I have an akai mpd18 and a yamaha mm6. I use both for midi, the yamaha for my soft synths and the akai for my drum sampler software. However i can only get one of them to work in sonar at a time. is this normal? I hook both up when i fire up my computer, and when i load sonar both devices are set to midi input and output. But only whichever device was hooked up to the computer first will work. Is this normal? Are you supposed to only be able to use one midi device at a time? I use X1 studio

Not sure what process you are going through. Have you opened preferences MIDI-->Devices and made sure they are both checked?

I use multiple MIDI devices. Both hardware synths and in and out devices. It's definitely possible to use more than one at a time but the routing and setup needs to be correct.

Start with the MIDI device preferences check and go from there.

FastBikerBoy


Not sure what process you are going through. Have you opened preferences MIDI-->Devices and made sure they are both checked?

I use multiple MIDI devices. Both hardware synths and in and out devices. It's definitely possible to use more than one at a time but the routing and setup needs to be correct.

Start with the MIDI device preferences check and go from there.

Hi Karl - FBB,

I am also new to this forum. but not to Sonar. I also have a problem with dual midi in. My master keyboard is connected to A-pro. Outboard hard synth-s to VS midi in. If I select midi in from VS in preferences it then screws up the A-PRO control function. No matter what I do I cannot get both midi in's and retain the A-PRO control surface.


By the way I grew up near a very whining town in Norfolk, on the banks of the Great Ouse, lol.

im somehow comforted to see that someone else is in the same boat as me ha. Biker boy im certainly no pro but 99% of my experience has been working with midi and im positive ive set it all up correctly. I rinsed and repeated several times. I have an old oxygen 49 midi keyboard that i think ill try just to see if that works.

Are you sure you have your inputs correctly selected? I had EXACTLY the same issue the other day. Somewhere along the line I switched the inputs and could only get one of them to control the trackes or the soft synth I was using at a time...double check and make sure. I think I also had one of mine set to omni and obviously that caused some issues as well..

Hmmm.. well now that you mention it I did have my mpd set to akai omni. I guess biker boy was right I technically did not have it hooked up right. I'm so used to only having one device that omni is mainly all I use. If I would have set them each to their respective track ones would that have solved the problem?

I believe you are on the right track to resloving your issue...

Yes, I have had a wind controller, midi guitar controller and a keyboard controller all playing and recording at the same time.

ASG


im somehow comforted to see that someone else is in the same boat as me ha. Biker boy im certainly no pro but 99% of my experience has been working with midi and im positive ive set it all up correctly. I rinsed and repeated several times. I have an old oxygen 49 midi keyboard that i think ill try just to see if that works.

I might be mis-understanding the problem. If it's two devices playing two tracks at the same that isn't working you will need to have the input echo button lit on both. By default it'll only be on on the in focus track.

Are both devices available for selection in the inputs or is that where the problem is?

I have (all USB connections):

Maudio MIDIsport - one hardware device but 2 MIDI in/out ports.
Maudio Uno
Edirol PCR-300 (shows up in Sonar as multiple ports)
Novation controller
Cakewalk UA-101
Doepfer Dark Time (or Dark Energy, depending on how I connect things).

All work without problems at the same time. So there's no issue in Sonar that prevents multiple MIDI ports being used at the same time.

Therefore the problem would indeed appear to be routing or possibly drivers. Firstly, are you sure you've got the track(s) you want to accept input set to "input echo"?

After that, check the routing, and try and avoid the "omni" setting.

As for the driver side of things, it's a good idea to install hardware manufacturer's drivers for MIDI devices if they provide them rather than rely on Window's built-in native support, especially if the manufacturer's drivers are multi-client.

It may be that if the native drivers are being used Windows is seeing them as sharing a driver and therefore only allowing the first connected to be used. I've not seen this myself but have seen it turn up as an issue on other forums (not just for Sonar) a few times.

My first suspicion though is either input echo is off or routing not set correctly. I've certainly been caught out by both many times :-/