Troubleshooting

SONAR is not receiving Sysx messages

Make sure all your devices are connected correctly.

Make sure you have the right MIDI Input selected in Edit > Preferences > MIDI - Devices.

Make sure that your instrument is set up to transmit System Exclusive data.

Sysx bank names don't show when I open a file

Sysx bank names are only saved in .cwp and .cwb files (not in .mid files).

SONAR doesn't include a DRM for my instrument

If there is no Dump Request Macro (DRM) for your instrument, you should select You start dump on instrument, then initiate the Sysx dump from the instrument. Once the bytes received count stops increasing, click Done to tell SONAR to stop receiving. The currently selected bank now holds the received Sysx data. You can rename the bank if you want by selecting the bank and clicking Edit > Name.

You can also add a DRM for any unlisted instrument. For more information about how to do this, read the section More about Dump Request Macros earlier in this chapter.

Synthesizers reporting MIDI data errors

Some synthesizers will report data errors when you try to send Sysx information to them. This usually happens when SONAR sends data at a rate too fast for the synthesizer to keep up. You can use the SysxSendPacketSize=number setting in TTSseq.ini (%appdata%\Cakewalk\SONAR) to make SONAR transmit Sysx data more slowly, as described in Sysx .ini file settings.

Try setting the number to 64. If that does not solve the problem, try successively smaller values. If 64 works, you may try larger values until it stops working; go back to the largest value that worked and you will have the fastest transmission rate that the problematic synthesizer can keep up with.

My equipment is not receiving Sysx from SONAR

Make sure the instrument is set up to receive System Exclusive messages. In the Sysx View, make sure the right output is selected. Verify that the Sysx message originally transmitted from the same kind of instrument. An instrument will not recognize Sysx messages from a different make or model of instrument.

Finally, try adjusting the parameters in the TTSseq.ini file, as described Sysx .ini file settings.

Timing requirements when receiving Sysx

Some MIDI devices have special timing requirements when receiving System Exclusive transmissions. If your equipment has problems receiving System Exclusive data from SONAR, you might need to introduce some small delays to allow the equipment to digest the information it is receiving.

The line in TTSseq.ini that reads SysxDelayAfterF7=n enables SONAR to introduce a delay between each Sysx message so that the instrument has some time to respond to the message. Setting n to be 1 enables the delay. The line SysxSendDelayMsecs=n lets you control how many milliseconds the delay is, where n is the number of milliseconds that the delay lasts.

Roland equipment

Some Roland equipment—notably, the GR-1 and GR-50 Guitar Synthesizers—have problems receiving Sysx packets in fast succession. You must use the setting SysxDelayAfterF7 = 1 with these devices.

Ensoniq instruments

Successfully sending Sysx messages to most Ensoniq instruments requires that you add the following three lines to the [Options] section of TTSseq.ini:

SysxDelayAfterF7=1 Enables delay

SysxSendDelayMsecs=200 Sets delay time to 200 milliseconds

SysxSendPacketSize=65535 Increases packet size to 64k

 

See:

What is System Exclusive?

Using the System Exclusive view

Transmitting banks during playback

Real-time recording of System Exclusive messages

Sysx echo

Sysx .ini file settings

Troubleshooting