I'm using SONAR X1 Studio (build 185). Is there a way to send all MIDI tracks to a bus, while they're still live MIDI? It's frustrating when I have 4 or 5 MIDI tracks balanced perfectly but I still want to be able to make changes to a track and then raise or lower the volume of all tracks simultaneously as I mix. The only output option is to my MIDI interface. If I were mixing manually from a hardware mixer this would not be a problem; but of course I'm not.
 
Thanks,
John

The MIDI tracks must be controlling instruments with audio outputs somewhere or else you couldn't hear them and I think it is the audio you want to go to a bus.  What instuments are playing these MIDI tracks?

No, MIDI tracks cannot be routed to a bus.

They're all coming out of a Roland XP-80 through a Mackie SR 24-4. I hear my four MIDI tracks fine and I like their balance with each other, but when I bring the guitar and vocal tracks back in, I want to be able to raise or lower the entire mix of the four MIDI tracks vis a vis the gtr and vocals. In the past what I have done is make the changes in the MIDI track (say "Arasian Morn") and then I have to re-record it to audio. And when I listen back I might think, "well now I have to change something in the MIDI bass, etc, etc" and I've got to go through the whole process again. It would just be so much better a work flow if I could find a way to raise and lower the volume of all my MIDI tracks simultaneously. Is that possible to do?
 
Thanks for replying so fast, Konrad.

The problem I see here is that there a several ways to accomplish this, but you haven't given us enough information to determine which one way you intend - i.e. what your purposes are.
 
I'm not sure what the reference to the Mackie mixer purports - it's not a computer audio interface, you'd need another device in order to get synthesizer's the audio back into the computer. Also, although the XP-80 can play multiple parts simultaneously, it only has a single stereo out.
 
Most folks would forego the Mackie in a recording situation, it's not needed and can only get in the way. You'd capture audio for each instrument to be played through the XP-80 individually, each recording going to a different audio track. Send the output of these audio tracks to a bus. Adjusting the output level of that bus affects all those tracks at once. Alternatively, you could group the faders of those audio tracks and any adjustment to one of them affects them all.
 
 
Now in a midi-playback situation, say in a live performance, you aren't at the mixer. Any change in volume there is done by the synthesizer itself in response to a change in midi volume message (assuming the FOH leaves the audio return from the XP-80 alone). This is, I assume, rarely done. (You'd normally, I expect, modify your keyboard playing, i.e., less key velocity...) To do it in Sonar, you'd simply group the midi volume faders together, and any adjustment to them would affect them all. Naturally, you'd have to have write automation enabled and the volume parameter showing in each of these midi tracks for sonar to record your midi volume changes.
 
The short answer is, most folks do the volume changes in the audio mix. For recording, do it in Sonar by using a bus.
 

OK so you don't want to send MIDI tracks to a bus; you want to send the audio from a MIDI synth to the bus.  The MIDI data can't go to a bus, but the bus doesn't care whether the audio is coming from a live performance, a mic, or a synth responding to MIDI.  Basically, the audio from the synth needs to go to a bus.
 
So, if you have four audio tracks playing the sounds from the synth, 1-Right click below the Master bus and Create New Stereo Bus.  Call it what you want, but let's say you called it XP-80. 2-In the synth audio tracks, change the output from Master to XP-80 in the drop down for the output.  3-Make sure the new XP-80 bus has Master as its output.
 
Now, you can raise or lower the level of the synth tracks all at once by raising or lowering the fader on the XP-80 bus.
 
This all assumes you have a main bus called Master, which you will unless you imported the track from a really old version of Sonar.

konradh
OK so you don't want to send MIDI tracks to a bus; you want to send the audio from a MIDI synth to the bus.  The MIDI data can't go to a bus, but the bus doesn't care whether the audio is coming from a live performance, a mic, or a synth responding to MIDI.  Basically, the audio from the synth needs to go to a bus.
 
So, if you have four audio tracks playing the sounds from the synth, 1-Right click below the Master bus and Create New Stereo Bus.  Call it what you want, but let's say you called it XP-80. 2-In the synth audio tracks, change the output from Master to XP-80 in the drop down for the output.  3-Make sure the new XP-80 bus has Master as its output.
 
Now, you can raise or lower the level of the synth tracks all at once by raising or lowering the fader on the XP-80 bus.
 
This all assumes you have a main bus called Master, which you will unless you imported the track from a really old version of Sonar.

What he said.... good, clear answer Konrad.

Thanks, Konrad, but I don't what you mean when you say "synth audio tracks." I monitor the audio through my Mackie Board, the only thing entering SONAR is the MIDI track. I have "Arasian Morn" MIDI on track 11. My only outout options on track 11 are: mu USB MIDI interface, Cakewalk TTS-11, Roland groove Synth 1,S-1 Drum Kit, etc. etc. It does not give me the options that my audio tracks give. What am I missing?
 

I'm guessing you're using "Instrument Tracks" that combine the Midi with the audio.  When you insert an instance of a soft synth (like the TTS-11) you want to choose the option that loads the midi track and the audio track separately.  Then it's an easy job to route the audio tracks wherever you want.  In your cakewalk documentation and help files, just look for inserting a soft synth.  It will explain the different ways of doing this... 
 
Best,
Rob

I guess what Konradh is saying is that you need to record the audio from your Xp-80 into Sonar, so that you can alter the overall level with a bus.

The Xp-80 has four outs, IIRC, so you could assign each patch in the performance to a separate output (if you don't need them in stereo) and record the four parts to four separate tracks in sonar. If you want stereo, you would have to record them separately.