Connecting to Sonar Home Studio 7 .... and other matters .....

[cpd]

Hello all,

I am a complete novice in terms of home recording and am delighted to have found this forum. My situation is that I can play a little on keyboards, less on guitar, but have members of the family that can play other instruments, and also sing .... very well.

The kit I have assembled so far consists of :
- A decent laptop with 2 USB imputs (I also have a powered USB hub).
- Sonar Home Studio 7.
- Guitar and mic fed through M-Audio fast track to USB.
- Yamaha PSR400 Keyboard with MIDI in/out.
- Roland V HD1 drums with Midi out only.

My understanding is that the M-Audio Fast Track (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrack.html) provides a USB interface/input (for guitar and mic) to the PC. Dont ask how, but I have managed to get Sonar Home Studio 7 to pick it up and I can record tracks in thsi way.

I have also purchased a Yamaha UX16 Midi/USB interface (http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/accessories/usb-midi/ux16/?mode=model) for the keyboard. I have had difficulties in getting Sonar Home Studio to pick up on this.

My GUESS, is that I need to get something like this : http://www.roland.com/products/en/UM-1G/ as a MIDI/USB interface to provide a USB input to the laptop from the drums.

My Questions :
(And please remember I am a complete numptie ......)

1. Could the Yamaha UX16 cable do what the UM-1G cable should - ie act as a MIDI/USB interface ie do all MIDI/USB interfaces work in a similar way ?.

2. How do you assign in Sonar Home Studio 7 a track to a USB input ?

3. I am going to end up with 3 USB inputs (guitar/mic, keyboard and drums) but have only 2 physical USB slots on the laptop hence the USB hub - related to Q2, but is this going to work ??

4. There must a device that can take the MIDI in/out from the keyboard and drums and also the inputs from the mic/guitar and then provide a single USB to the laptop without providing much in the way of effects etc - Im hoping this can all be done on the laptop ?.

Many many thanks. For various reasons this project has been taken up and dropped over the past couple of years, using advice from many sources etc.. I am absolutely determined to get it going now. Thanks again and looking forward to any help .....
Alan

 

[FunkDaddy]

Urrhgahghhh so many questions...haha jk, let me try and boil it down a bit

You have two audio interfaces...that could be a problem but if you're just using one as a MIDI device and the other as an audio device...they should jive with each other. In Sonar's preferences, you should be able to choose which is which.

Once you've done that, you'll assign Sonar's input to your MIDI device, the Yamaha dealy. You don't need a seperate device for the drums, just switch the cable around...it'll save you having to choose a new MIDI device every time you switch from keyboard to drums. Just switch a cable instead

As for question #4...most interfaces, I believe, only have 1 MIDI input and 1 MIDI output. But there are MIDI switches that you can purchase to switch between devices easier...also utilizing any MIDI Thru's on your devices, though it doesn't sound like yours have any.

 

[cpd]

Problems solved !!

What a great example this is of a newbie waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy overcomplicating things. So, after much thought of what I was trying to do, I now find that all inputs can be fed through the m-audio fast track. Ok, at the moment it will involve much plugging/unplugging but switch boxes can sort that .... AND .... I got it all to pretty much work this morning which is great. Thank you FD for the input - you made me realise just how complicated I was making it. Right world, here I come ...............