• SONAR
  • New Musician - New SONAR User - Need MIDI Help (p.2)
2017/10/05 15:17:50
azslow3
mrpippy2
 I've always heard that using the computer's on-board audio is a big mistake, resulting in bad latency, strange (or no) sound, or just general gremlins. Hopefully someone will chime in if I'm mistaken, but my understanding is, EVEN IF ALL YOU USE IS MIDI, you still want to invest in an audio interface that allows you to use ASIO.

If standard build-in RealTek in WDM mode produce strange sound or general gremlins, with hi probability the problem is NOT in the interface... The latency can be problematic, but it should not be on "show stopper" level for simple MIDI tasks.
 
What I mean, it should be possible to start without any "studio specific" equipment. An audio interface (vs build-in), studio monitors (vs PC speakers) at some point are in fact essential. But not before the first MP3 with one finger self played "Jingle Bells" is exported out of Sonar  
2017/10/05 16:30:58
bapu
azslow3
But not before the first MP3 with one finger self played "Jingle Bells" is exported out of Sonar  


I'm still working on that one.
 
The trouble is, another finger ALWAYS gets in the way.
2017/10/05 16:32:01
bapu
Welcome Matt. Pay close attention to what bitflipper (Dave) says. Especially his point 1.
 
2017/10/05 16:36:13
bapu
And one other point about this forum.
 
You need something like 25 posts and a week or so under your belt before you can post a link to anything.
 
Say you want to send a screen shot of something you see but don't understand. Sign up for imgur.com (it's free) and upload the image there. Then you copy the imgur.com provided link into a post here using the Insert/Edit Image icon.
 
2017/10/05 17:47:04
Cactus Music
You can use on board audio without issue if recording and playing MIDI tracks and only Audio Playback. You will need an audio interface if your planing on recording audio,, like your voice or guitar.  
 
Most has already been said so sorry if I repeat anything, All you need is for Sonar to recognize the Yamaha in Preferences/MIDI devices. Make sure it is checked. If the Yamaha has a midi driver download and install it. Windows 10 will automatically do this but I still like to use the original drivers if available from a manufacturer,  Yamaha writes good drivers and who knows what W10 would use. 
Now insert a soft synth and choose the Yamaha as the input device. There's a lot more than this  as you have different options so get that going and keep us posted. 
2017/10/05 20:31:00
jude77
Hello Matt and welcome.
 
Bitflipper is the man.  Follow his advice and you'll be rocking in no time.  If you get stuck, just come back here and post again.  You can usually get an answer the same day.
 
lastly, if you 56 and learning an instrument then your my hero!
 
Best of luck with your music!
2017/10/05 22:44:53
arlen2133
Welcome to the forum!
2017/10/06 00:43:19
rmfegley
A couple of tips off the top of my head...

1. If you are planning to record any audio (vocals for example), or if you want to use your MIDI keyboard to play software instruments inside SONAR (seems like that's what you're doing?), an ASIO capable audio interface will allow you to achieve low enough latency so that you don't hear or feel any delay between key press and note sounding. I'd say before you consider spending money on anything else, get a decent interface. But as Azlow points out, you can get along learning the very basics without it. 
 
2. For synth/EDM type music you probably want to learn the basics of subtractive synthesis, if you don't know it already. It looks like the only instrument with all the standard subtractive synth controls included in Sonar Artist is Square 1. It's a decent enough synth, but I always found its control layout a bit confusing (it's one of the first freeware synths I ever got, long before RCG Audio sold to Cakewalk). But that leads me to my next point. There are many excellent freeware vst synths available for download. KVR Audio is an excellent resource for finding them. I'd suggest finding one good straightforward one and learning to use it thoroughly if your goal is to produce electronic music. Other than that, I think Bitflipper is correct that you don't need additional plugins if you're just starting out. They can bog you down into thinking "If only I had X this would sound better" when really you just need to practice recording and mixing. Once you have a solid working knowledge of subtractive synthesis you can start looking at other types of synthesis, FM, additive, etc. Synthesis is incredibly fun. I've played guitar and been in bands and done recording for thirty odd years, but started getting hooked on electronic music as well about a dozen years ago when I got my hands on softsynths for the first time. 

Whatever your goals are and current skill level, just have fun with it. That's really the reason we all got into this I think.
2017/10/06 09:11:20
BRainbow
Great advice all you friendly Sonarians, but where's Matt?
2017/10/06 10:57:23
Zargg
Hi, and welcome to this forum.
There has been great advice given to you already.
Read through them, and come back with follow up questions.
All the best.
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