ACT Gurus - need help please. *PARTIALLY SOLVED*

I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that what I am trying to do isn't possible but I'm open to any ideas and help..........

I have a ZED-R16, I use the MIDI control side attached via ACT for the rotaries and buttons, and as a "Cakewalk Generic Surface" for the transport side. It works perfectly like this.

My ideal scenario is to add a BCF2000 as an ACT controller which I want to lock to the PC Compressor controls.

So far I have tried this with both the Windows 7 x64 BCF driver and Behringer's own BCF Win7x64 driver and I get the following problem with both methods.

The BCF is recognised, I can add it as an ACT surface and it will apparently assign itself via ACT to the Prochannel compressor when I click on it. The relevant controls all *seem* to work in that if I turn a rotary on the BCF I can see the relevant parameter changing in the BCF ACT properties box but the PC Compressor itself does not seem to respond and the UI definitely doesn't update.

Worse still is that it also stops the ZED-R16 ACT "on the fly" element working, i.e. clicking on the PC puts the ZED into ACT mode but controls either reproduce the same problem as the BCF or don't appear assigned at all. While it is like this MIDI learn refuses to work either, even though it will report "You have touched x parameters and x controls, would you like to keep these?"

Once I have tried this set-up the only way to get the ZED back to a working state is to completely uninstall the BCF drivers. Just unchecking them within Sonar's MIDI devices does not fix the problem.

I have concluded from this that is either impossible to run 2 different surfaces together via ACT or there is some sort of conflict between the BCF & the ZED drivers. Anyone shed any light on this?

Even if I ever manage to get this working I'm also going to have the next problem, and assuming that's a non-starter it leads me to my second option.............

Back with the ZED all now working I want to lock the MIDI rotaries and ACT assigned buttons to the PC Compressor. I can do that but I then want it to follow when I change tracks. i.e. If I'm controlling the PC Compressor on track 1 when I make track 2 the active track I want the ZEDs MIDI rotaries focus to follow. The only way I can seem to do that is to click in track 2s PC compressor UI with the mouse, that rather defeats the whole object. I'm trying to minimise mouse usage.

I have tried assigning a couple of buttons on the ZED to "Next/Previous Track" and also tried "Focus next/previous plugin". Neither of these seem to work.

I have used the ACT lock facility but all that does it lock it to whichever track's PC Compressor is the active one when I lock it.

So second question is how do I get an ACT surface to follow the selected track's PC Compressor without clicking in the PC Compressor UI every time I change tracks? Is it even possible?

Any help much appreciated as always.

Hey!

I gave up on that. But perhaps this thread includes some pointers? http://forum.cakewalk.com...amp;high=I+have+axiom. I had trouble getting my Axiom to control ACT but when not including my TriggerFinger as a CS it started to work. Now I use my TriggerFinger for MIDI assigning and my Axiom for ACT. Not ideal for what you guys want probably - but just htought I'd chime in and share the link

adrian4u


What I can say - ACT sucks (but you know my opinion so good). I think the best way to use BCF in Sonar is Mackie Mode emulation. Just upgrade firmware to hte latest one, then press one of top row buttons (4-th I think - I don't remember now) to get into Mackie Mode emulation for Sonar. All you have to do is to add Mackie controller and midi ports. That's all. And then... there was several topics on forum, how to use it, someone even modified mapping to get better access to Prochanel EQ. On Behringer website you will find firmware, Mackie LCD emulator (which works very well in 7/32 and 7/64), you will also find PDF with key bindings.

Thanks for the input, and I agree that Mackie mode is the most useful, I even wrote a guide for it HERE for anyone else that is using Mackie mode. I definitely don't want it in Mackie mode though, I have an MCU & XT for Sonar control. I just happen to have a BCF kicking around that I used to use in Mackie mode before I got the MCU. Seeing as PC Compressor control is not available in Mackie mode I thought I'd assign the BCF to it permanently and get some use for it.

I could work with just the ZEDs surface for the PC but it's too far for me to reach as easily as where I can locate the BCF, so I'm being lazy. 

I've not tried that approach yet. I have sent the provided preset across to the BCF, and some of it seems to work, Stop, start, etc. i.e. the stuff I don't need.

I may look at the MCX control surface, bitman did write a buss controlling preset for it but unfortunately doesn't work under x64. Alternatively I may chuck it back behind my rack for another 18 months.

Ok - Doh.....

Seems like the first part of my problem was project specific. I've taken some time to try and pin down the problem so started on a new blank project and I have managed to install the BCF and have both that and the ZED working under ACT.

The question still remains about following track changes though. If I have an ACT controller that I wish to lock to the PC Compressor is there a way to get it to follow track changes?

If I lock it to the Compressor it locks it to whichever tracks compressor was in focus at the time, same if I deselect "Follow context".

To be clear on what I would like it to do......

1. Select track 1 PC compressor and have the BCF controlling that. - This part I can do.
2. Make track 2 the active track and have the BCF follow so it is now controlling the PC Compressor on that track - without me having to click in the PC track 2 to give it focus. This part I can't do.

Anyone know a way or is just one of ACT's limitations?

I have reported this and had it confirmed (submitted to development):
CWBRN - 4261 closed as duplicate for 4210 which is archived.  They don't appear to be interested in fixing this:


Name: Andy Davis 

Product: SONAR Producer Version: X1a 

Status: Archived

Summary: Numerous issues when running multiple ACT MIDI Controller plugins

Description: 
1. Have a machine with two controllers not directly supported by Cakewalk. We will use an Oxygen 25 (O25) and a Trigger Finger (TF) 
2. From the ACT Module on control bar ->"Select Hardware/Controller Surface" 
3. Add a controller for the O25 
4. Add a controller for the TF
5. Open Controller Surface properties for the O25 and do a MIDI learn for all controllers. Save as a preset called Oxygen25. 
6. Open Controller Surface properties for the TF and do a MIDI learn for all controllers. Save as a Preset called TriggerFinger 
7. Select the ProChannel EQ and do an ACT Learn for the O25; assign the Freq knobs to rotaries1-4 
8. Select the ProChannel EQ and do an ACT Learn for the TF; assign the Level knobs to rotaries1-4 Select the Pro Channel on different tracks, rotate the knobs on both controllers 

Expected Results: 
1. If the property windows are visible for each controller, then the correct parameters should show up for each controller (one should show level, the other freq). 
2. The knobs on each controller should control the correct parameter 

Actual Results: 
Setup goes as expected, the wheels come off in operation.. 
1. The property windows for the ACT controllers do not correctly show the preset for each controller. The O25 will show "Oxygen" and the TF will show "Oxygen *" perhaps indicating that it has been modified. 
2a. Sometimes Knob C1 on both the TF and the O25 will control the same parameter (whichever one was learned last). 
2b. Other times, the TF will fail to recognize that it is on a ProChannel at all. It stays stuck in track mode. I'm not sure what in the setup process makes it go to failure mode 2a/2b. 

However, once it starts failing, it always seems to fail the same way. 

Provided Specs: Running32 bit version of X1 
Audio 1: M-Audio Audio 2: Firewire Solo 
Driver Mode: ASIO Operating 
System: Windows 7 64-bit 
Reproducibility: Reproducible



FWIW - I have simply given up on using more than one generic ACT controller