chuckebaby

BuleriaChk

chuckebaby
I use a Mackie MCU that is about 10 years old in Sonar and it works perfect.
Ive used ACT to set up my M Audio Oxygen 49 and had no problem with it.
I don't see the point in your rant.

  
(I'm not about to buy an Oxygen to find out.... you were lucky. And maybe a bit limited in versatility.. )
Did the Oxygen use a Mackie template? 

It's not about luck my friend.
Sonar has a preset in ACT for the Oxygen. it took about a whole 30 seconds to set up.
There is a ton of presets built in to Sonar for use with ACT. Making it simple to set up most Control surfaces.
Would I like to see Sonar expand on Control surface set ups ? Sure.
But I would like a lot of other features too.
 
We all work differently so its tough to categorize Sonars List of "Thing that need improvement".
More often than not, that list is made up of personal needs (what I want / what you want).
Some would argue Staff view improvements should come before Control surface improvements.
See what I mean ? What ever the case, I wish you well.

Now, that's interesting.  Where are these ACT presets (e.g. Oxygen 49)?  If I look under "control surfaces" in Sonar, I don't see anything except older surfaces, and the only one relevant to me is "Mackie" (which usually gets hung up on "connecting", although it does recognize that the interface exists... or doesn't work at all.  My system is working with every other known software package under the sun... Live, Maschine, Fruity Loops.. etc...
 
I went into Program Files/Cakewalk/shared surfaces and saw only the limited ones appearing in the drop-down..

I grabbed an older mcu pro and it worked only sporadically, tried all of the solutions listed here.  After a month, one of the faders, which was string based, broke ... and 1 channel just didnt work anymore, and I sold it at a loss of 375$.  After hours of frustration and a 375$ loss, I gave up for now...

BuleriaChk

azslow3

BuleriaChk
Now, that's interesting.  Where are these ACT presets (e.g. Oxygen 49)?

The right place to look for an "ACT preset" is in "ACT plug-in", in this case in "Cakewalk ACT MIDI".

Ok, I give up.  Where is "Cakewalk ACT MIDI" (I searched my computer).  Is it a folder, or something you developed?
How do I get to it? (I have Sonar Platinum open in front of me...)

If you open Sonar / Preferences / MIDI / Control Surfaces, you can add "ACT MIDI Controller".
If you open its interface (Sonar / Utilities  / ACT MIDI Controller - 1), you can select some "Presets" (left top corner, as with any plug-in in Sonar).
 
If there is no preset for your device, you can open Sonar Reference Guide (big 2000+ pages PDF), chapter 40. Read it carefully. And with a bit of luck and under 30 minutes time, you can get working basic configuration for (almost) any device.
 
If you want to understand how it works, you can spend a bit more time reading: http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,107.0.html
If you do not (want to) understand Russian humor, please start to read AFTER the smile in the first post. Some people have problems with the thread title and the text at the beginning, I do not understand why...
 

I'm not familiar with your products, although I did look at your site, but didn't find any useful plugins there for my purposes... but I applaud your efforts (Like Stray at NativeKontrol)

If you mean www.nativekontrol.com , that really looks interesting. I have not visited it before.
 
My "products" are all free. Potentially useful plug-ins:
1) AZ Controller. For any control surface, using it you theoretically can do anything practically possible in Sonar, but that takes time. On the top of the site you can find a link to YouTube channel and check "Startup preset". The result is as basic as "Cakewalk ACT MIDI", but you can define any number of control (not just 8+8+8) and you can extend/tune that result when you have time and wish. Also you can check "Presets" board, some users have configured devices themselves of with my help. Check what BCR2000 can do, as an example.
2) MIDI Velocity. In case you want modify midi response curve.
3) AZ Lua, if you are Lua programmer and want to do something fancy with MIDI in Sonar, or just want to try one of the example presets for it.
 
All "products" take not a lot of space, uninstall clearly, have no adds and they are not calling home.
 
But for YOU, I have already posted the link in my first reply. That is modified MackieControl.dll (you already know where to place it....), Open Source, produced from CW Open Source. This modified version has one extra configuration parameter. After you set it, your "mackie compatible" devices will start to work (you will no longer see "Connecting...").

I have an FW-1884 that I'm selling for ***** on fleabay.  It works flawlessly in Windows 10 and SPLAT.  It has HUI, Mackie and native emulations.  I think the rules say I can't put the price.

chuckebaby
 
It's not about luck my friend.
Sonar has a preset in ACT for the Oxygen. it took about a whole 30 seconds to set up.
There is a ton of presets built in to Sonar for use with ACT. Making it simple to set up most Control surfaces.
Would I like to see Sonar expand on Control surface set ups ? Sure.
But I would like a lot of other features too.

Hey chuck, thanks!  It was lucky for me that I read this ...
 
