I apologize for the long post, but I try to be thorough when I'm asking a question, hopefully to avoid confusion.
 
Allen and Heath ZedR16 - Sonar X2 Studio
(Yes, I know FastBikerGuy is the authority on the Zed - Hoping he'll drop by here!)
 
OK - I set up some mics to do some drum recording today: 6 instrument mics and 2 o'heads, and a room mic. = 9 mics>first 9 channels on my Zed mixer. Everything was cool 'til I got to the mic in channel number 9.
On channel 9 I had my inputs and outputs set up just like the first 8 channels in Sonar: Input = channel number and pan assignment. Output = Master Bus in Sonar. All channels have 'Sends' set up to send the channel's signal to its corresponding Zed channel (i.e. Channel 1 in Sonar has a Send assigned to 'Channel 1 Left' on the Zed mixer).
All channels worked fine (with one exception which I will discribe shortly), but I got no signal to Sonar on Channel 9's mic.
I suspect this has something to do with my Control Surface settings under Edit>Preferences. It's been some time since I set this up and I'm sure I didn't know what I was doing when I did it, so I'm not sure how to remedy the situation.
 
I have 2 controller/surfaces listed under that section of 'Edit>Preferences', each with the Zed as the Input Port: ACT MIDI controller - 1, and Cakewalk Generic Surface. The Output Port on each is set to 'None'.
Of course, each control surface has its own color assigned to the WAI, but oddly Channel 1 in Sonar is one color, while channels 2 thru 8 are the color of the other controller. This is probably problem number one. I'm not seeing any color code for any channels above channel 8 in the Track View, so that's why I'm guessing the mic I had plugged into channel 9 does nothing.
 
Additionally, under 'Utilities' I'm seeing the 2 Controller Surfaces listed: The ACT MIDI Controller gives me a pop up window with 8 columns and 4 rows. Again, this makes me suspect something in this window needs modification to allow me to get signal from a mic plugged into channels 9 and above.
When I click on the other ('Cakewalk Generic Surface), I get the checklist sort of window where I enabled control of my Zed faders to operate Sonar's channel faders. 
I've read over the available literature for setups and controller surfaces, but for one who isn't clued into the lingo I find it confusing. Anyone care to put things in layman's terms given the situation and settings I described?
 
OK - now this is really strange. In the scenerio I described above, the mic plugged into channel 3 on my Zed (and routed in Sonar just like all the other channels) records: I can see the waveform in Sonar on that channel, but when I play it back, I got nothing. Again, as far as I can see, everything is routed the same on that channel as the others...inputs and outputs with their own assignments, etc., but I get nothing on playback. The 'meter' on the Sonar channel on channel 3 doesn't even register at all, as though there's nothing there.
I've got the Zed's channels all set up for playback and I'm not seeing any difference between channel 3 and all the other channels, as far as routing and such is concerned. I'm thinking the problem is within Sonar, as I'm not seeing any movement on the 'meter' - nothing is there to send to the Zed?
 
Thanks in advance for your help!
 

I would try and separate your report into the audio routing portions and the ACT portions.  ACT is a flaky beast, so I would get the audio side of things working first.  Just use the mouse to set fader levels, buss assignments, etc.
 
You say that you can see the waveform in sonar.  Do you mean that you have recorded a track and waveform corresponding to what you have recorded is present in Sonar?
 
If so, then follow the faders and routing; otherwise was the track armed for recording?
 
 

AndyDavis
I would try and separate your report into the audio routing portions and the ACT portions.  ACT is a flaky beast, so I would get the audio side of things working first.  Just use the mouse to set fader levels, buss assignments, etc.
 
You say that you can see the waveform in sonar.  Do you mean that you have recorded a track and waveform corresponding to what you have recorded is present in Sonar?
 
If so, then follow the faders and routing; otherwise was the track armed for recording?

"..seperate your report into the audio routing portions and the ACT portions." - I have no idea what you're talking about here.
 
"You say that you can see the waveform in sonar.  Do you mean that you have recorded a track and waveform corresponding to what you have recorded is present in Sonar?" - Exactly.

Taller
I apologize for the long post, but I try to be thorough when I'm asking a question, hopefully to avoid confusion.
 
Allen and Heath ZedR16 - Sonar X2 Studio
(Yes, I know FastBikerGuy is the authority on the Zed - Hoping he'll drop by here!)

 
Not sure I'm an autority but I'm glad to help if I can.
 

OK - I set up some mics to do some drum recording today: 6 instrument mics and 2 o'heads, and a room mic. = 9 mics>first 9 channels on my Zed mixer. Everything was cool 'til I got to the mic in channel number 9.
On channel 9 I had my inputs and outputs set up just like the first 8 channels in Sonar: Input = channel number and pan assignment. Output = Master Bus in Sonar. All channels have 'Sends' set up to send the channel's signal to its corresponding Zed channel (i.e. Channel 1 in Sonar has a Send assigned to 'Channel 1 Left' on the Zed mixer).
All channels worked fine (with one exception which I will discribe shortly), but I got no signal to Sonar on Channel 9's mic.
I suspect this has something to do with my Control Surface settings under Edit>Preferences. It's been some time since I set this up and I'm sure I didn't know what I was doing when I did it, so I'm not sure how to remedy the situation.
 

