http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/19/midi_spec_1_is_30_happy_birthday_musical_instrument_digital_interface
 

To play a synth in Sonar, you need a synth, a MIDI track and an audio track. The MIDI track contains information about the notes to play and is sent to the synth. The synth uses this information to create a sound which is sent to the audio track.

When you apply an effect like distortion, you apply it to the audio track. If you want to change the notes the synth is playing, you do that on the MIDI track. Just remember this routing:

MIDI->synth->audio

Having said that, I would be interested to learn more about the "chord anal" effect you mention.

sharke
Having said that, I would be interested to learn more about the "chord anal" effect you mention.

The return of One Direction...

thanks all,
 
I've understood midi vs audio, just didn't get why there are so little effects for midi vs audio... 
 
Where can I find and download and use in sonar more midi effects?
 
Anyway, I searched more in cakewalk online help and found this http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X2&Lang=EN&Req=Mixing.06.html which helps explain further how to convert midi to audio...
 
once again thanks all!

Most MIDI fx just do mathematical equations on the midi data, great for things like echo and transposing, but not so for eq and distortion.
Remember this one fact - before you can turn anything MIDI into anything audio, like an MP3, it will have to be all audio at some point, so it is preferable to put fx on the audio, not the midi (where it can't be undone later.) And, you can't mix or master MIDI, you can only mix and master audio.

Stone House Studios
.........
Remember this one fact - before you can turn anything MIDI into anything audio, like an MP3, it will have to be all audio at some point, so it is preferable to put fx on the audio, not the midi (where it can't be undone later.) And, you can't mix or master MIDI, you can only mix and master audio.

ahhhhhhh

It looks like (from your first four posts) you are doing a pretty good job figuring this out on your own.  TTS-1 is a Swiss army knife as far as synths go (multitimbral).  You can run 16 tracks (or keyboards) into it, each patched to a different instrument, and send the output to eight different output tracks.  It has a really low demand on your system and operates with minimal latency.  Wonderful tool to use while tracking.
 
When you insert TTS-1 use the "All synth audio output" option and you can send your bass to a separate output audio channel which you can then distort to your hearts content without affecting the other instruments.
 
I would suggest however, that you try a different approach of adding a synth instance for each MIDI track and use a few of the far better synths that come with X3.  Try inserting "dimension pro" and redirecting the MIDI track output to it.  There are tons of exceptional bass patches (programs) that you can load into dim pro that will knock your socks off.  Then, if you still need it, add distortion FX to the dim pro track.  If TTS-1  is a Swiss Army Knife, Dim Pro is a Samurai Sword.  It can only handle one thing at a time, but it really handles it.
 
Session Drummer 3 rocks for percussion.
 
Glen

This used to trip me up too but basically your MIDI track is triggering a synth which is then being made audible through an audio track. What gets confusing is those blasted simple instrument tracks that mish mash a midi track and an audio track together. Try inserting your synth using All Synth Outputs Stereo (or Mono) then you'll see the audio tracks that the sound from the synth is going to. Then you can choose from any of the effects you have installed on your computer. I have no idea what the heck those MIDI effects are supposed to do. I figured they just manipulated the MIDI notes somehow (like an arpeggiator) to do weird stuff to how the data is read.
 
So like this... If I insert an instance of Addictive Drums using "All Synth Outputs Stereo" (or however they have it labeled) I'll get one MIDI track then a bunch of audio tracks that represent each output from the synth (like Snare, Kick, Toms, etc). On THOSE track I have an FX Bin and a ProChannel and all that good stuff while the MIDI track has a different strip and set of options. You would insert your distortion on one of the audio tracks. Leave the MIDI track alone.
 
I'm sure there is a way to get your FX onto a simple instrument track but I gave up on those because I always mostly multi output synths and like having the audio tracks visible even when I'm not. Just makes more sense to me even if it is a little more cluttered.

There are several very useful tutorials in the reference manual.
Just open Sonar and press F1.