I have an old M-Audio Axiom 49 1st gen, that I could never get set up correctly with ACT in Sonar.  But on a whim I just tried your Oxygen 49 selection.
 
Guess what? The Axiom 49 transport controls and faders are now correctly mapped!  I had tried every Axiom choice in the list and it was always hit or miss.  So I ended up getting a Roland A300-PRO.  But I still like the Axiom keys.
 
I'm not going to question why this works, but I'm digging it now
 
 

azslow3

BuleriaChk

azslow3

BuleriaChk
Now, that's interesting.  Where are these ACT presets (e.g. Oxygen 49)?

The right place to look for an "ACT preset" is in "ACT plug-in", in this case in "Cakewalk ACT MIDI".

Ok, I give up.  Where is "Cakewalk ACT MIDI" (I searched my computer).  Is it a folder, or something you developed?
How do I get to it? (I have Sonar Platinum open in front of me...)

If you open Sonar / Preferences / MIDI / Control Surfaces, you can add "ACT MIDI Controller".
If you open its interface (Sonar / Utilities  / ACT MIDI Controller - 1), you can select some "Presets" (left top corner, as with any plug-in in Sonar).
 
If there is no preset for your device, you can open Sonar Reference Guide (big 2000+ pages PDF), chapter 40. Read it carefully. And with a bit of luck and under 30 minutes time, you can get working basic configuration for (almost) any device.
 
If you want to understand how it works, you can spend a bit more time reading: http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,107.0.html
If you do not (want to) understand Russian humor, please start to read AFTER the smile in the first post. Some people have problems with the thread title and the text at the beginning, I do not understand why...
 

I'm not familiar with your products, although I did look at your site, but didn't find any useful plugins there for my purposes... but I applaud your efforts (Like Stray at NativeKontrol)

If you mean www.nativekontrol.com , that really looks interesting. I have not visited it before.
 
My "products" are all free. Potentially useful plug-ins:
1) AZ Controller. For any control surface, using it you theoretically can do anything practically possible in Sonar, but that takes time. On the top of the site you can find a link to YouTube channel and check "Startup preset". The result is as basic as "Cakewalk ACT MIDI", but you can define any number of control (not just 8+8+8) and you can extend/tune that result when you have time and wish. Also you can check "Presets" board, some users have configured devices themselves of with my help. Check what BCR2000 can do, as an example.
2) MIDI Velocity. In case you want modify midi response curve.
3) AZ Lua, if you are Lua programmer and want to do something fancy with MIDI in Sonar, or just want to try one of the example presets for it.
 
All "products" take not a lot of space, uninstall clearly, have no adds and they are not calling home.
 
But for YOU, I have already posted the link in my first reply. That is modified MackieControl.dll (you already know where to place it....), Open Source, produced from CW Open Source. This modified version has one extra configuration parameter. After you set it, your "mackie compatible" devices will start to work (you will no longer see "Connecting...").

Thanks much for the info; I understand now.  I will try your "Mackie Control.dll" and see if it works (I would LOVE to be able to use my Maschine Studio or Jam as a control surface for Sonar).  I won't even open the package from Amazon for the Studio until I've tried it.
 
I much appreciate your efforts to correct the problems with Sonar.  Stray at NativeKontrol is a genius; his work with Clyphx and Live is extremely useful (and free as well), and Arsenal is just great for integrating Lauchpad Pro with Live the way it should have been done in the first place.  I also have the Arsenal Akai APC Mini version, which works great as well (for some reason, Akai left out Session Overview in their factor implementation, which was the dumbest marketing decision ever).. All of Stray's products are just marvelous.  Isotonik studios also produces some great interface scripts/programs for Live, but oriented towards (really, really, really serious :) Dj's and/or control freaks.  And there is also Mots' superb Launchpad95 (and Pro) which has opened up a lot of doors for everyone.

thedukewestern
I grabbed an older mcu pro and it worked only sporadically, tried all of the solutions listed here.  After a month, one of the faders, which was string based, broke ... and 1 channel just didnt work anymore, and I sold it at a loss of 375$.  After hours of frustration and a 375$ loss, I gave up for now...

Sorry to hear this. Sounds like you got a crap unit.
I bought mine used on Craigslist for 175.00 USA dollars. the guy wanted 200.00 and im crazy to even dare to ask him to take 175.00 but he did. best purchase I ever made (Studio equipment wise).
everything works awesome. I can control the Pro Channel, Sends, Channel faders are indeed motorized (All mine work, sorry) but it is just an amazing unit. it was easy to set up. a midi in / a midi out.
I also have 2 pedals hooked up to it for punch in recording and play start.

To share my experiences...  I had a hell of a time finding the actual MackieControl.dll file on your site for some reason (I already had the C++ file from long ago)  But thanks much, I think I finally got it working (sort of, but more or less following NI's template.)
 
