arp just supply the name of the plug-in and I will try to provide some instructions for it.

Blue Arp is really good and really free too!

What would you do to improve the Cakewalk ARP finctionality out of interest?

First, thanks to everyone for the tips.

Alex,
More patterns and an interface that is more similar to other raps. Different up and down combinations and durations. Export to a step sequence like editor would be awesome, (I have not tried routing the another midi track and recording that, but I imagine that the results would be similar to what I'm suggesting, but it would be nice to skip the extra step.). To be able to set the range with a keyboard graphic would be nice too.

Mind you, I'm a guitarist who does prog, rock and pop production. I'm not an EDM guy or a native keyboard player, so keeping it simple is great.

I love Sonar as a product/platform but the arp midi plug drives me nuts.

JT

I like catanya, but it is not free.
 
JR

Impulse 101
First, thanks to everyone for the tips.

Alex,
More patterns and an interface that is more similar to other raps. Different up and down combinations and durations. Export to a step sequence like editor would be awesome, (I have not tried routing the another midi track and recording that, but I imagine that the results would be similar to what I'm suggesting, but it would be nice to skip the extra step.). To be able to set the range with a keyboard graphic would be nice too.

Mind you, I'm a guitarist who does prog, rock and pop production. I'm not an EDM guy or a native keyboard player, so keeping it simple is great.

I love Sonar as a product/platform but the arp midi plug drives me nuts.

JT

Sounds sensible. You might want to log a feature request.
[EDIT - but you can't as they've temporarily shut it down!!!! ]
 
Cheers...