 
I doubt the Control Surface side of the ZED or any other controller for that matter is the route of the problem. I suspect it is more likely some setting or routing issue either in Sonar or on the board itself, but having said that I find that switching the faders to MIDI control zero that channel (or was it unity I can't remember now - it's been a long time since I used that side of it for that reason) and that might be something to do with it although again I doubt it.
 
First thing I'd check is the mic isn't defective. Can you monitor it via the L/R buss?
 
Assignment switch is the other obvious thing but that would be fairly obvious as the assignment lights would be different on that channel
 
I presume the gain is set correctly?
 
Defective channel on the ZED is another possibility. Does it function normally other than that?
 

 
I have 2 controller/surfaces listed under that section of 'Edit>Preferences', each with the Zed as the Input Port: ACT MIDI controller - 1, and Cakewalk Generic Surface. The Output Port on each is set to 'None'.
Of course, each control surface has its own color assigned to the WAI, but oddly Channel 1 in Sonar is one color, while channels 2 thru 8 are the color of the other controller. This is probably problem number one. I'm not seeing any color code for any channels above channel 8 in the Track View, so that's why I'm guessing the mic I had plugged into channel 9 does nothing.
 

 
Not sure about this. I use both ACT and the Generic Controller together but I don't have the Generic Controller set up for channel faders or the MIDI faders/knobs. I use it purely for the transport section.
 
Are you using ACT on the MIDI section fader knobs and the Generic Surface on the channel faders?
 
It sounds to me like only one fader is assigned on the generic surface and the rest are via ACT. Hence what you are seeing is channel one's WAI strip of the generic controller on top of the ACT controllers WAI strip.
 
In the generic surface control dialogue there is a "Number of track strips" setting toward the top left. That should read "16". If I didn't have an MCU I'd personally use that for channel and transport control and use ACT for the MIDI section.
 
 

Additionally, under 'Utilities' I'm seeing the 2 Controller Surfaces listed: The ACT MIDI Controller gives me a pop up window with 8 columns and 4 rows. Again, this makes me suspect something in this window needs modification to allow me to get signal from a mic plugged into channels 9 and above.
When I click on the other ('Cakewalk Generic Surface), I get the checklist sort of window where I enabled control of my Zed faders to operate Sonar's channel faders. 
I've read over the available literature for setups and controller surfaces, but for one who isn't clued into the lingo I find it confusing. Anyone care to put things in layman's terms given the situation and settings I described?

 
If I understand your post correctly the ACT MIDI controller dialogue pop up of 8 columns and 4 rows is normal but you can rename the "boxes" to what ever you want. For example I have 4 of the top row assigned to the MIDI section faders and the other four to the rotaries. Second row is assigned to the remaining rotaries.
 
Here's a link to one of my videos on youtube that covers ACT set up. It's also covered comprehensively in the SWA Complete Sonar X2 video if you have that.
 

OK - now this is really strange. In the scenerio I described above, the mic plugged into channel 3 on my Zed (and routed in Sonar just like all the other channels) records: I can see the waveform in Sonar on that channel, but when I play it back, I got nothing. Again, as far as I can see, everything is routed the same on that channel as the others...inputs and outputs with their own assignments, etc., but I get nothing on playback. The 'meter' on the Sonar channel on channel 3 doesn't even register at all, as though there's nothing there.
I've got the Zed's channels all set up for playback and I'm not seeing any difference between channel 3 and all the other channels, as far as routing and such is concerned. I'm thinking the problem is within Sonar, as I'm not seeing any movement on the 'meter' - nothing is there to send to the Zed?
 

 
I guess you've checked the obvious, volume level in Sonar. Other thoughts are muted clip? Muted or soloed take lane?
 
 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 
 
 You're welcome and I hope I've helped.

The ACT colors you are seeing in Sonar have nothing to do with the audio.  It has only to do with the channels on the ZED that have control on your fader actions etc.
 
Select "P" to go to your preferences menu
Under "Audio"/"Devices" you should see your ZED options for input.  If you are using firewire, you should have all 16 selected as well as the main.
 
My guess is that you don't have all of the inputs selected.
 
If you are using ADAT, you will only have 8.

Life has kept me too busy lately, but I appreciate the info and suggestions. I'll see if I can get back to recording later this week and see if I can suss things out.
 
Karl - thanks for linking the videos. I probably should have checked there first!

Between working a full time job, playing out in my band, and rehearsing with my other project (acoustic), (not to mention the duties of husband and homeowner!) it's been too long since I turned on Cakewalk!
 
