Hey everyone. Are any of you using a Yamaha PSR-530 XG keyboard with Sonar? If so, is it possible to play the MIDI tracks from a XG Cartridge thru the MIDI out and record it in Sonar? I'm running MIDI from the keyboard into the MIDI input of a MOTU Ultralite and then into Sonar X2. I can record MIDI tracks using True Pianos and VST Instruments, etc....But can't seem to figure out how to record tracks played from the XG Cartridge. Thanks.

I don't have that keyboard, but will try to help you. What I'm not clear about is whether you are trying to record the midi information only, or capture the audio sound of the midi file playing the on board keyboard patches ?

Hi Paulo.  Thanks for the reply.  I'm really just trying to record the MIDI information only.  There are midi files on an XG cartridge that I have and I wanted to record some of the midi files (as midi) into Sonar so that I could further enhance them and use them as backing tracks with my own audio recordings.  Any thoughts? 

Check the functions for your keyboard.  There may well be one that allows the transfer of midi files to and from the keyboard and your computer.  If so, you could dump selected midi files to your computer and import them into Sonar.
 
Just a thought, 
 
Bob Bone
 

Ok, as I said, I'm not overly familiar with the cartridges you mention, so forgive any dumb questions on my part. Is this something that adds what yamaha call "styles" which you play with the auto accomp feature or is it just a midi file that plays a pre-programmed song without any further input from you ?

Thanks for the replies guys.  
Paulo:  It's just a midi file that plays a pre-programmed song.
Robert:  The only thing I haven't tried yet is playing with a switch on the back of the keyboard where you can select output to MIDI, PC 1, PC 2, MAC or HOST.  I've always had it set to MIDI and all has been well, However, I've never tried recording these files either...so it may very well make a huge difference.  
 
I'm at work now, but will try those setting when I get home tonight.
 
Any other thoughts?

As Robert said, there may be a way to simply transfer the file via some kind of bulk data send function in your keyboard. You will need to check the manual for that.
 
Failing that, you could "record" the data by setting up however many midi tracks the file has and assigning the inputs of each one as midi channel 1, midi channel 2 etc... Then on your keyboard go to the midi transmit settings and select what you want to transmit one each channel. ie midi channel 1 = song track 1 etc.
When your done, arm your midi tracks as usual, press record then play the file on the keyboard in real time. Bear in mind that you may have to fiddle with the drum midi if you reassign to BFD, EZDrummer etc as the notes won't necessarily line up, but it's easy enough to drag them to the correct note in the PRV mode if you don't want to get into drum mapping.
 
OR........if the songs in question are midi files of commercially released popular songs, it might just be easier to download it from the many www sites that offer midi files.

I'm fairly certain that PSR530 does not transmit the cartridge data through the MIDI port. You can try by connecting a MIDI cable to your computer's MIDI interface,   arm a MIDI track and play one of the cartridge song on the PSR530 and see if Sonar is receiving any MIDI data.
 
You can, however, record the output as an audio track. 

Yeah, it's an older keyboard, but still does everything I need it to do.  I did notice what Paulo was talking about with the bulk data send as I was combing through the manual last night.
 
The reason that I don't want to record it as audio is that some of the midi files of the song are combined into one track.  For example...I am really just trying to record the strings of this one song, however, the strings and drums play as one track through the keyboard.  So, I was hoping that if I could record the midi data, I would be able to go into the PRV and remove the drums and leave only the strings.

Look on page 96 of your keyboard manual for information on how to do bulk transmission of your midi files.
 
Bob Bone