Reference Guide

130 Tutorial 4 – Playing and recording software instruments
Figure 20. The Snap module.
You can now draw notes at shorter distances from each other.
To specify the duration of new notes, select the desired duration in the Control Bar’s Tools module.
Figure 21. The Tools module.
What if I already have a project that contains MIDI tracks?
If you already have a MIDI track that you would like to play through a software instrument, the steps
are a bit different.
Let's start by opening a sample project.
1. On the File menu, click Open.
2. Navigate to C:/Cakewalk Content/SONAR X2/Tutorial Projects.
3. Click on the file named Latin.cwp and click OK.
If you press Play, you are not likely to hear anything. That's because this project does not contain a
software synth for the MIDI tracks to play through. Since there are 11 tracks in this project, it would
be best to use one synth track and route them all to the same instrument. Some instruments, such
as the Cakewalk TTS-1 can output more than one type of sound. These instruments are known as
multi-timbral synths. They know what notes are played through each sound based on the MIDI
channel they are sent over. If you examine each track in this project in the Track Inspector or
Console view, you'll notice that each one is set to its own channel. No two tracks share the same
channel.
Let's insert the Cakewalk TTS-1.
1. Go to Insert > Soft Synths > Cakewalk TTS-1.
The Insert Synth Options dialog box appears.
2. In the Create These Tracks area, click First Synth Audio Output.
3. In the Open These Windows area, click Synth Property Page.
4. Click OK.
Note: If you would like a detailed explanation of each option, click Help.