G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

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Ghost76
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G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by Ghost76 »

Hi there I'm looking for a bit of help with my setup, I was working through the Roland Workshops for the Fantom G boards and someplace along the line I've shot off at a tangent and landed in the world of midi.

I'm trying to confirm my understanding of what I've come to understand about midi by testing some basic input/output functions with the Fantom G & Cakewalk X1.

I've got the G7 connected to my laptop running Sonar X1 via usb midi & the .ins definition file for the fantom has been successfully imported.

As far as I'm aware it should be as simple as inserting a midi track into my sonar project and selecting the Fantom G as an input device for that midi track.

When I highlight the newly inserted midi track the track's information panel shows the input as 'Fantom G - Omni' and the output shows 'Fantom G' however when I play keys on the G7 I see nothing which indicates a stream of midi data being recieved or any audio being passed back through the Fantom to my connected amp & speakers.

There must be something I've got set incorrectly all I want to be able to do is record directly from my fantom into Sonar & be able to trigger sounds from Sonar's softsynths from the fantom.

*side note when I load a midi file into a track on Sonar and play it seems to work as I would expect & I can hear what data is being played back through the Fantom with whatever patch is currently selected.
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piaknowguy
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by piaknowguy »

Hi Ghost76! Welcome to the forum!

Make sure to choose a MIDI transmit channel on your Fantom G. You can do this by pressing the PAD MODE button to the left of your DYNAMIC PAD's. Then press PAD #10 (MIDI TX SW). Then press PAD #1 so that it remains lit. You can choose to trasmit any MIDI channel(s) in this way. Channel #1 should work well for your purposes! I too am loving Sonar X1 PE.

Hope that helps!
Ghost76
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by Ghost76 »

Thankyou very much, worked like a dream first time, absolutely appreciated, that was driving me insane !

*edit

Hmmm thought it was all working (and the recording from the G7 to the Sonar Midi track does) however when I bring up a softsynth instrument and play keys on the G7 I can see a virtual key being pressed/string plucked etc but what I hear is whatever patch is selected currently on my fantom.

I'll keep reading and see if I can figure it out in the meantime if you can give me any other golden nuggets of information that'd be great.
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piaknowguy
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by piaknowguy »

Hi Ghost76.

Hmmm . . . Make sure that your 'Local Switch' is set to OFF on the Fantom. Go to MENU/SYSTEM/Sound to make that adjustment.

The soft-synth sound is played through an audio interface. This will be either through the comp's audio card or through your Fantom G, depending on how you have things set up. Can you explain further as to how you are connected, which Windows Version you are using, etc.?
Ghost76
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Joined: 11:35, 11 May 2011

Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by Ghost76 »

Hi there my setup is fairly straightforward I'm running windows 7 with the G7 connected by USB midi/audio to my laptop/laptops internal soundcard & I've got a stereo amp & speakers connected to the G7's 1st pair of left/right outputs.

I want to keep things simple, is it possible for me to use the USB connection to output the audio back to the G7 as well as any midi data instead of introducing any external audio/midi interface as a middleman between the G7 & laptop.

I set the 'Local Switch' to 'Off' which 'muted' the G7 but this did't seem to make much difference in sonar
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piaknowguy
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by piaknowguy »

Make sure to set your windows default audio to the Fantom in the Windows control panel. Then make sure the MIX IN peak indicator of the Fantom is lit and that the input is set to USB Audio.
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piaknowguy
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by piaknowguy »

You could also check your audio preferences in Sonar. Make sure that the Fantom's output driver is chosen.
Ghost76
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by Ghost76 »

You sir are a genius!

mix in was all that was needed to pass the audio back through :)
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fantomCK
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by fantomCK »

i use a fantom g and sonar alot( as well as 4 other rolands) and i find it easy to use the editor to set up my fantom from the computer.......i set up the sound i want on the editor.....record in sonar then save both files in the same folder.....when i want to bring the song up, i go to windows explorer and click both files...setting up sonar and the fantom G.....i like to make my own patch and edit theM while sonar is playing..... as well as setting up reverb and chorus ...this way i can.....the inf files just let me use presets...good luck CK
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piaknowguy
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by piaknowguy »

@Ghost76.

Glad I could help! =)

@FantomCK.

Good Advice. The Ins. file however should also allow you to use USER patches.
Ghost76
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by Ghost76 »

Thanks for the info CK I too prefer using the editor to setup up the Fantom.

I've continued my adventures in Midi and understand now how the 16 channels work and how they can be assigned to different functions which is all good but something very strange happened today, I'd been playing around with the softsynths in Sonar using the Fantom as the controller and I think I must have done something unintentionally but I'm not sure what.

