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Kinds of Soft Synths
There are several basic kinds of soft synths:
• DXi (plug-in synths built with DirectX technology)—These programs appear
as plug-ins for audio tracks or buses, just like plug-in effects. They can also be
inserted in SONAR’s Synth Rack view.
• ReWire instruments—These instruments can function as stand-alone devices
that you play with a MIDI controller or through the ReWire instrument’s
internal sequencer, or with recorded MIDI data from SONAR.
• Stand-alone synths—These programs work like external MIDI modules. You
select the stand-alone synth’s MIDI driver as an output for a MIDI track in
your sequencer program (SONAR), and the track plays the stand-alone synth
as if it were an external MIDI module.
• SoundFonts—The SoundFont format is a product of Creative, which makes
the SoundBlaster sound cards. You need either a SoundBlaster sound card or
the LiveSynth Pro DXi software to use SoundFonts.
Note: If you play DXi’s in real time from a MIDI controller, you’ll get noticeably
better performance if you use WDM or ASIO sound card drivers instead of the
older MME type. The lower latency of WDM and ASIO drivers provides quicker
real-time response to note on/off and other commands. Playback of recorded MIDI
data is not affected by your audio driver.
Synth Rack View
Open the Synth Rack view with the View-Synth Rack command. The Synth Rack
view lets you view, insert, delete, and configure your DXi, VSTi, and ReWire soft
synths. You can also mute and solo any or all of them from this view. Each time you
insert a soft synth into your project, a new row appears in the Synth Rack view
with the name of the soft synth and its current preset. You can select different
presets from the view. You can insert as many copies of the same DXi soft synth as
you like; each new copy appears in a new row and has the same name, but has a
higher number after the name (ReWire soft synths can only have one copy open).
The new higher-numbered name also appears on the menus of audio track inputs
and MIDI track outputs.
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