PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production MIDI Master Controller Suggestions?

First Welcome.

I still have & use a QS8 (and have a Fusion 8HD and Montage 7 and a few odds and ends boards around) – it is still a very useful board.

I have no “hands on” experience with the Nectar other than quick look up on Sweetwater to see what it was. However, based on specs I read you CANNOT, as you suggest,

“… plug the Nectar board into the Alesis' MIDI thru port.”


The QS8 is 5 PIN DIN MIDI only (no USB ports) board and the Nectar is USB only (no 5-pin MIDI connections) board.

However, assuming your laptop has TWO (available) USB ports connect UM-ONE (or similar USB to MIDI cable or box) to QS8 and the Nectar to another laptop USB port and configure Sonar to use both MIDI ports for I/O.

If your laptop only has one USB port (unlikely), or only has one you can use,then you may have to think about how/when to use each keyboard. The obvious solution (a USB HUB) is not one I recommend long term. A USB HUB when connecting a “USB to MIDI” device (like UM-ONE, external synth module, etc.) to a PC (desktop or especially laptop) may, notice I DID NOT SAY WILL, cause issues – timing, note glitches, intermittent strangeness, etc.

But others here might have other opinions/experiences.

It hurts nothing to TRY and use a HUB but if you do I HIGHLY recommend a POWERED hub (not a “powered by the PC BUS” HUB).

Trying a HUB won’t hurt anything - it just may not work or not work well.

All my gear, with exception of my iRig Keys Pro, has at least a 5-PIN MIDI out connection. Even my You Rock Guitar has a 5 pin connection.

Some units (Fantom XR, Integra7, Montage 7) also have USB connections but I generally don’t use those USB connections for anything other than editing the synths.

I connect all my gear, including my guitar rack, to MIDI patch bays for better real-time PC-to-synths, synth-to-PC, and synth-to-synth’s inter/intra-connections, control & configuration (or in mil jargon C3 - Command, Control, and Communication).


As far as Sonar X2 I have to ask same question Matt did. Like Matt, and a lot of folks here, I’ve had and run ALL CW DAW's and currently use Sonar Platinum although I DO KEEP Sonar 8.5 and a few other versions, like CWPA 9.1 on my PC ready to use – just in case. But I do not keep X1 or X2 installed - they are/were too glitchy. I also have some of the other "usual suspect" DAW's: Reaper, Mixcraft, Music Creator, Cubase, Realband and a few others… but mainly use Sonar.

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QS8 side bar:

The internal battery for keeping your user memory from dumping is a SOLDER-in BR-2325 and unless it was changed by previous user, it is getting really LONG IN THE TOOTH and should be changed before you start having random issues. They are easy to find

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-bsg/BR-2325-HGN/P193-ND/31948

(the above IS THE PIN configuration you want if doing a direct replacement)

But you need to know a good tech - unless you are handy with electronics and soldering (I do all my own electronic and amp repair work I am an ex-electronics tech).

I actually changed all my Alesis gear, THEY ALL use SAME idiotic solder-in batteries, to use a coin-cell (3V BR/CR2325) sized battery HOLDER, then every five years or so I just “pop the top” (so to speak) on all my gear and replace the batteries and that older makes it go a lot faster. I also blow out the dust, check connections, caps., etc. (why wait for trouble).

Good Luck.
Larry