Hey guys. So, I understand gain staging with respect to audio, but I must be missing something with MIDI. I use a Roland TD-4 kit to trigger Addictive Drums. It works great, but the meters in the console view (as well as track view) seem to clip so easily. I have to turn the faders way down in the AD mixer to stop this, but then I have trouble getting the drums loud enough.

Does this make sense? I am probably missing something.

The red indicators on a  midi track are only to show you that you are at max velocity, they do not indicate clipping. But--If the synth output, which is audio, is showing clipping, you will have to turn it down or slap a compressor on it. 
Midi data cannot clip. It's just data. 
But velocity has an effect on how some sounds are played back. A piano hit at max velocity will be harsher that one played at a lower velocity. Depends on the synth and the instrument. 

The red portion of the meter on a MIDI track indicates activity only. The rest of the meter shows velocity. http://www.cakewalk.com/D...amp;Req=Mixing.20.html

Thanks guys, nothing to worry about then. :)

Ok might have changed in newer versions, Mine in 8.5 will go red when it hits the top of the meter just like audio. Just means I've hit 127 vel. 

The description on page 615 of the "SONAR 8.5 Reference Guide.pdf" reads the same as http://www.cakewalk.com/D...amp;Req=Mixing.20.html

Forgive my ignorance guys, but there are 2 things I am not understanding now;
- in console view, what purpose does the fader serve on a midi track?
- does the AD mixer come before or after the console in the signal chain?
 
Sorry if these are dumb questions but I have barebones midi knowledge.

Hi Flerb,
The volume fader on a MIDI track usually controls the volume setting of a connected instrument. In Kontakt, for example, it will control the volume slider of the loaded instrument. It does essentially the same thing in Dim Pro, even though I can't see what parameter it's controlling. Think of the volume slider on a MIDI track as though it's interacting with an external MIDI instrument: it just sends control values to an instrument and the instrument responds accordingly. The same thing applies to VST's.
 
In the case of A.D., I've poked at the MIDI track volume slider here and I'm not seeing it do anything, so (unless I'm missing something) it seems like there isn't a parameter mapped in A.D. that responds to the MIDI control messages the MIDI slider in Sonar is sending.
 
As far as signal flow it works like this:
MIDI fader just sends MIDI control messages to the instrument. They do whatever they are mapped to do (in the case of A.D. it looks to me like they do nothing at all). The A.D. mixer controls the individual audio outputs out of A.D. Those audio outputs go to one or more synth output tracks in Sonar.
 
In general one cannot "place" the MIDI fader in any specific place in a signal flow because it varies by instrument.
 
Dean

Couple of things:
.
 
As of X3d (I believe), by popular request, MIDI  meter activity indicators are no longer red; they're green. So if the OP is seeing red indicators on a meter it's audio. But I see the OP's signature wasy X3b, so maybe an update is in order...?
 
Aut the OP also said that pulling faders down in AD stops the "clipping' in the track/console meters, which wouldn't happen if it's MIDI, so it does appear there's something a problem with audio gain staging.
 
But it's not "clipping" per se if it's audio from a soft synth because in-the-box signals won't ever be clipped. Only a live analog input (Edit: or physical output) can actually "clip".
 
Nevertheless, good practice even in DAWland dictates that you don't want any meters peaking above 0dBFS.  In this regard, it's important to differentiate between the red "zone" of the meter above -6dB, and actual 0dB "clip" level. Like SessionDrummer, AD does have a hot output by default. I just checked it with a canned beat and single output from AD's Master out, and it was peaking at -1.2dB. So it's in the red "zone", but not "clipping" the track output.
 
And finally, the volume controls in MIDI track send MIDI  volume CC7 messages. Most synths will respond to this either at the channel level or at the Master output level, but AD appears to be one that does not - at least not by default. There may be a setting to enable it.
 
 

I am running X3d, just updated my sig, sorry.
 
I think I understand how it works now. I have my td-4 kit running into my midi interface, which is routed to a midi channel in Sonar, goes from there out to AD where it is turned into audio and separated into different channels for snare, kick, overheads, etc., then back into sonar with a separate channel for each drum.
 
I had set up my kit with AD by watching a video, just following the steps, didn't really understand what I was doing.
 
I guess AD does just have a hot output by default, when I turn the sliders in AD down, it stops the clipping, if that's what it is doing. The individual drum channels in console view were in the red most of the time, and there were tiny red squares that were staying on at the top of the meters, in the bus and master channels as well.
 
Guess I'll just have to mess around some more to find the best balance between AD's mixer and Sonar's.
 
Thanks for help.