dmbaer


To use Absynth as as effect (processing some other synth's output), you'd need to be able to input MIDI and input audio on the same track.    
 

I don't think the midi and audio have to be in the same track. This could only be acomplished on a simple instrument track in any case.
 
The method of having the processor inserted in the effects bin of the audio track as a synth and controling it from other midi tracks works with "The Mouth" which is an NI Reaktor ensemble.  Once you have Reaktor in the effects bin of the audio track it will appear on the list of Midi destinations and you can assign any midi track to control it.

Worth pointing out that you cannot insert anything as a synth into a ProChannel FX Chain however. It has to be in the FX bin. 

Lots of useful information here. Thanks, guys. I learned something.

sharke

Did you try what Glyn suggested and insert Absynth in an FX bin or chain as a synth instead of Absynth FX?

Yep, and it worked like a charm.  The thread Glyn cited had just what I needed to figure how this works (and I had some insights into signal routing in Sonar as a bonus).  One trick that may not be obvious: you have two MIDI tracks, and if you want to hear sound when playing on the keyboard (as opposed to playing back two linked MIDI tracks already populated with events), you need to remove the autopilot output echo and explicitly turn it on for both MIDI channels.  This may seem obvious, but it wasn't to me without a little head scratching required first.  But I love that Absynth Aetherizer effect, so this is a welcome solution to have in the bag.
 
Next challenge is to figure out how do tell Sonar that an effect accepts MIDI.  I believe I read how to do it somewhere and expect it can be done when I'd like to send note-on events to a FabFilter effect or similar.
 
In any case, it's good to learn that this can be accomplished.  Granted the setup is a little convoluted, but then it's not something you need to do all that frequently.  I still think a MIDI through capability would be sweet, but I can live with things the way they are.
 
Thanks all for the help.

in the synth rack you can click the synth properties dropdown and select "enable midi output".  comes in handy with midi generated from reaktor and kontakt scripts

swamptooth


in the synth rack you can click the synth properties dropdown and select "enable midi output".  comes in handy with midi generated from reaktor and kontakt scripts

+1 - Also very useful with the Music Lab "Real" guitar products as you can use the struming engine and chord detection with other synths.

swamptooth


in the synth rack you can click the synth properties dropdown and select "enable midi output".  comes in handy with midi generated from reaktor and kontakt scripts

OK ... this sounds like MIDI through to me.  But question: does this work for any synth, or does the synth itself have to internally support a MIDI out capability?  I can see that some synths that generate arp note events, for example, might want to support a MIDI out (or through if you prefer).  But for those that add nothing MIDI-wise, there's no motivation for the developer to include the capability.  Thus my question.

dmbaer

swamptooth


in the synth rack you can click the synth properties dropdown and select "enable midi output".  comes in handy with midi generated from reaktor and kontakt scripts

OK ... this sounds like MIDI through to me.  But question: does this work for any synth, or does the synth itself have to internally support a MIDI out capability?  I can see that some synths that generate arp note events, for example, might want to support a MIDI out (or through if you prefer).  But for those that add nothing MIDI-wise, there's no motivation for the developer to include the capability.  Thus my question.

No - its not MIDI through. It only works on synths that generate MIDI, like the Musiclab guitars which intrepret the user input and change it into something else.