MIDI Channels and the Fretboard

You can display notes on the fretboard based on the note event’s MIDI channel. (Do not confuse this with the Track MIDI channel.) A single track can hold events on many different MIDI channels. See Assigning a MIDI channel (Chn) for more information. Displaying notes using this method is 100% accurate because each string is represented by an individual MIDI channel. For example, String 1 = MIDI channel 11, String 2 = MIDI channel 12, etc.

To display notes on the Fretboard using their MIDI channels

1.	Set your MIDI guitar to transmit on 6 consecutive channels. This is often referred to as “MONO” mode. Refer to your MIDI Guitar device documentation for more information.

2.	Select and Arm a track.

3.

If you want the data from all 6 strings to be recorded to a single track, set the Input to OMNI. If you want each string on a separate track, you need to set up each individual track to record on the corresponding MIDI channel. The GT-30 Guitar Synthesizer template is designed to do this, so you may want to open that from the Quick Start menu or from the File menu. To use the File menu method, choose File > Open and choose Cakewalk Template from the Files of type field. Then choose the Roland GT-30 Guitar Synthesizer template.

4.	Open the Staff view.

5.	Click the Staff view Edit menu and choose Layout to open the Staff View Layout dialog box.

6.	Click Define.

7.	In the Method field, click MIDI Channel.

8.	In the 1st Channel field, set SONAR to transmit on the same series of MIDI channels that you chose in step 1. Select 1 for 1-6, 2 for 2-7, etc.

MIDI guitar devices can transmit in MONO using a different series of MIDI channels, but SONAR needs to be listening to the same channels in order to properly display the MIDI guitar input.

9.	Click Close.

10.

Click OK.

SONAR displays notes on the Fretboard based on their MIDI channels.

If you are planning to record or input notes from a MIDI guitar synth or MIDI converter, you need to set this up on the instrument. In the case of the Roland GT-30, for example, you set it to send on MIDI Channel 11, MONO. This sends out each corresponding string on channels 11-16.