SONAR LE Documentation is based on the full version of SONAR. Some screenshots, folder paths, features and other references may differ from your installation.

External devices

SONAR can be controlled by a wide range of MIDI controllers and external MIDI devices. SONAR also contains two generic controller/surface plug-ins (the ACT MIDI Controller plug-in, and the Cakewalk Generic Surface Plug-in), which allow you to use almost any MIDI controller or controller/surface with SONAR. You can also control certain external devices from SONAR by using StudioWare or OPT (Open Plug-in Technology) panels.

SONAR allows you to control soft synths as well as effect plug-ins. Active Controller Technology (ACT) allows you to control any plug-in that has focus, using the same widget mappings for each instance of the same plug-in. You can also choose to lock a particular controller/surface to a particular instance of a plug-in.

Note: Some older plug-ins do not support ACT.

To keep track of your mappings, SONAR displays different-colored markers on each track and/or bus to show you which controller/surface is currently controlling that particular module. These visual markers on tracks and buses are called the WAI display (Where Am I).

SONAR includes preset mappings for popular controllers/surfaces and MIDI controllers such as the Roland A-PRO series. If SONAR does not currently include preset mappings for your controller/surface, you can create mappings by using the built-in ACT MIDI Controller Plug-in or Cakewalk Generic Surface Plug-in.

Note: ACT and control surface support is not available in SONAR LE.

 

See:

Roland A-PRO controllers

Setting up control surfaces

ACT MIDI Controller plug-in

Cakewalk Generic Surface plug-in

The WAI display

ACT

OPT panels

Working with StudioWare