Newbie question about channels 'n' stuff...

[Eisenbart]

Hello again,

desperately trying to understand the world of midi, I have stumpled into another thing that confuses me: In a midi track, what is the purpose of the 'channel' setting? I mean, I got two tracks which both use my sound card as an output, track 1 plays a piano and track 2 plays a flute. No matter wether I assign each of these tracks to separate channels or both to the same channel, the output is the same.

I understand that the channel makes sense as the 'in' setting because there could theoretically be coming input from more than one midi controller, each of which will probably have a different channel.

Am I right in thinking that the output channel of a midi track is only important when I send the events not to my sound card, but to my sound cards midi out port, so that more than one keyboard might receive signals?

Another thing I do not get is setting a patch to 'none'. Actually this should mean that there is no patch to be used and hence no sound should be heard, but in fact a patch seems to be used at random ( usually the one which was last assigned ). Also the channel and the bank got 'default' options - what is their meaning?

Well, I hope I´m not bothering anyone with these stupid questions, but I really just want to understand this stuff...

 

[Grotius]

I have a lot of the same questions. *Does* it matter what channel setting we use if we're only using one MIDI source?

 

[Eisenbart]

The way I understand it, the answer is yes. Usually a midi device ( like a keyboard plugged into the computer ) sends its data via one channel; if the track in Sonar is not set to the same input channel, it won´t receive any data.

Here´s an example: Plug an external drum machine into your PC, the drum machine uses channel 10; if you set a track to input channel 10, you can record from that channel. If there is a second track set to input channel 8 or whatever, it does not receive any signals from the drum machine.

Some keyboards can be set up in such a way that it sends data on more than one channel; for example, you can set the lower half of the keys to channel 1 and the upper half to channel 2. Now you can record to two different midi tracks in sonar if you set one track to record from channel 1 and the other to record from channel 2. If the tracks have been assigned different instruments, you can record 2 instruments at once, e.g. play the rhythm section and the melody simultaneously.

Anyone who can answer my other questions?

 

[brzilian]

MIDI is an interface and communications protocol which can transimit/receive note and controller data on 16 unique channels.

If two MIDI tracks are assigned to the same output channel, both tracks will play the same sound. Each sound in a MIDI arrangment needs to be on its own channel. This is important to do on your soundcard because Sonar communicates with onboard synth chip the same way it would communicate with an external synth connected to your MIDI port.

When you do not assign a specific patch to a MIDI channel
(none). It will default to the General MIDI patch #001 (Piano 1).

Most keyboards and soundcards today are multitimbral which means they can respond to more than one MIDI channel at a time. In the early 80's this was not the case and most synths only were able to respond to 1 channel at a time and only produce 1 sound at a time. This is where the MIDI trough port came into place. Multiple keyboards were daisy chained together and each responded to its own MIDI channel.

Sequencer (MIDI OUT) -> Synth 1 (IN) ->Synth 1 (THRU) - > Synth 2 (IN)...

 

[Eisenbart]

I see... This means that for any given track, the output channel setting tells Sonar on which channel to send midi data, while the patch setting determines which sound to play. If two tracks with the same output channel use different patches, then the patch setting is ignored for one of the channels, right?

But how is a patch actually assigned to an output channel? I mean, am I right in thinking that Sonar sends a "patch change" command to the keyboard or sound card? If I set a track's patch to "none", does this mean that no such command is sent and the one that was previously set will be used?

 

[brzilian]

I see... This means that for any given track, the output channel setting tells Sonar on which channel to send midi data, while the patch setting determines which sound to play. If two tracks with the same output channel use different patches, then the patch setting is ignored for one of the channels, right?

Yep.

But how is a patch actually assigned to an output channel? I mean, am I right in thinking that Sonar sends a "patch change" command to the keyboard or sound card? If I set a track's patch to "none", does this mean that no such command is sent and the one that was previously set will be used?

Yep.

 

[crosstudio]

in your midi setting under midi in, cakewalk has midi in set to auto. that means that whatever track you have currently selected will automatically respond to the midi commands coming from the midi controller and send them to the midi output. if you change the midi in parameter to manual this won't happen.

i do not recommend that you do it because having to set your keyboard to send the correct midi channel is a pain in the a$$, i'm just telling you how it works.