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Assigning Instruments
SONAR lets you assign a MIDI instrument definition to each available MIDI
output and channel. The assignments you make determine the MIDI bank names,
patch names, note names, and controller names that you see during your SONAR
session.
Suppose that you have a Roland GS-compatible synthesizer attached to MIDI
output 1. By assigning all 16 channels of MIDI output 1 to the Roland GS
instrument definition, you ensure that the bank, patch, note, and controller name
lists you see displayed in SONAR are the same ones that you see on the display
screen of your synthesizer.
Often, you want to assign a different instrument to channel 10, which is usually
used for percussion. For example, you might assign the Roland GS instrument
definition to channels 1 through 9 and 11 through 16, but you would most likely
want to assign the Roland GS Drumsets instrument definition to channel 10. That
way, any SONAR tracks you assign to channel 10 on that output use the names of
drum sets for patch names, and drum notation in the Piano Roll view. If you have
several MIDI outputs, with a different MIDI module attached to each one, you
would normally assign a different instrument definition to each MIDI output.
For convenience, you can assign a block of channels to one instrument and then
change the assignment of one or more of those channels without changing the
others. For example, you can highlight all 16 channels of the first MIDI output and
assign them to the Roland GS instrument definition. Then, you can highlight
channel 10 of that same MIDI output and assign it to the Roland GS Drumset
instrument definition. Channels 1 through 9 and 11 through 16 on the first MIDI
output will stay assigned to Roland GS.
If you only have one MIDI output, but have several MIDI modules attached to it,
you can assign a few channels to each module. For example, you might have a
Roland synth receiving on MIDI channels 1 through 9, a Roland drum machine
receiving on channel 10, and a basic GM-compatible synth receiving on channels
11 through 16. In this case, you’d use three different instrument definitions for
your one and only MIDI output.
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