Is my M-audio project Mix an ACT ready device

Hey Guys 
I am in the studio recording on my new project mix i/o..Every feature works beside the ACT TECHNOLOGY feature I have  no control over my pro channel controls or plugins ..etc I have followed the ACT set up videos to the letter. My axiom 49 keyboard is working great! . Okay... I when back into the preference menu... to see what I have missed. on the section of project mix line I see that one of the little boxes A -N thats normally  is checked... The [A] box is  unchecked and grey out.  I do not have the option to checked the box ...Please can someone  help me. I know this is the lease of my problems here now as a storm heads our way.. But the love of  recording  my idea surpasses all.   Do I delete project Mix i/o as an ACT controller surface and do it again as silly as it seem.    

Carlisle Oneal      

Hey Michael 

thanks for replying...No I do not have the same situation. Sonar sees all of the (Project Mix) inputs and out under every menu aspect. The problem is " When I click on the control surfaces menu ..(1) I click on  the add new controller surface button. (2) I selected Mackie control from the drop down menu. (3) Then I selected Project Mix control surface in both the ins/ and out box  and click apply.

 However in the area which indicates that your device is now ACT listed,  are  two small boxes [A] and [N] that will be checked automatically by Sonar. In my case only the [N] is checked and the other box is grayed out I close the window and proceed to 

 Lets say work in the console view window and trying to modulate anything using the encoder knobs of the (Project MIX) via Sonar's ACT feature, nothing works...I can not adjust anything  hope this is a little more explanatory.

Really look forward to some help.... because this is a  pretty expensive piece of gear where I am from and would like to have at lease this features within sonar  functioning with the project Mix.


   Please note that Project Mix is working prefect as control surface, but it is the ability to use sonar ACT functions that is my problem  

Carlisle Oneal   

Hey Michael 
I think am seeing your line of reasoning: 

On my system under the MIDI Device INPUT section  I have selected:

Axiom 49 MIDI IN 
Axiom 49 External MIDI IN
Project Mix control surface MIDI 
Project Mix External MIDI

Under  MIDI Devices OUTPUT section I have selected :

Axiom 49 MIDI OUT
Project Mix Control surface MIDI
Project Mix External MIDI


Thanking you in anticipation

No, Carlisle, I don't think you'll lose Mackie mode - that's the point, if it works, of the two different midi ports - you set them up as two different controllers. Basically what you do is go to the control surface dialog and add another controller, as you did already for mackie, but using the external midi port  of the project Mix instead of the control surface port.  Also, you do not choose mackie from that dropdown, rather one of the ACT choices - generic ACT controller, or something like that. There are two possibilities, if I recall, related to ACT on dropdown, it's one of them(I'm still not at my DAW, so I can't confirm accurate specifics).

I know that's probably not enough info, but it's the basic concept we're after.  I have to go do something else right now, but if you'll bear with me, I'll try to find and post a link or two to some Cake instructions or tutorials that got me on the right road.

Again the idea is making the projectMix appear as two logical controllers in Sonar, one on each midi port - a MCU surface, running through the Mackie surface plugin internal to Sonar, and a generic ACT surface, running through ACT. There's a bunch of ACT setup, but it's straightforward once you get it.

Here's the catch - the knobs, etc, that you want to use with ACT have to be transmitting their midi values on the midi external port.  So we'll have to determine how to make the Project Mix do this.  Ideally it will be as simple as a button on the unit that switches it from one controller mode to the other, that's how (sort of) the novation works (the button switches templates, so it can have a large number of different 'surfaces' configured for various things, but that's beside the point). 

anyway, I'll try to get you a link up later on. Will you be back on this evening?  also, if you have a link to the manual for your gear would you post it please?

hey, here's the link to cake's act setup article. I think you can pretty much follow this process as soon as you know how to get your controller to transmit on the external midi port.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/reader.aspx/2007013008
 

Hey Carlisle, I found the ProjecTMix manual online and checked it out, I'm not nearly so optimistic as I was before.   I think the external midi port is for midi devices connected to the unit. I didn't realize that it was also an interface (:

I'm sort of struggling to see how it's gonna work in ACT at this point, with the only port it - the projectMix itself - uses being bound to the Mackie plug and disabling ACT.    You might could set it up on the control surface port, but as a midi act controller rather than a mackie, and get ACT to work, and have both ACT and Mackie mode controllers at the same time on the same port, maybe, but that would probably cause issues if it worked.

BUT - the manual also said the thing is supposed to be able to control your plugins - in Mackie mode.  So I think I should step back to your original posts and ask 1) can you control any plugins with it at present, and 2) exactly what do you want to use ACT for?

Also, even if it controls plugs in the fx bin, it isn't going to control the Pro Channel in Mackie mode, this you may know but its a problem in X1, not specific to the ProjectMix.  I worked around it with my novation using ACT because it exposed several midi ports to the DAW, including one dedicated to its control functions like yours.  I hoped your external one was something like mine, but alas it's the interface midi.

If you aren't able to control any plugs, even fx bin, then you have a different problem than we've been chasing, I think, as the doc says this should work....

 

Hey Michael

Thanks again for all of your work and  patience... Being able to control the pro channel  modules with a much more easy was my initial  objective , but could not execute this function in Makie mode this is why posted the Thread for help..  I have both aspects both aspect of the unit working.  Until  my next (S0S) post.

Peace BRO 
 
Carlisle Oneal 

Bass / Trumpet player 
Windows 7 ultimate / Intel R Core GM / i7 CPU 960. 3.2 GHZ / RAM 8.0 GB/ 64 BIT