If anyone can assist will be greatly appreciated, I have the ES Rack connected via USB to PC and control it via Sonar 7 to select voices and play back midi via multi mode.  When I want record arpeggio, I set the output switch to on and then set arpeggio to on, when playing the notes ( with or without hold on) the arpeggio starts then keeps rising incrementally through the octaves until all you get is high tops notes repeating. I have tried this on many voices and arpeggio types and the same thing happens – if the output switch is turned off it works fine but of course I cannot record the midi notes: Have checked to see if this is a common problem with little luck, if any forum member has experienced the same issue and has a fix will be greatly appreciated if not will just have to record my arpeggio in audio record format and not midi – thank you for taking the time to read this post

Sounds like you may have an endless MIDI loop going where you are sending data back to the Motif ES and arpeggiating the arpeggios.

When setting up to record arpeggios OUT via MIDI you must ensure that your DAW (Sonar) is set NOT TO SEND DATA back to the source during the record process.

ECHO must be OFF, otherwise the notes generated by the arpeggio are fed back to the Motif ES and trigger a new apreggio pattern based on those incoming notes just as if there were another keyboard player controlling the ES at the same time as you. In other words the data coming from the Rack ES arpeggio must DEAD-END when it arrives in your DAW.

If not, chaos will quickly ensue. There is nothing more complex than recording the MIDI OUTPUT of the arpeggiator to an external sequencer. I did write an article on it 5 years ago (I will attempt to find it)… I do believe it used Cubase SX3 as a reference DAW… but you may find it useful in terms of what issues you must deal with (and I’m sure you can find an equivalent function in Sonar).

Back 5 years ago I do recall that I recommended that the easiest way to record the output of the Motif-Rack ES arpeggiator to a computer DAW was to record the data as AUDIO.

Because without a MIDI-Jedi Knight classification (lol) you might find it a bit complex. You have to deal with CLOCK issues. Trigger and response. You have to deal with two MIDI channels of data that need to be separated (it is like when the recipe says: “egg whites only"… lol

You have to separate the “trigger note” (those used to trigger the Motif ES to begin arpeggiating) from the “arpeggio output” (those notes that are actually generated by the Rack ES’s arpeggiator). In Cubase you could do that through a MIDI filter type device (called an INPUT TRANSFORMER)… You may wind up having to use two Tracks. One to “echo” the controller keyboard’s “Trigger notes” to the Motif-Rack ES, and another to record the returning “Arpeggio output” notes from the Rack ES.

Anyway I will look for the old article and post a link to it when (if) I find it. It may be helpful.

Found it in the archives:
Motif-Rack ES Arpeggios 101

thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to respond, makes sense will take a look at this - very much appreciated