So I think I already have the answer to this but I wanted to double check. Here is the entry in the BFD Eco manual in regards to the "problem" getting things set up...
 
2. In the synth properties dialog box that appears, you can choose to set up BFD Eco’s additional outputs in the Sonar mixer. Unfortunately, this dialog box does not include an option to create all the required stereo and mono outputs, so it is recommended to choose ‘All Synth Audio Outputs: Stereo’, and afterwards manually change the stereo channels created for BFD Eco’s mono 1-16 outputs to mono channels. If you do not know how to do this, please consult your Sonar documentation or contact Cakewalk support.
 
Basically what happens is if you select All Synth Outputs = Stereo all the kit pieces that should be mono get their own stereo track. If you select All Synth Outputs = Mono you get two tracks for each kit piece.
 
I want all the kit piece channels like Kick, Snare, Hi Hat, etc to be mono and then my Room and Overheads to be stereo.
 
My question is this. Is the manual fix they refer to done by simply clicking the track input menu in Sonar and selecting either BFD Input Mono Left or Right going to give me the full signal in Mono? Or will it only give me half the signal or do something else screwy?
 
If that is not the proper way to fix this what is the proper way?
 
Thanks in advance. I know I have been asking a lot of questions about the relationship between BFD and Sonar but I think this should be the last one (hopefully). I just want to get every nuance of this topic understood because I will be using these concepts in pretty much everything I create in Sonar so it's kind of important. Sorry to be a pain.

Just a bump with a bit of extra detail because I'd like to get this issue nailed this afternoon and move on with my remix of this project (I've been fiddling with this BFD performance and how to manage the resulting audio for a week now trying to understand anything and everything I need to know so I don't have to keep asking questions about this matter).
 
While I was waiting I checked out the stereo waves that my multi out BFD set up created (because I just left all the inputs set to stereo which is what the default was when I inserted the synth and why I'm trying to figure this out... I want the mono tracks).
 
The meters are showing that on the traditional stereo inputs (the Overheads and Room channels) there is indeed variations between left and right which is cool and obviously normal. On the channels that SHOULD be mono (eg: the direct outputs for the Kick, Snare, etc) the left and right channels of the meter are display the exact same output which confirms (to my little pea brain anyway) that I am indeed getting a mono output from BFD so that is cool too.
 
So I just want to get these "mono" channels to actually be mono channels. I could perhaps use the Right Click > Convert to Mono option as well but again I'm not sure if this is appropriate and isn't something I'd want to put into my workflow because I am currently working in an odd way (bouncing the tracks instead of just freezing... I am doing this for educational purposes so let's leave it at that for now).
 
The better way obviously is to set things up so I get the Mono channels right at the set up of my project instead of fiddling with it after.
 
So as I said I probably already have the answer (choose BFD Mono Left or Right for the channel input of each kit piece) but just need confirmation that this is appropriate and will not degrade the sound quality.
 
I am trying to a) reduce resource consumption (I'm assuming a stereo track drains more resources than a mono track), b) avoid any weird phasing or mixing confusion and c) just trying to do things properly.
 
So yeah just a bump and some more wacky pontifications on my pondering.
 
Cheers.

Oh and the end result is if my assumption is confirmed I will be resetting all the appropriate track inputs to mono, doing another bounce of everything (to get the same performance across all the new tracks) and deleting the stereo bounce set I did last night.
 
Cheers.
 

I haven't read all 3 of your posts beep, but if it was me, I'd select "All Synth Outputs: Mono" when inserting BFD
 
Then you have 2 jobs to do:
 

1. Delete all the duplicates
2. Set your Overheads/Room to stereo via Sonar's track interelave

Beepster
 Is the manual fix they refer to done by simply clicking the track input menu in Sonar and selecting either BFD Input Mono Left or Right going to give me the full signal in Mono?

Yes. Then save as a track template so you don't have to do it again.

