Reference Guide

952
MIDI Files
settings when composing songs: When you save your work as a MIDI File, SONAR will place these
events in the track at the specific clock ticks recommended by the guidelines.
You can tell SONAR to follow the GM guidelines by loading the “Turn GM System On” Sysx bank in
the Sysx View (gmsystem.syx in your Cakewalk directory), and then either inserting a sysx event at
time 1:1:0 or using the Auto setting for that bank.
When loading a GM file, each track’s bank, patch, volume and pan parameters are lifted from the
data stream and placed in SONAR’s Track view for you to see and edit onscreen. The GM mode
ensures that all patches, banks and controllers are placed at specified times throughout a setup
measure when you save a MIDI file. This ensures that all setup information can be digested by your
synthesizer before it starts playback. If you don't have a setup measure in your project, SONAR will
insert one for you.
If there is no GM, GS, or XG reset System Exclusive message present at the start of your project,
SONAR will not operate in this GM mode.
If You Have Problems Playing MIDI Files
A MIDI file can cause playback problems if all of the following are true:
• The MIDI file is a GM-compatible Standard MIDI Format 1
• All patches, banks and/or controllers are stored in one track
• All related note events are stored in a different track
When SONAR loads such a file, it may try to optimize the program changes, causing incorrect
selection of synthesizer voices during playback (the GM, GS, and XG specifications all recommend
the use of Standard MIDI Format 0 for distribution of music data, which would make this problem
irrelevant). If you encounter this problem, simply re-select your instruments and re-save the file.
If You Plan to Publish Your Songs
If you plan to publish your own songs, we encourage you to follow the General MIDI authoring
guidelines. These guidelines are quite detailed about the exact layout of many types of song data,
and a complete discussion of them can be found on the World Wide Web at www.midi.org. However,
SONAR can help you to conform with the GM guidelines if you follow these practices:
• Always save your master copy of any work in progress in SONAR project (.cwp) file format. When
you are ready to publish your work, use the File > Save As command to create a Standard MIDI
Format 0 file.
• All of the major publishing guidelines recommend that you use Standard MIDI File Format 0
instead of Format 1. Some sequencers cannot read the more complex Format 1 files, particularly
sequencers embedded in some types of hardware such as karaoke players.
• Load the “Turn GM System On” system exclusive bank (gmsystem.syx in your Cakewalk directory)
in the Sysx view, and set the bank to Auto Send. This message will not only re-initialize a General
MIDI compatible sound module to a known state, but will also tell SONAR to generate GM setup
measures for your program changes when you save the project in Standard MIDI Format. See
“Variables in the [Options] Section” on page 940 for information on disabling setup measure.