cparmerlee
I mistakenly posted some questions on the wrong forum.  They belong here.
 
My intention is to have one audio track for each MIDI track (or possibly multiple audio tracks for one MIDI track in the case of drums.)  That being the case, it seems to me that I should plan to do all the volume, panning, and FX on the audio tracks.  In other words, I should set the MIDI fader at unity and dead center on the pan.  And I should not mess with any mixer settings inside the synth VSTs.  Is that what y'all would consider best practices?

 
In my world it's the one and only practice! :) I like to have everything as un-preprocessed as possible and do all the sound shaping in Sonar's console. By doing this you always have everything that's going on right in front of you and never have to open any plugins to look for the effect (or what everI you want to change. I always do the mixing with the audio tracks and never touch volume or anything on the MIDI-tracks. There's nothing wrong with doing it any other way though. This is just how I work.
 
When I mix (which I do in CV) I've all MIDI-tracks hidden so just the tracks I need are visible. If I use a multi-timbral instrument I always use several outputs to get each channel on a separate audio track.
 

If I am going to keep all my original MIDI in the project (rather than bouncing to audio), is it best to put all the MIDI tracks in their own folder and then just collapse the folder so I never see the lights and never touch the MIDI again (unless going back to revise the source material.)?

Just as I want to have all the sound shaping tools available right in front of me when I mix I also want to have all MIDI-tracks in front of me when I do the MIDI. Therefore I always have one folder with all MIDI tracks in it. I hate looking for things so it's great to always have everything you need right there.
 
There's nothing wrong with bouncing to audio, I think. With the freeze-function in Sonar you don't loose the MIDI information by doing this. It's just to jump back and forth with one mouse click on the snow flake. :)
 
The audio tracks (both from software instruments and recorded audio) I place in different folders, one for each instrument category so to speak. I posted this video in another thread onces, but here you can see the folder structure I use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfMw6Q1HoIY

This is good. But I'm not following the extraction process.
So how do I get all the different (drum) instruments that are in one (TTS1) midi track and make an audio track for each that I can tweak?
I've been just freezing and getting one audio track.

M_Glenn_M
This is good. But I'm not following the extraction process.
So how do I get all the different (drum) instruments that are in one (TTS1) midi track and make an audio track for each that I can tweak?
I've been just freezing and getting one audio track.

I don't think you can within TTS.  That is going to do all the drums on one track.  But Session Drummer can split each kit piece out to a separate track.

While I would use a different drum synth, it is possible to spread the TTS-1 drum kit(s) across the 4 audio outputs of  the TTS-1.
 
Insert the TTS-1 making sure all 4 audio outputs are created. The easiest way would be to check "All Synth Audio Outputs: Stereo" in the "Insert Soft Synth Options" dialog when inserting the TTS-1.
 
Open the TTS-1 System > Options and assign at least 4 channels to the 4 different outputs.
 
Load the channels of the TTS-1 with drum kit(s)
 
Create a Drum Map to route the instruments in the drum kit(s) to the channels in whatever way makes sense, maybe kick, snare, toms, everything else.
 

It is possible to use a CAL to put each note on a separate track. I am not at my music computer so I can’t look up the exact CAL name but I believe it is something like separate by note. As you know each drum is on a different note thus you will have separate tracks for each drum. You can then bounce to track each track individually.
I hope this helps and good luck.

Split Note To Tracks.CAL

So the "Split Note To Tracks.CAL" would be good for only the 4 in TTS1?
To get more we would use SD or other plugs right?

No, you do not need the cal script to get 4 tracks from TTS-1, 12 tracks from Session Drummer or multiple outputs from any other multi-timbral synth. In the TTS-1 example I gave above, all the MIDI could be in one track.
 
The method MarioD was describing, splitting notes to tracks, would create a track for each MIDI note value, then bounce each track through a synth to create multiple audio tracks. All of the notes related to a single instrument, for example all the hi-hat notes, should to be bounced together to get the kit to play right. This method might be particularly useful for synths like the SI-Drum which only has a single stereo out. It would provide a method for isolating each instrument in SI-Drum.

Guitarhacker
I do tend to leave the midi alone... no panning of volume control in there..... But I'm pretty sure it can be done.... I know I have used the midi volume fader to raise the levels once or twice.
 
There is no problem with doing it that way, nor is there any problem with tweeking the controls in a synth or FX to get the desired result. What matters most is not how you get there but what it sounds like when you get to the final mix.
 
As far as best practices? Whatever you decide to do and how you decide to work, using whatever method and workflow that works best for you .... is what you should do. There are no hard and fast rules.... well not many. And rules are meant to be broken.
 
As far as what to do with midi tracks after the fact. I use midi tracks on occasion but once I have them right, I bounce them to audio and prefer to work on the final mix using all audio tracks where possible. So once the bounce is done, I drag the midi track and the synth track associated with it, to the bottom of the track view and archive it. That shuts the synth off. Then I hide the tracks...or perhaps I will even delete the synth track totally. If it's a piano, for example, I know I can pop it back in if I need it again. I do the same thing in the console view.... hide them or at the very least make them narrow.
 
When working with audio tracks I will do the same thing..... dragging them to the bottom of the track view if they are not active (muted) in the project. Doing this makes for a cleaner work space on the screen. I really don't like to hide tracks in both the console and track view because I tend to forget they are there..... so muting to the bottom works best. I will hide in the console view.
 
Hope this helps.

Since there is no audio out of a MIDI track, does the MIDI volume control the velocity of the synt, therefore making it seem louder?
 
Walt

There are three MIDI "volumes."
 
Controller 7 (Volume) is the most commonly used volume control.  127 = loud.  1= quiet.
 
Controller 11 (Expression) also controls volume.  Is this redundant?  Somewhat, but some people use CC11 to control all their swells, fades, and other volume expressions.  Then they just put a single CC7 message at the first of the sequence to control the overall volume without messing up all the expressive volume changes they created with CC11.  This way they can get the instrument sounding perfect and then turn the whole thing up or down.
 
Velocity is how fast (hard) you hit the keys.  Every MIDI note has a velocity (0 to 127 or 1 to 128).  Big numbers are louder.
 
Standard synths should use these as described, but some do not.  Some synths do not respond to velocity.  Hollywood strings uses CC7 and CC11 differently on different patches (and uses Mod Wheel, CC1, to control volume for some patches.)
 
For you to hear any of this, you will need to have an audio track (or, in the case of a hardware synth), plug-in headphones.