Excellent. Thanks, guys. Two methods at my disposal is better than one.
 
Off to rebounce. Cheers.

Oh donkey doodles. My bounce to audio still created stereo waves after changing the inputs to mono. Urg. I know it will create mono waves if I select the mono option in the bounce dialog but it does it for all tracks selected and I do not want that to apply to the Room and Overhead channels (which I left as stereo inputs). Doing a separate bounce of the tracks I want stereo won't work either because I'm then using two difference performances from BFD and I have anti machine gun mode on (which it needs and I intend to use in the future).
 
Oh well. At least both sides of the new waves seem to be identical. I guess I'll have to hunt down the Split Stereo function and just delete one side... or something.
 
:-/

I remember in the past when bouncing BFD that I would perform 2 separate passes: 1 for the mono tracks and a second for the stereo.
 
Maybe another case for freezing rather than bouncing?
 
The only issue with this is that Sonar will make one pass for each track which might generate phase issues if certain "round robin" samples are triggered differently from pass to pass
 
Does Eco have a separate, internal bounce function? you'd need your Midi in BFD, but I guess it can be dragged in? Not sure about this, it's something I've never tried to be honest

Another advantage of freezing; you will automatically get stereo or mono tracks as appropriate.

Bristol_Jonesey
I remember in the past when bouncing BFD that I would perform 2 separate passes: 1 for the mono tracks and a second for the stereo.
 
Maybe another case for freezing rather than bouncing?
 
The only issue with this is that Sonar will make one pass for each track which might generate phase issues if certain "round robin" samples are triggered differently from pass to pass
 
Does Eco have a separate, internal bounce function? you'd need your Midi in BFD, but I guess it can be dragged in? Not sure about this, it's something I've never tried to be honest

You know this is something that I was wondering in regards to the Freeze vs. Bounce issue but felt like I had already annoyed everyone enough with that topic.
 
If freezing does indeed use a new pass for each track (which would more than likely be the case if freezing one track at a time) then to me that's a no go for drums for the exact reason you mention... phasing between close mic'd and ambient mics and perhaps the risk of slight time variations between freezes. What I WAS thinking though was perhaps if I multi selected the tracks and held Ctrl while engaging the Freeze button perhaps it would use one pass.
 
However the BFD Eco manual specifically states that Fast Bounce should be disabled when bouncing to audio and I'm assuming a Freeze uses a Fast Bounce type approach when creating the way. Not sure if there is a setting to change that but if not then it might cause a problem (although throughout this I did do a couple tests with fast bounce enabled and upon a brief listen I didn't notice anything wacky but I wasn't listening very closely or a/bing to compare)
 
So I guess unless a Baker and/or maybe someone from FXpansion stops by to explain a little further I may have to accept the fact that what I have done today is indeed how I should extract audio tracks from BFD. I'll do further tests and comparisons of the different methods at some point but frankly I'm getting a little sick of messing around with this aspect of this specific project. I don't regret spending the last week or so putting myself through the wringer poking into every aspect of this process (though I do feel a little bad for harassing you guys about it so much... lol, sorry) because I know WAY more now than when I started but it's time to move on to the remix.
 
I guess the deal is at this point in my "education" I'd rather not just find a way to do something... I want to understand the why's, how's and particulars of everything I attempt. That way if I get stuck I'll be better equipped to find workarounds or if there is a problem I'll have a better chance of fixing it or avoiding it in the first place.
 
Seriously if Funkybot hadn't brought up the potential phase issues of doing separate bounces I probably would never had considered them until I screwed up a ton of projects.
 
Thanks again guys. Now I guess I have to make a choice between using Convert to Mono or trying to split the stereo track and deleting one side (and I can't remember where the Split function is... or if it even exists).
 
The hilarious part is it probably doesn't even matter if I leave the waves as stereo but it just bugs me to look at those two separate waves... mocking me... WHY MUST THEY MOCK ME??!!!
 
;-p