OK - I deleted the control surface selections in Preferences and started over. I 'added' 2 ACT Control Surfaces, both the Allen and Heath Zed, each with their own WAI color, obviously, and I immediately saw the first WAI color associate itself with the first 8 channel strips in Sonar, but the remaining 8 (channels 9-16) remained without any WAI color.
Acting instinctively and on a hunch, I placed my cursor over the area on the Channel 9 track strip (Track view) where the WAI color should appear, and right-clicked my mouse. Lo and behold, a little window appeared with the option asking if I'd like to assign one of my two ACT controllers here. I chose the one whose color wasn't visible yet, and channels 9-16 instantly became assigned to that controller. Haven't checked yet, but I suspect I will now be able to record a signal onto those tracks.
 
Now it was time to go back into Preferences and add the Cakewalk Generic Surface to allow me to assign the transport controls on my ZED R16 for those functions. I had accomplished this before, so I did not anticipate any problems. Unfortunately, I had problems.
It's a fairly simple operation: Open the Utilities drop down and choose 'Cakewalk Generic Surface'. A window with all sorts of choices opens and I simply tick the little circle next to 'Play' under Global Parameters, press the Play button on the ZED, and click the 'Learn' button in the window.
I did this and I could see the movement of the marker in Sonar, merrily making its way through the track.
I next ticked the little circle next to 'Stop' in Global Parameters, pressed the Stop button on the transport section of the ZED, and clicked 'Learn' button in the window.
Immediately, the marker that had been indicating the progress of the track as it played became totally erratic, as though it was trying to play and stop at the same time. I tried using the mouse and cursor over the transport controls in Sonar, but got no response - only this erratic crazy behavior.
I went back to Utilities and deleted the Cakewalk Generic Surface from my list of Control Surfaces and regained control of the transport, but only 'in the box', not via the ZED (which makes perfect sense to me).  
I closed Sonar and reopened; repeated the same steps; and got the same results. For some reason, I cannot get control of transport with my ZED anymore. (At least not in the way that I had once before.)
 
I did solve the problem I had earlier with not being able to get one of my tracks to play, even though I was looking at the waveform in its channel: I opened up the track lanes and saw that the 'Mute' button was on, though evidently it wasn't visible when the track lanes were collapsed.

Just in case anyone at all has been following and wants to help me out here...today I opened my Sonar X2 Studio and was able to assign my transport controls as i had done prior. None of the crazy behavior that had been exhibited yesterday occurred today. Ahhh...computers...
I used the Cakewalk Generic Surface window to 'learn' the transport buttons.
 
To gain midi control of the faders in Sonar using my faders on the Zed, I floated my cursor over each fader in Sonar and right-clicked>chose 'Remote Control'>Learn, as I selected each fader. Everything works fine there. I didn't see the necessity of opening the ACT Midi Controller windows (the ones with the 8 columns/4rows) to accomplish this task.
 
 
I was able to assign my ACT Midi-Controller One to channels 2-8 (for some odd reason, Channel 1 in Sonar assigned itself to the Cakewalk Generic Surface that I used to get control of my transport buttons and I can't seem to change it to one of the ACT Midi Controllers). I can record through my Zed R16 into channels 1-8, no problem.
 
I was able to assign my ACT Midi Controller Two to channels 9-16.
 
If I have both of the ACT Midi Controllers' windows open (8 columns/4 rows), I can see changes in parameters when I adjust the faders on my Zed - makes perfect sense - but only when adjusting channels 9-16: If I adjust the faders on channels 1-8, I see no parameters at all in the little boxes, much less any that change when I'm doing adjustments, yet I can clearly see that I am controlling the faders in Sonar.   ??
 
But - I'm still having problems getting any signal to register as being present onto channels 9-16 if I'm trying to record. I just don't get it - every channel on my Zed R16 is configured the same way - all the same buttons are pushed; gains are up; faders are up along with all coinciding faders and pans in Sonar. All channel inputs in Sonar are set to the corresponding inputs on the Zed; all outputs on the Sonar channels are set to 'Master', with each channel having a send assigned to its corresponding channel on my Zed.
I can record onto any channel 1-8. I can't record onto any of the channels 9-16.
 
I was able to record a signal onto one of the lower numbered tracks in Sonar and then move it to channel 10.
I then (again) recorded a signal onto one of the lower numbered channels.
I expected to be able to play both tracks back simultaneously, but the signal that now resides on track 10 can only be heard if the button "Main Mix L-R/Digital Master" on the Zed is in the Digital Master position, while the signal recorded onto channel 3 is only audible when that button is in the Main Mix L-R position.
This suggests a routing error somewhere on my part, but I can't figure out where - the lower numbered channels are set up the same way as the higher numbered channels as far as I can tell. 
 

Pretty much figured out all the stuff with the ACT and Generic Midi Controllers. My problem now remains that I can't get a signal to any of the channels in Sonar above channel 8.
See my new thread here - any help is greatly appreciated:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cant-see-a-signal-above-channel-8-m2851151.aspx