When I set up multiple MIDI tracks for recording only the volume/velocity meter for the track that has focus shows any activity. All tracks are armed for recording, all are on different channels, all are selected and they all record properly.
 
When playing back all meters are working, it's just that only one MIDI track meter works at a time while recording. Is there any setting that will enable all meters during recording?
 
Im using X2 Producer.
 
 

There are different meters for record vs playback. The track with focus is probably showing the playback meter. In track view, Options menu -> Meter Options and select Track Record Meters(Didn't try; this is from the manual). Or you could get all the recording channels to echo so they show playback while they are recording.

You need the input echo button lit for the MIDI meter to respond. Turn that on on the channels you want to see meter activity and they'll work. Remember though that any incoming MIDI on those devices and channels will sound though.

HTH

bvideo


There are different meters for record vs playback. The track with focus is probably showing the playback meter. In track view, Options menu -> Meter Options and select Track Record Meters(Didn't try; this is from the manual). Or you could get all the recording channels to echo so they show playback while they are recording.

I don't think that applies to MIDI meters. I don't think there is a need for record meters for MIDI that are different from playback meters. Don't forget Sonar didn't have MIDI meters for a long time. 

Audio is a very different thing and yes what you say would apply. 

John

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I don't think that applies to MIDI meters. I don't think there is a need for record meters for MIDI that are different from playback meters. Don't forget Sonar didn't have MIDI meters for a long time. 

Audio is a very different thing and yes what you say would apply. 

Thanks for mentioning that. Sure enough, a couple of lines below that in the manual there are bus options and Record Meter Options for "Peak", "RMS", and "Peak+RMS".  Shoulda been a clue. I always used the midi track [o)))] echo buttons so I could hear what I was recording, so never noticed the OP problem.
 
As far as a "need" is concerned, even with MIDI there can be a difference between what is being recorded and what is being played back. The OP case is just one case. Also, e.g. there can be midi FX that play differently from what is recorded. On the other hand there doesn't seem to be a lot of posting here about multitrack midi recording...

Maybe I'm just paying attention more because of my own struggles but we sure got a lot of MIDI threads happening today. Crash course, baby!

;-)

The MIDI meters show the velocity and a MIDI event. Events are anything being sent plus notes which are also events. Velocity is a note attribute and is not independent of a note.

  The red signal at the top is the event.  Thats why you can have that flashing red signal with no sound occurring.  

This is why they don't need special record or playback versions. As to what is sent not being recorded. That would be counter to MIDI except Sonar does have a MIDI filter that can remove events real time and that can impact what you record. This is user controllable. It should not change what you hear if trigging a synth on playback. Quantize can impact what is played and what is heard.

The idea of the MIDI meters was to give visual feedback while working with MIDI. It was a long ongoing feature request of mine and CW did a good job of implementing what I asked for. 

Thanks to everyone for the replies. It got me on the right track to figure out what was going on. Perhaps I should have provided more information about the situation in my initial post so I'll share my results in the event that someone else might find it useful.
 
I was trying to record a performance using a Korg M3 with Karma and drum tracks running. A total of 6 tracks/channels, 4 karma, 1 drum, 1 keys. I also have local control on. Although unusual when using a DAW, turning local control on is a requirement for recording Karma to a DAW.
 
As I stated before the recording and playback worked fine but the meters were not showing any activity. So when I turned input echo on as suggested the meters responded. Unfortunately that also created midi feedback and everything was now playing double. There was almost no noticeable latency but it was enough to increase the volume and cause a small amount of distortion. It was distracting enough so it was not really usable like that.
 
My final solution was to add a soft synth that was initialized to produce no sound. I routed all the midi outs to the silent soft synth while recording and turned input echo on. I could directly monitor the sound as I was playing through the main outs of my Motu 896, the midi meters were all active and everything recorded perfectly. I changed the midi outputs back to the M3 for playback and all was good.
 
I'll admit that this is one messy kludge but it seems to work. Thanks again to everyone for pointing me in the right direction.
 

Did you by chance use solo at all? There was a bug with the MIDI meters when using solo than unsolo the other meters would not display.  This was supposed to have been fixed. But perhaps its still an issue. 

Did you by chance use solo at all? There was a bug with the MIDI meters when using solo than unsolo the other meters would not display.  This was supposed to have been fixed. But perhaps its still an issue. 

No, I wasn't using solo or mute at all so I don't think that was part of my problem.