help please, my saved sonar midi files become altered

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energy1

Post by energy1 » Sun Jan 23, 2005 2:35 pm

Hello,
I need technical help from someone familiar with Sonar2. I have the 30-day demo and I do amazing things to my midi files with this program, although when I reopen a saved file the midi info is horribly unlike the version as it was when I saved it. I have spent several all-nighters composing and editing only to discover that my hard work has ruined my music. I really would like to purchase Sonar, but this problem has nearly driven me to insanity.
Here is some of my problems:
I try to keep Midi channels the same as the track number. Why, when I enter notes in the staff or piano roll, say in track/channel 5, does the entered notes appear in midi channel 1? I have experienced that if I add or edit notes in a track with a channel and don't change the channel from 1 to the channel that the part is in, say for instance channel 5, then they play back with unpredicatable controller info and sound completely different that how I had it when it was saved.
My basic question is: what am I doing wrong and what are the consequences of changing channel info in a track so that all midi info is in the track and in one channel? I have had my notes changed in pitch, I have lost program changes. I have had controller info mutate from, ie. volume controller to modulation, or my edited velocity settings are lost, 32nd notes have been quantized to 16ths.
Another thing that just happened was that some notes became doubled. How can I have an echo problem when I have no controller? I only edit with a mouse!
Often, certain track will not play and I will have to edit the event view by inserting a program change and then sending it to the start of the song by changing its "now-time" to zero. I select program changes in the track view, but when I re-open a saved file the patch is listed as "none".
There must be something in preferences that is causing all my trouble.
I would greatly appreciate some advice, because I am trying to learn Sonar before I decide if I should buy it, and my demo only has 8 days left.

Sonar really brings my compositions from Notation software to life and its design really inspires me to compose in new ways. I have spent many nights totally involved in editing a piece a music and absolutely amazed at the result, only to be terrified to find that all that work was destroyed when I re-opened the file.
Thanks fellow Cakewalkers!

-energy1


Illprophet
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Re.

Post by Illprophet » Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:19 am

LOL!!! It's OK my brother, calm down and take a deep breath. We've all been through it and it can be discouraging. When you click on the track you want and then click on piano roll to start creating notes...Cakewalk automatically selects some if not all of the tracks with midi info (if I recall correctly). When you lay down a note in one track (regardless of the channel) the other midi tracks will sometimes pick it up as well (quantizing and running amuck with your data). I suspect this is where you're getting the double notes and various problems from. Do this...after selecting your midi track and selecting piano roll, go to the track select in the above toolbar. Highlight the correct track and get to work! (see screeny) This will isolate the track and keep it in order for ya. If you're having any other saving problems (I'm sorry to say) it's because you're running a trial version and the patch that you so desperately need from Cakewalk cannot be applied. Cakewalk has a bad habit of releasing their software with known flaws then, supplying the patch later. If you're going to buy Sonar, you won't be dissappointed (after you get the patch for it -there's one for every version) but make sure it's Sonar3 producers edition or above to avoid any later headaches (IMHO). I hope this helps you -good luck in the future.

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