Need Help With Sonar

[64Guitars]

Try this:

http://www.rolandus.com/support/knowledge_base/view/105258

[Mach]

I've been using Sonar for years and now have X1 Producer and I understand the BR800 will also work with it as a control surface. But I'm a little confused with the transfer now since I read this https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=16907.msg216183#new...if it only supports USB 1.1 wouldn't it be very slow and have a possible latency problem. Plus transfer 2 tracks instead of 4??? 

LESTG have you fixed the VST problem? I have 2 folders on my drive for VSTi's...one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit. Some 64 bit won't load in certain software so the 32 works fine. There are VST instruments and then there are VST effects which load differently in DAW's. See if you can search for it and place it in a designated VST folder.

Mach

[64Guitars]

But I'm a little confused with the transfer now since I read this https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=16907.msg216183#new...if it only supports USB 1.1 wouldn't it be very slow and have a possible latency problem.

This article from Sound on Sound magazine says that USB 1.1 is adequate.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov04/articles/pcmusician.htm

"There's also a lot of snobbery about the slower USB 1.1, which is also unfairly dismissed out of hand by some musicians. It's perfectly adequate for a stereo interface running at the most common 24-bit/44.1kHz or 24-bit/48kHz formats, and only struggles for bandwidth if you want to record and play back simultaneously at 96kHz. If it fits your requirements, USB 1.1 is fine, and there are now lots of USB 1.1 audio interfaces to choose from at really low prices."

I don't know for certain what the BR-800's specs are as an audio interface but I would guess that it's running at 24-bit/44.1kHz since that's what it uses internally. According to the quote above from Sound on Sound, USB 1.1 should be perfectly adequate for that.

Plus transfer 2 tracks instead of 4??? 

Though fast enough for 2 tracks, I assume that USB 1.1 isn't fast enough for 4. But why record 4 tracks simultaneously to the computer anyway? In a situation where you need to record 4 tracks simultaneously, wouldn't it be a lot more convenient to record to the BR rather than a computer? Then you could simply transfer the recorded tracks to the computer for final mixing in SONAR. That's what's great about the BR-800/SONAR package. You get the best of both worlds. The BR is best for recording your tracks and SONAR is best for mixing and production.

[Mach]

Thanks for the info 64. I'm sure it's adequate enough for the interface and the sound to travel, Just still a bit fuzzy on the control surface and how it reacts from the BR to Sonar. If 1.1 is hooked up to 2.0, I was wondering if the operating system would notify the user about the sub-optimal configuration and recommend for a better course of action?

I have never used a surface control on my PC's with a USB hub. I've worked with a friend of mine who has one connected by Fire wire and it seems to be OK, but I've read somewhere that USB 2.0 had a slight edge over the speed of Fire wire. I'm not sure if this has any effect on surface control.

Mach

[64Guitars]

I think you're confusing the requirements of a Control Surface with the requirements of an Audio Interface. There's nothing sub-optimal about using the BR-800 as a control surface. The speed of the USB would only be a concern when using the BR as an audio interface. In that mode, it's sending and receiving large amounts of data (digital audio samples) and the USB connection must be fast enough to keep up (it is, according to the Sound on Sound article above). But in Control Surface mode, the amount of data it has to transfer is trivial by comparison. That's because it's not transferring digital audio samples, it's only transferring midi commands. Even USB 1.0 is many times faster than it needs to be for midi. So there's no concern at all about USB 1.1 being fast enough for the BR-800 to be used as a control surface. One of the first computers to be used with midi was the Commodore 64, and it was fast enough for the task. Even the slowest of today's computers are many times faster than a Commodore 64, so speed is never an issue for midi.

The purpose of audio interface mode is to convert analog audio to digital so that it can be transferred over USB. An electric guitar, for example, outputs an analog audio signal. The BR converts this analog signal to digital by sampling it 44,100 times per second and storing each sample in a 24-bit word (three 8-bit bytes). So each second of audio sends 132,300 bytes (3 * 44,100) of data over the USB connection. You will then be able to hear your guitar in SONAR, route it through SONAR's plugins, and record it to a track in SONAR.

The purpose of control surface mode is to notify SONAR when a button is pressed on the BR-800 or a control is adjusted. Each button press or control change only sends a few bytes of midi data. SONAR recognizes the midi data and adjusts the corresponding parameters on-screen accordingly.

Control surface mode and audio interface mode can be used together or separately. For example, if you record all of your tracks on the BR-800 then transfer them to your computer with BR Wave Converter, you don't need to enable audio interface mode because you're not recording any analog signals directly to SONAR. However, you'll probably want to enable control surface mode so that you can use the BR-800's faders and other controls while mixing your tracks in SONAR. Since all of the audio is already on your computer (via BR Wave Converter), there's no need to send any audio from the BR to the computer over USB. However, you might want to enable audio interface mode anyway so that you can send the output of SONAR back to the BR-800 for monitoring. This is optional since you can monitor directly from your computer's headphone jack instead, but you might get better sound from the BR. It also saves you from having to move your headphones back and forth between the BR and the computer. You can just leave them plugged into the BR all the time.

[Auroran]

Plus transfer 2 tracks instead of 4??? 

But why record 4 tracks simultaneously to the computer anyway? In a situation where you need to record 4 tracks simultaneously, wouldn't it be a lot more convenient to record to the BR rather than a computer?

In theory (and maybe reality) it would sound better that way as one is bypassing the Roland compression scheme and staying in 24/44.1. Then again, If someone was truly adamant about staying in pure 24 bit, they wouldn't have purchased a BR to begin with.

[Mach]

Yeah there is so much uncertainty from what I've read across our vast WWW and have decided to pursue a different interface/controller. The BR is appealing and all, but I don't think it's going to meet my needs. Maybe Boss/Roland will come out with something in the future like Phonics or PreSonus consoles but affordable.