Reference Guide

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System Exclusive Data
Transmitting Banks During Playback
Transmitting Banks During Playback
SONAR has a special meta-event, Sysx Bank, that lets you play a System Exclusive bank at a
specified time in your project. You can use a Sysx meta-event to send any of the 8192 available
Sysx banks at any time in a sequence. To do this, you have to insert a new event in the Event List
using the INSERT key on the PC keyboard. Next you have to double-click Event Kind and change it
to System Exclusive. In the Values column, select the bank (0-8191) that you want to send.
MIDI is a serial data transmission, meaning it can do only one thing at a time. If you try to upload a
huge sampler dump during a fast drum solo, playback will noticeably lurch. MIDI must complete the
System Exclusive message before it can resume playback. The Sysx meta-event is appropriate only
for very short System Exclusive messages. The exact length depends on various factors, such as
the speed of your computer but as a rule of thumb, 100 bytes is a likely maximum, and even that
may often be too large.
You don’t need to use Sysx meta-events for sending System Exclusive information at the beginning
of your project. Instead, use the Auto option for System Exclusive banks. Banks that are marked
Auto are transmitted automatically by SONAR when it loads the project file they are stored in. Use
the Sysx meta-event only when you need to send a Sysx Bank during the middle of the project.
See:
Real-time Recording of System Exclusive Messages
What Is System Exclusive?
Real-time Recording of System Exclusive Messages
You can record short System Exclusive messages in real time. These will end up in the track as the
new Sysx Data types of events, which can hold System Exclusive messages up to 255 bytes long.
Before you record any Sysx messages, choose Options > Global, click the MIDI tab, and make
sure that System Exclusive is checked.
To Record Sysx Messages in Real Time
1. Arm a MIDI track for recording—use a track that’s uses the output you want to send the Sysx data
out through.
2. Press the Record button or press R to start recording.
3. Move the button or fader on your MIDI instrument that sends Sysx data.
4. Stop recording.
SONAR records your instrument’s Sysx data as a Sysx Data event. Open up the Event List view for
the track you recorded on to view the data. When you play back the MIDI track that the Sysx Data
event is on, make sure that the Output field of the track is set to the output that the MIDI instrument
you want to send Sysx data to is on.