“How can I get my Roland VS-2480HD to sync with Cakewalk or Sonar?”
It’s really not any different from getting a computer software sequencer to sync with most recorders. You’ll set it up to send MMC commands to the 2480. It will locate and play/record based on those commands, and then it will return time code, which your computer sequencer will chase. This creates a situation that seems odd, but works fine. Your computer sequencer is the transport and location master for the system, but the 2480 is the time base master.
In order to set those two devices up to work this way do the following:
Go to Utility – MIDI – MMC mode = Slave. Source = Midi.
Utility – Sync – Sync mode INT. Midi Out Sync Gen = MTC.
Make sure the VS2480 has both midi cables plugged into your PC’s midi jacks (in & out).
In Cakewalk or Sonar, go to Options – Project – Clock. Source = SMPTE/MTC.
Then go to MIDI Out tab, turn on Transmit MIDI Start/Continue/Stop/Clock and Transmit MMC and hit OK.
One last detail you didn’t mention. If you intend to transfer audio tracks between the two systems you will need to synchronize their clocks, which probably isn’t a bad idea anyway. Simply run a digital cable between the 2480 and the digital I/O of your soundcard. In the I/O pages of each device there is a way to select whether it listens to its internal clock or the incoming clock for digital audio data. Select internal on one of them and the appropriate digital I/O on the other. You should be able to leave this set up all the time, even though you may transfer audio both directions between the two. The important thing is only that they’re clocked together. Also consider purchasing an outboard device to supply a high quality master digital clock for both recorders. A good dedicated clock can really improve the sound quality of your digital audio. When you add this to the system both the computer sound card and the 2480 will sync their clocks to this master timing source. The other connections and setup covered above will stay the same. Technically this will make the master clock device the time base master, but it’s still important that your 2480 be able to transmit MTC to the computer as your computer will initially use this to chase, lock and play from the correct location, plus it will continue to use it to confirm that the 2480 is indeed playing. So even if you hit stop on your sequencer it will only send that command, via MMC, to the 2480, causing it to stop. When the MTC stops your sequencer knows to stop.
If you’re interested in more in depth knowledge about synchronization, try doing some searches in the inSync archives. There has been a vast amount of discussion of these topics over the years.