Looking for a "Master of the Obvious"

[Evildick]

Alright, I get the feeling I'm gonna get flamesprayed for this since I have a feeling it's a relatively simple question.

I'm starting to work with MIDI files on my DAW. Here's the deal.

I'm trying to compose/mess around with MIDI in the Staff View of SONAR. I'm also using the Track view to cut and paste things.

Here's what I want to do. Add a couple notes in the staff view and be able to play it back through my mixer as I go along. One note at a time editing in a sense. I've tried to work out the signal chain but for some reason, the answer is evading me. Here is the way I have it set up right now.

Let's say 8 tracks of MIDI in SONAR. Each track is assigned to XP-80 out using *.ins file and Layla24 MIDI. In a nutshell.

SONAR MIDI file -> Layla24 MIDI out -> XP-80 ->XP-80 Direct-outs -> Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro Ch 5/6 (L/R) to monitor through control room outs -> Mackie 1402 main outs to Layla-in 7/8 for recording to and audio track.

Maybe I'm losing it but I would have thought that this would work. Ughhhh. It was so much easier before I got the mixer. TIA for any suggestions.

 

[Evildick]

That's odd?

It works fine using the L/R Mix out's on the XP-80 into the Mackie but nothing comes through using the Direct-outs. Either I need to translate more of the Roland manual into English or I have a couple dead outputs on the keyboard. I get the feeling it's the former since I have a hard time deciphering the Roland manuals.

 

[crosstudio]

I do this for drum tracks when i'm on my laptop (I don't yet have a USB enabled piano keyboard). I set Sonar so that it loops and then I add notes into the loop in piano-roll view?

although i use piano roll instead of staff view, I enable multiple midi tracks into the single piano roll view, then mouse click on the channel that i want to work on at the moment (the list of channels selectable is on the right hand side).

i mostly do this for drum tracks when i want to add stuff to a beat.

this is how i have my midi setup:

roland xv-3080 (1 stereo pair) and ensoniq asr-x outputs (2 stereo pairs) into line-in of channels 9-14 of my mackie 1604.

tango24 (adat lightpipe d/a/d) channels 3-8 into the channel inserts of mackie channels 9-14. I use cables that are TRS on one end and dual 1/4" on the other end so that the in/outs of the Tango24 go into a single mixer channel.

once you've got the midi the way you want it, record the midi to audio!