CAKEWALK Cakewalk SONAR, User Manual

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Assigning Instruments
SONAR lets you assign a MIDI instrument definition to each available MIDI output and channel. The
assignments you make determine the MIDI bank names, patch names, note names, and controller
names that you see during your SONAR session.
Suppose that you have a Roland GS-compatible synthesizer attached to MIDI output 1. By assigning all
16 channels of MIDI output 1 to the Roland GS instrument definition, you ensure that the bank, patch,
note, and controller name lists you see displayed in SONAR are the same ones that you see on the
display screen of your synthesizer.
Often, you want to assign a different instrument to channel 10, which is usually used for percussion.
For example, you might assign the Roland GS instrument definition to channels 1 through 9 and 11
through 16, but you would most likely want to assign the Roland GS Drumsets instrument definition to
channel 10. That way, any SONAR tracks you assign to channel 10 on that output use the names of
drum sets for patch names, and drum notation in the Piano Roll view. If you have several MIDI outputs,
with a different MIDI module attached to each one, you would normally assign a different instrument
definition to each MIDI output.
For convenience, you can assign a block of channels to one instrument and then change the assignment
of one or more of those channels without changing the others. For example, you can highlight all 16
channels of the first MIDI output and assign them to the Roland GS instrument definition. Then, you
can highlight channel 10 of that same MIDI output and assign it to the Roland GS Drumset instrument
definition. Channels 1 through 9 and 11 through 16 on the first MIDI output will stay assigned to
Roland GS.
If you only have one MIDI output, but have several MIDI modules attached to it, you can assign a few
channels to each module. For example, you might have a Roland synth receiving on MIDI channels 1
through 9, a Roland drum machine receiving on channel 10, and a basic GM-compatible synth receiving
on channels 11 through 16. In this case, you’d use three different instrument definitions for your one
and only MIDI output.
To Assign Instrument Definitions to MIDI Outputs and Channels
1. Choose Options-Instruments to display the Assign Instruments dialog box.
2. Select one or more MIDI outputs and channels from the Output/Channel list (use Shift-click and
Ctrl-click to select multiple outputs and channels). You can also drag through a bunch of channels
to select them. For example, if you want to assign the first 16 MIDI channels on output 1 to a
certain MIDI module, drag through the first 16 items in the Output/Channel list to select them.