[Cakewalk Sonar Instrument Definitions
Betty Neyhart
Anybody having any luck installing the "instrument definitions", .ins files, into the Bandlab Cakewalk. I went thru the process and they show up with all the connections, but when I browse the patches, it just shows GM instruments.
Thank you. I had already done the associations which is what I meant by making all the connections, but I was looking in the wrong place for the patches. Silly me, I thought I could click on the "browse patches" button and find them. Thanks again.
I hope they move those files some place new users can access. The links take you to the old forums but a Cakewalk account is required to access. If you didn't already have one, you're out of luck since they have disabled creating new accounts.
Instrument definitions are a powerful feature that make it easier for you to find the banks, patches, and controllers of your MIDI instruments. An instrument definition is a file that contains the names of the banks, patches, note names, bank select method, and controllers of an instrument. Instrument definitions for many popular MIDI instruments are included with Cakewalk software. If an instrument definition is not available for your instrument, and you are familiar with MIDI and how it works, you can import or create your own instrument definition.
Most MIDI instruments available today are General MIDI (GM) compatible, which means that they come with the standard set of sounds or patches defined by the GM standard. Your Cakewalk software initially assumes that your MIDI instruments are GM compatible. The names of patches and controllers that you initially see displayed throughout your Cakewalk software are drawn from the GM specification.
At the same time, many MIDI instruments provide additional sounds and controllers beyond those required by the GM standard. In addition, some older MIDI instruments are not GM compatible. If you are using one of these instruments, you can use instrument definitions to make sure that the names of banks, patches, and controllers that you see in your Cakewalk software are the same ones you see on the display screens of your MIDI keyboards and modules.
Please Note: More in-depth information about creating/importing/assigning Instrument Definitions specific to your Cakewalk software can be found in your Help documentation. Press F1 to load your Help document and see the Topic and Sub-Topics under "Instrument Definitions" displayed on the Content tab.
If you are trying to locate Instrument Definitions for your hardware, you should first check to find out if it was already included with your Cakewalk software. If you cannot locate the correct ones for your hardware, you can use the downloads below to see if our archive has them available.
If you cannot locate the appropriate Instrument Definitions for your hardware, try contacting your hardware manufacturer to see if they have them available. Some manufacturer's have utilities that will generate the file for you.
One example of this is Roland Backstage, which has a script that builds instrument definitions for various Roland devices. You will need to create an account at to be able to access this. Afterwards, you can access the script builder at _script_builder/index.php
If you want your MIDI tracks in your Cakewalk software to use an instrument definition that you have imported, you need to specify which MIDI ports of your hardware you wish to use the instrument definition. You can do this by doing the following:
From now on, the bank, patch, controller, and note names from the assigned instrument definition are used throughout your Cakewalk software on any track that uses one of the output/channel combinations you selected in the Output/Channel list.
If you find we don't currently offer the definition for your MIDI device and you cannot locate it online, you may want to create the definition yourself. These instructions will direct you in that task. SONAR lets you create and edit instrument definitions. To create an instrument definition, you must answer these types of questions:
The instrument definitions organize all names (patches, notes, controllers, RPNs, and NRPNs) into lists. You may be able to define a new instrument using existing name lists. For example, two models of synthesizers made by a particular manufacturer may have identical patch name lists but use different NRPNs. In this case, you can use the same patch name lists for both instruments, but you would need to use a different NRPN list (or perhaps create a new NRPN list) for the second synth.
If you want your changes to be remembered the next time you run SONAR, make sure the Save Changes For Next Session option in the Assign Instruments dialog box is checked before clicking OK. Otherwise, to make only temporary changes, be sure to remove the check from that option.
To create a new instrument
Synthesizer manufacturers will provide different methods for changing banks via MIDI. Some manufacturers use a simple patch change message to change banks, while others use a MIDI Controller 32 message, or a Controller 0 message. Some MIDI instruments use a combination of Controller 0 and Controller 32; this last method is also known as the Normal Bank Select method.
This document addresses the four different Bank Select methods used in Cakewalk's Tools, Instruments, Define menu. First, we'll look at the Normal Bank Select method.
Determining the Correct Bank Number - Normal Bank Select Method (Ctl 0 and Ctl 32)
You will have to do some calculations to determine the correct "Normal" bank numbers to use in Cakewalk. The good news is that Cakewalk will save the bank numbers as part of your Instrument Definition.
For this example, let's determine correct Bank Number for the Preset A bank of the Roland JV-1080 synthesizer. The JV-1080 uses the Normal Bank Select method.
For synths using the Normal Bank Select method, you need to calculate the bank number based on the values of Controller 0 and Controller 32. There's a simple formula for doing this. The formula works for all instruments that use the Normal Bank Select Method of Controller 0 and 32:
NOTE: Some Synthesizer manufacturers refer to Controller 0 as the MSB, or Most Significant Byte, and to Controller 32 as the LSB, or Least Significant Byte.
According to Roland's documentation, the JV-1080 PR-A Bank has a Controller 0 value of 81, and a Controller 32 value of 0. Plug these numbers into the formula:
So 10368 is the correct bank number for the PR-A Bank. Use this formula to calculate the correct numbers to enter in the Instrument Definition walk-through above.
Determining the Correct Bank Number - Other Bank Select Methods
Some synthesizers, such as many Ensoniq and Kurzweil models, use a patch change event (also known as a program change) to change banks. Keyboards manufactured by Roland, Korg, and E-mu can use any combination of Controller 0 Only, Controller 32 Only or Normal (Controller 0 & Controller 32). This information is usually located in the back of the synth's Users Guide in the "MIDI Implementation Chart." Consult the keyboard manufacturer for further information.
Controller 0 Only:
When using Controller 0 Only, simply type the value of the Controller 0 into the Add Patch Names Bank Number window.
An example of this is the Roland JV-80. It uses a Controller 0 value of 81 to change between A and B banks. Type 81 in the Bank Number window that appears after you drag & drop Patch Name List onto the Patch Name for Banks folder.
Controller 32 Only:
If your synth uses Controller 32 only, type the Controller 32 value into the Bank Number window and associate that number with the patch list you created earlier.
Patch 100..127:
If your instrument accesses its banks via patch events, you will select Patch 100..127 in the Bank Select Method window. Remember that the actual patch number used to change banks will be offset by 100 when you type the number into the Bank Number window. For example, certain Ensoniq keyboards use a patch change number of 124 to change to a specific bank. Instead of typing 124 into the Bank Number window, you will type 24. Associate the number 24 with the patch list you created in the Uses The Patch Names menu.
Hi,
there are good news to all waiting for this feature.
Since version 5.2, there is the new feature sound variations with key switches. With those it is easy to create patchname-scripts like in Cubase oder instrument-definitions in Sonar. And it gets better. Lukas Ruschitzka who has direct contact to presonus created "Studio One Toolbox", a new homepage with the possibility to convert "Cubase - Patchname-Scripts" and "Sonar-Instrument Definitions" into the file-format for keyswitches - just by dragging it into the field on the homepage.