Converting MIDI to audio

The following options cover three basic MIDI setups:

If your MIDI tracks play back through a soft synth, use either the File > Export > Audio or the Track view Tracks > Bounce to Track(s) commands (see the procedures in To export your soft synth tracks as Wave, MP3, or other type files, and To convert your soft synth tracks to new audio tracks).

If your MIDI tracks play back through your sound card’s synthesizer, see To convert a sound card’s synth tracks to a stereo audio track.

If your MIDI tracks play back through external MIDI modules, simply connect their analog outputs to the inputs on your sound card, and record to new audio tracks.

To convert a sound card’s synth tracks to a stereo audio track

1.	Pick a destination audio track and set the Input field to Stereo-(name of your sound card).

Note: If you have more than one sound card installed, select the one that your synth uses as an output.

2.	Arm the destination track.

3.	Mute or archive any tracks that you don’t want to record to the destination track.

4.	If Sonar’s metronome is set to use any software synth to produce a click, disable the recording metronome. To do so, click the Record Metronome button in the Control Bar’s Transport module, or go to Edit > Preferences > Project - Metronome and clear the Recording check box.

5.	Open your sound card's mixer device.

Windows 7: Click the Windows Start button and go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Volume Control.

6.	Open the sound card’s recording control window (the command is probably Options > Properties > Adjust Volume For Recording) and make sure all check boxes below Adjust Volume For Recording are selected.

7.	Click OK, and locate the slider marked MIDI, Synth, Mixed Input, or What You Hear. Select the Select check box at the bottom, then close the window.

8.	In Sonar, click the Record button.

Sonar records all the MIDI tracks that are assigned to the sound card synth as a stereo audio track.

After you finish recording, mute the MIDI tracks that you just recorded so you don’t hear them and the new audio track at the same time.