How do I setup Tascam Gigastudio and Cakewalk Sonar to work together on the same system? How do I get Gigastudio’s audio output into a track in Sonar?

Giga is unable to directly route audio into another audio application on the same computer, so we must use other methods.

To get Sonar and Gigastudio to run simultaneously on the same computer, you’ll first need a soundcard that has both multi-client drivers (will work with more than 1 application at the same time) and GSIF (Gigastudio audio drivers). Or, you can use two soundcards- one for Gigastudio and one for Sonar. Most pro-audio cards have both multi-client and GSIF drivers.

To get Gigastudio’s audio output into Sonar, you must use the audio card’s output and input to transfer the audio. The basic scenario is to use an unused pair of your soundcard’s outputs to play the Gigastudio’s sound, and then route (by cabling) this back into an extra input on your soundcard and into Sonar. Here’s how:

It is best to use digital IO if possible, this includes S/PDIF, Toslink (optical S/PDIF), or ADAT optical, or a couple others, to keep the signal in the digital domain to preserve quality. If you have no digital IO on your soundcard or are using it for another device, you can use analog IO, just as long as you don’t use the same IO as you plan to use for main inputs and outputs of Sonar.

In Gigastudio, go to Settings – General and select your sequencer, in this case Cakewalk or Sonar. Hit Browse, and browse to c:\program files\cakewalk\sonar 2\sonar.exe or the appropriate location of your program.

Set Gigastudio’s output by going into Settings – Hardware/Routing, and then checkmark the appropriate output, unchecking all others. Remember to hit the Apply button. Please note Giga does not explicitly state which outputs are which (it will start with 1-2, 3-4, etc.), you may have to try several before you find the correct one- typically numbering starts with the analog IO and then moves to the digital IO in the upper numbers. For instance, if you have an audio card with 8 analog IOs, 1 Adat optical, and S/PDIF, typically Analog will be 1-8, Adat will be 9-16, and S/PDIF will be 17-18. In this case, only checkmark 17-18.

In Sonar, go to Options – MIDI Devices and make sure Nemesys MidiOut Port 1-4 is enabled (highlighted blue).

In Sonar, go to Options-Audio-Drivers and de-select the output you used in Giga, say S/PDIF 1-2. DO select the input for this channel, as this will be the sound coming INTO Sonar. Press OK, and Sonar will say you need to restart. Simply close Sonar, we’ll be opening it in the next step.

Start Gigastudio if it’s not already open. You will want to launch Sonar from Gigastudio by pressing the icon at the top that looks like a mini staff with 3 notes on it. Launch Sonar this way now.

Then, after loading an instrument into Gigastudio, go to a MIDI track in Sonar and choose the input as desired (usually MIDI Omni, which will take ANY MIDI input into your computer), choose the output as Nemesys MidiOut Port 1, select channel 1 (assuming you loaded the instrument into port 1 and channel 1), hit record-enable, and your Gigastudio should play.

Now, you can simply play MIDI into Sonar which will in turn send it to Gigastudio, and remember that now in our configuration the Gigastudio sounds are coming in S/PDIF 1-2 as if it is an external keyboard.

Knowledge Base