This is something that has confounded me for some time so if anyone can answer this I'd be grateful.
 
Basically I'd like to make some pads using different VST synths layered on top of each other. However, I'd like to be able to play the layered pad from a single midi track rather than having to copy/paste the music data between tracks and all the hassle of re-copy/pasting every time I make a change.
 
*Without* using any 3rd party rewiring tools, is it possible for X3 to do this?

Nope.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

dcumpian
Nope.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Thanks for the response but... Heh, in this day and age, as well as being umpteen versions into Sonar, that kinda sucks. Multiple sends from a midi track would be all it takes to allow it.

Roo Stercogburn

dcumpian
Nope.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Thanks for the response but... Heh, in this day and age, as well as being umpteen versions into Sonar, that kinda sucks. Multiple sends from a midi track would be all it takes to allow it.

It can be done very easily live - simply enable each synth with the same Midi input.
You can't currently play multiple synths from a single MIDI track - but what's the big deal? it takes a few seconds to copy the MIDI clips/tracks to the synths/tracks where you want them and hit play.
I know this has been raised a few times, but simply shouldn't be a big deal in my opinion. 

You can do half of what you are asking.  It still takes more than one midi track, but you can control multiple VST's with one controller.  Just enable the input echo on each of midi tracks corresponding to the VSTi's you want to sound.  It would be nice to be able to use a single track to control multiple synths from the point of view of later editing.  Using linked clips can help to keep the multiple VST's synced, but a single midi track with multiple sends could be simpler.  You can control multiple VST's from a single midi track in Reaper, but I'm not sure I'd classify working with midi in Reaper as "easier" than doing it in Sonar...
Dan

Roo Stercogburn
This is something that has confounded me for some time so if anyone can answer this I'd be grateful.
 
Basically I'd like to make some pads using different VST synths layered on top of each other. However, I'd like to be able to play the layered pad from a single midi track rather than having to copy/paste the music data between tracks and all the hassle of re-copy/pasting every time I make a change.
 
*Without* using any 3rd party rewiring tools, is it possible for X3 to do this?

Yeah, well I've honestly only ever had the need a few times and simply printed the midi to audio, then selected a different VST and printed the audio again, rinse and repeat until the stack is complete. Would never work for live work or if you were charging by the hour. The only way to do this in Sonar *is* with 3rd party tools. There are a few Midi Patchbay VST plugins out there that will allow you to do this easily.
 
No one ever said Sonar was perfect...but I use it every day.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

It's not native SONAR nor a rewiring tool either, but plugins like MUX allow you to layer synths in a single track.
http://www.mutools.com/mux-product.html
 

Thanks for the various responses guys.
 
Basically Sonar is missing what could be a killer pad-making feature if it could handle stuff like this natively.
 
Multiple different VSTs (or even real hardware) controlled from a single source, grouped and routed into a single bus (though obviously you don't always want everything through the same bus). Its the kind of feature that would be incredibly useful in sound design and would greatly increase the ease with which pads or other complex sounds could be created, automated and controlled. Not sure I'd want to use Sonar for any live performance but its the kind of feature that would be useful for such.
 
Midi automation could then be simply created on a single track and applied to however many synths you're using.
 
The way I'm doing it currently is usually to make changes on a single midi track and then copy/paste the whole track to whatever VSTs I've got layered. Bit tedious. I find Input Echo a bit of an unwieldy kludge to make up for not really doing it properly.
 
I'll forward this to Cakewalk, sure would be nice to have multiple midi sends in a future version :)

I found my way back to Sonar using DDMF Metaplugin, which also supports loading of VST3 plugins - and overcomes any limitations of this sort which made me leave.
 
www.ddmf.eu
 
It even supports Waves shell stuff, now - at least I got it working fine, even VST3.
Since mixing Waves stuff as both VST2 and VST3 is not recommended this is vital.
 
Just draw your connections between midi or audio channels.
 
A synth and an effect version exist so you can run whatever suites better.
 
Really good $49 investment.
 
And with the nice track templates in Sonar you easily make a setup that you reuse in any project.

Roo Stercogburn
Thanks for the various responses guys.
 
Basically Sonar is missing what could be a killer pad-making feature if it could handle stuff like this natively.
 
Multiple different VSTs (or even real hardware) controlled from a single source, grouped and routed into a single bus (though obviously you don't always want everything through the same bus). Its the kind of feature that would be incredibly useful in sound design and would greatly increase the ease with which pads or other complex sounds could be created, automated and controlled. Not sure I'd want to use Sonar for any live performance but its the kind of feature that would be useful for such.
 
Midi automation could then be simply created on a single track and applied to however many synths you're using.
 
The way I'm doing it currently is usually to make changes on a single midi track and then copy/paste the whole track to whatever VSTs I've got layered. Bit tedious. I find Input Echo a bit of an unwieldy kludge to make up for not really doing it properly.
 
I'll forward this to Cakewalk, sure would be nice to have multiple midi sends in a future version :)

I agree it would be a cool feature to have.  Could using linked clips simplify things for you a bit?  Then you could just make changes on one midi track and the others would update automatically.  I guess if your working with a lot of automation maybe that doesn't help so much.  Can automation be linked across multiple tracks?
Dan