Ok, so I downloaded the MackieControl.dll and the .ini file from your site, renamed the originals in C:/Program Files/Cakewalk/Shared Surfaces to 0xxx.dll and place the downloaded files in that directory.
 
Lots of issues, but at least the template connects now, and some stuff works.  Painfully, I'm not going to use Maschine Studio as an interface.  I'll try Jam next, and see how that goes...

BuleriaChk
Update:  Well both Maschine Studio and Jam will control Sonar in Mackie mode, but like a dog standing on its hind legs; it is never done well, but one is surprised it is done at all.
 
Bottom Line: if the nanoKontrol Studio doesn't work, Ill give nanoKontrol 2 a shot.  If THAT doesn't work I'll either purchase a Mackie (appox $900) or go back to using my mouse. But the Maschine implementation of Mackie sucks - their implementation of Live is just great.  I personally don't need a knob for everything  (I don't mind using a mouse for tweaking, but the bread and butter stuff - fader volume, mute, solo, pan, etc. is much better in hardware), but Maschine NKS has that covered, especially with the Arturia collections as well as all their own stuff - which is enormous.  And all of what I've tried from NI so far has worked very well (at least recently, there were teething issues, of course)
 
I'll report back here about the nanoKontrol Studio...

you are right, you don't need a knob for everything, matter of fact I use my mouse for assignments I already have buttons for. you know how it is, sometimes a mouse is easier. so good point.
What kind of PC do you have ? (CPU, exc)

I think I'm going to return the nanoKontrol unopened and think some more.  Maybe a faderport or just bite the bullet and get an mcu.... or a faderport 8

Actually, I got really lucky.  I thought I had lost my Frontier Tranzport dongle forever in a move last year, and even thrown the Tranzport away.  Lo and behold, I found the Tranzport and even the dongle.  After replacing the long dead batteries, it works like a charm in Sonar, and is exactly what I need right now....  (once I get good takes in Sonar, I'll just port the audio track over to Live and mix there....)
 
So - I'm ok for now, turns out.  The nanoStudio (and the Jam) are going back tomorrow - the Jam is nice, but very redundant for my Studio, and any clip I use in Maschine I'll just drag into Live for performance.  A day of panic, and I learned, uh, a lot of stuff I think I needed to know... :)
 
But the mcu sure looks nice... :)
 
Thanks to all,
 
Chuck

Well, we'll see.  Right now my emphasis is on getting a good take on one channel (real Flamenco is difficult!), so the Tranzport will do just fine.  (I may not return the nanoKontrol if it actually works.)
 
I agree with you the sense that Cakewalk is really designed more for a professional audio studio (for real musicians playing real instruments) then for the squeak, blurk crowd with 4 on the floor and the Amen break...:)  As a guitarist, I love Live and NI because they give instant ability to create backing tracks - NI for its incredible sound libraries, and Ableton for its flawless manipulation of real-time audio stretching, and many overlapping functions...
 
But my living room is already filled with stuff, and the last thing  I needed was another large controller like the mcu (although if I do send the nanoStudio back, I will probably get one, but it is way overkill for what I need, since I am really not a producer, just a guitarist trying to created some credible Flamenco instruction tracks.... (I already did that, but the last time it was physically cutting and splicing tape on reel-reel recorders...)
 
So for me, the unique thing about Sonar is comping; and I'm still not altogether sure it will work any better than other methods (requiring cutting and pasting audio, which is doable, and a lot better than cutting tape...:)
 
I appreciate Cakewalk, but they have really needed something like the nanoKontrol for a long time (I do like access to at least 4 tracks at the same time, so Tranzport is limited in that way.)
 
Well, that is it for me; thanks for helping me catch up on control surface status in Sonar and the help with deciding not to go with Mackie for now.  And Live and NI (as vst) is a wonderful combination for most things - it is Cakewalk that has the handle on audio production (imo); I myself don't need Melodyne, but I'm sure it is very, very useful for many.... :)
 
Maybe by the time I check in again (if I'm still around), someone will have tested the Faderport 8 with Sonar... :)

Thought I would add, The most used tool that I utilize on my control surface is the "Shuttle/Jog wheel".
If you can find yourself something with that feature, it will make life incredibly easy in the DAW world.

Hello All,
I am currently using Sonar Platinum and experience several crashes when using a Mackie MCU Pro + XT +C4 setup.
Does anyone know if the AZSlow plugin works? Also, what is the most reliable plugin for the Mackie MCU?
Thanks in advance!
 

Thank you kindly AZslow,
I do have the original but cannot change any plugin settings. Will your plugin augment the original? Will I be able to us it with the XT and C4 if I also have the original?
thanks