When I went back to playing with the G7 patches & I noticed a patch I hadn't selected was showing on the Fantom it was something like 791 Oct Warm Strings when I played the keys it was like the keys had been split 3 ways the bottom 3rd was playing a piano type sound the middle was playing a synth and the top third was like an orchestra hit of some description anyway when I tried changing the patch / bank this 3 way split remained as I described with no change of tone regardless of what I selected.

So I tried returning all the system settings that I had changed whilst setting up Midi / Mix in but regardless of what I did no audible changes could be heard.

Discovered that what I had done was only affecting the Fantom Project that I was currently working so I reloaded from a back up & all was well.

Any clue to as what I may have done?

I did have the editor & librarian software running in the background whilst playing around in Sonar but don't consciously remember.

Unfortunately I deleted my scrambled project from the USB drive in haste before making this post...
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fantomCK
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by fantomCK »

cool glad your enjoying your editor.......now make sure your doing this......go to your fantom and set it on studio mode....then up at the top the word internal should be in blue.....this setting is for when you create songs using just the fantom G.....but when using sonar you should press F8 till external is in blue....now your fantom is ready to work with sonar.....now go to your editor and bring up a patch on part 1.....then set sonar midi track to fantom out channel 1 and record....go back to your editor and place a bass on part 2.....then in sonar, create a new midi track, setting the out to fantom channel 2 and so on......now heres a few things to remember.....if you close sonar the fantom will not play till you set your studio back to internal...press F7 till its blue................but when you record in external setting this should stop unwanted preset changes....i hope i am making myself clear and this helps....i will check this post again to see how its going......good luck..... CK

ps if softsynth is used, set out to it intsead of setting it to fantom

ps by doing this you dont have to mess with a local switch....

ps on the midi track in sonar...... the i in sonar is input, set to fantom omni.......the o in sonar is output, set it to fantom or softsnyth.........the c is channel, set that to the fantom channel you wish to use

ps using this method... the only time i lay a hand on the fantom is to play a key, pitch bend, d beam or slider.....othe wise sonar and editor makes ALL the changes

got a new brian drain for ya......do you know how to sync your fantom LFO clock to sonar, making all those pulsating sound follow your sonar tempo..... if not, make new post and i will answer!! ha

HEY roland or cakewalk i want a job working your help phone lines
Ghost76
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by Ghost76 »

I think I was following you upto a point, here's what I've got....

G7 in studio mode set to External (highlighted in blue)

Main lead set up in G-Editor
Image

Bass set up in G-Editor
Image

Write in G-Editor to User Studio Set Bank on G7

Midi Track 1 Sonar (Input Fantom-G Channel 1/ Output Fantom G)
Image

Midi Track 2 Sonar (Input Fantom-G Channel 2 / Output Fantom G)
Image

Now I can record into both those MIDI tracks in Sonar.

When I select MIDI Track 1(Lead) in Sonar and play keys on the G7 the Lead sound plays correctly.

however when I select MIDI Track 2 (Bass) in Sonar and play keys on the G7 both sounds (Lead & Bass) play simultaneously.

My Local Switch in the G7's System/Sound settings is on & Pad Mode is set to MIDI Switch & both channels (1 & 2) are active with the corresponding lit.

Am I correct in thinking I need to then use the Manual Mute toggle in Sonar for the sounds I don't want to hear?

Is this what I should be trying to achieve? your point seems to be I shouldn't have to have any interaction with the G7 other than notes / pitch bends that I'm playing & switching on further MIDI channels on the G7 as required?

Am I on the right track with what you're trying to explain to me or way off...

Thanks very much for your help by the way.


*edit

ignore the input echo switch settings in my images both are set to 'on'
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fantomCK
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by fantomCK »

close dude......set input to fantom omni....let sonar record in any fantom channel ..(the fantom channel input does not matter)....set the output to fantom G and the channel to whatever your using......in sonar have only one of the blue .)))) input echo on ......if you have 16 of them blue you will hear all 16 parts when you play the fantom.....they will turn off automatically once you turn part 1 off......a sonar fix it is needed....there is no midi channel changing on the fantom.

ps good use of pictures in your post
Ghost76
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Re: G7 & Sonar X1 Producer

Post by Ghost76 »

Ok cool so I switched the input channels to omni and understand how the input echo switches works in Sonar and don't need to mess around with the G7 pads anymore, however in order to change from the Lead to Bass sounds I need to change from part 1 to part 2 on the G7 using the right/left cursor buttons, is this correct or should I be able to switch parts from the G-Editor or am I still missing something whereby switching from MIDI Track 1 to MIDI Track 2 in Sonar should switch the patch?
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