About the Workshop Booklets, About This Booklet

About the Workshop Booklets

Roland’s SonicCell is designed for modern musicians. Using USB, It adds a huge set of sounds to your digital audio workstation (or “DAW”) without adding to your computer’s workload. It’s also an audio interface that can get signals from mics, instruments, or other devices to DAW tracks for recording. SonicCell’s Editor software allows you to program SonicCell from within your DAW. Onstage, its compact size also makes SonicCell the ideal companion for a laptop DAW, letting you perform and sing along with recorded tracks. Or use it to play back sequences and audio files from a USB memory stick.

Each SonicCell Workshop booklet focuses on one SonicCell topic, and is intended as a companion to the SonicCell Owner’s Manual. This booklet requires SonicCell O.S. Version 1.11 or higher. You can download the latest SonicCell O.S. for free from www.RolandUS.com.

About This Booklet

This booklet contains instructions for using SonicCell with Cakewalk’s SONAR 7. (What we’ll cover also applies to SONAR 6.) First we’ll discuss recording MIDI tracks in SONAR using SonicCell’s synth sounds. Next, we’ll talk about SonicCell as as an audio interface, telling you how to record both live audio and SonicCell’s synth sounds as audio tracks in SONAR.

We’ll assume you’ve installed and know how to operate SONAR—otherwise, consult SONAR’s built-in documentation in its Help menu. We’ll also assume you’ve read the Using SonicCell with a DAW and Using SonicCell as an Audio Interface Workshop booklets, that both SonicCell and your computer are hooked up and turned on, and that you’re listening through SonicCell.

Understanding the Symbols in This Booklet

Throughout this booklet, you’ll come across information that deserves special attention—that’s the reason it’s labeled with one of the following symbols.

A note is something that adds information about the topic at hand.

A tip offers suggestions for using the feature being discussed.

Warnings contain important information that can help you avoid possible damage to your equipment, your data, or yourself.

Configuring SONAR to Work With SonicCell

You’ve got three things to prepare in SONAR for using it with SonicCell: SONAR’s audio system, the SonicCell Editor, and SONAR’s MIDI system. The following sections walk you through these three operations.

Setting Up SONAR for SonicCell Audio

When you first launch SONAR, you’ll encounter warnings about not having any MIDI outputs and inputs selected. Click Continue with No MIDI Output and then Continue with No MIDI Input for now.

Here’s how to set up SONAR so you can hear what you’re doing through SonicCell. We’ll also prepare SONAR to record SonicCell’s synth sounds and any live audio you’re sending through it:

1After launching SONAR, select Audio... from the Options menu to open the Audio Options window, and then click the Advanced tab.

2Set Driver Mode to ASIO, and click OK, as shown in the screenshot on the next page.