How do I get my (Novation Impulse 49) "Control surface" controlling ProChannel parameters?

I have a MCU (Mackie Control Universal) which can control the Pro channel and mostly all other plugins I insert into Sonar. The MCU has been doing this for years.  Sonar has a built in Help file for the MCU  included. It is located under Utilities > Mackie Control > then hit F1 on your keyboard and it will appear.
 
The Behringer BCF2000 works the same as the MCU and the help file will assist you with the settings needed for using it as well.  The BCF2000 is a lot smaller, but the cost is a lot less than the MCU.
 
Peace,
 
Jesse G. 

Thank you JesseG,
 
I will follow up on  your lead.
 
So just a quickie;
None of the prochannel plugins show up in automap 4.
 
Is it supposed to be like this or am I doing something wrong?
 
Reza

Hi Jessy :D,
 
Thanks. I am sorry I wasn't realy clear seem to have a talent for that.....
 
I have the novation setup. It does control plugins (VST's). 
All my plugins show up in the automap software, but there are no prochannel plugins listed. and also not controllable.
 
Do you use/own a Novation automap product? Can you control the prochannel plugins?
Do your pro channel plugins show up in automap? If so how did you do it?
 
Thank you very much ,
 
Reza

Ow cr#p,

Okay, I bought the impulse cause i needed good working controls for my newly acquired pro channel workflow...

I have become quite fond of the prochannel now. This is a set back....

Do prochannel plug-ins, vst, mixer eq pan fader. Work with a control surface?

Okay, and the only workable controller in regards of the functions i would like?

How about the behringer bcf 2000?
It is MCU compatible (or is That just not the same) I am asking cause i am stretching my budget.

Thanks for the insight, tho i hoped for a button to click on to get the prochannel plugins automapped. I like the impulse. Nice keybed and stuff but i could have just purchased a simple keybed and save money for an actual controller.

Of said sonar on the box. I have bought several controllers now that supposed to do the trick but thee is always a catch. Like with act of Works only doe the specific plugin. Si of i want to controle the prochannel eq on another track I have to configure it.

I dunno if it helps. But of seems I had a similar function wise setup as you did. And thats all i would like.

I had a yamaha 01x setup in Cubase an logic. If i would click on the eq button the eq for the selected track became manipulatable thru the faders and pots. If i would click plug-in i could select a plugin active on the slechter track and tegen manipulatie that inclusief busses and evereything.

Is that what hou are describing with the mcu? Is there a cheaper alternative that could be suggested?

Thanks,

Reza

Generally speaking I don't know anything that controls the ProChannel except the eq which is in the first position.

Jesse, are you still using Sonar X1 or have you updated to Platinum now? Maybe that's the difference.

Anderton

mudgel
Generally speaking I don't know anything that controls the ProChannel except the eq which is in the first position.

You can control other ProChannel modules as well, just not all of them. As was pointed out in another thread, if you click on a control and there are little white "corners" around the controls, you can control it. Otherwise you can't. Ones you can control include the EQ, PC4K S-Type Channel Compressor, PC4K S-Type Bus Compressor, PC76 U-Type Compressor, Concrete Limiter, Bus Compressor, U76 Compressor, and PC4K Expander/Gate.

I guess the modules you mention are old "Filter" replacements. I think the whole idea to derive ProChannel from Filters has many problems. Following "filter logic", there can be only one EQ, Comp., Gate., and Sat. In the "filters" they had to be in specific order. The possibility to move them around as well as completely different types of modules has introduced complete mess in that "filter logic". It simply does not "fit" well. It looks like CW developers has tried to make "something working" for V-Studio and only for it.
 

There may be more, but I know these ones work with the V-Studio, which is based on the Mackie Control.

V-Studio, Mackie Control, StudioMix, etc. (all of them!) have simple logic. They just deliver "Note On/Off" "CC change", "PB change" or "NRPN change" to the software. What make them "support ProChannel" or anything else is the plug-in.
 
Mackie Control plug-in is completely different from V-Studio one. MC plug-in is older, not ProChannel aware and has plug-ins parameters specification in INI file. V-Studio is newer, knows about ProChannel and has known plug-ins parameter specification hardcoded (!) into the source.

The link is in my signature. But configuring it requires some skills. There are manual, tutorials and several examples for configuration (from simple one up to MCU like). For several devices there are ready to use presets (from me and users).
 
It is not yet at the level of solving ALL problems. But it slowly goes in that direction.
 
Automap is extremely simple to deal with compare to this plug-in. Complex closed source one (Russian) man hobby project is what keeps many people stay away from it. Up to you to either "join the club" or search/wait till some out of the box solution from respected producer comes.

Back in 2006 I wrote a help file for use of the BCF 2000 for the Sonar community.  I was out on sick leave for six months and was bored our of my wits, so I purchased a BCF 2000 and stayed at it until I figured it out with the help of the MCU help file in Sonar.   It was useful to a lot of Sonar users and they were able to set up their BCF controllers  to work properly with Sonar in Mackie mode.
 
Anyway,  the link below provides insight into the functionality of the BCF 2000.
http://www.rockinrob.co.uk/Files/BCF%20Sonar%20Mackie%20Mode%20Guide.pdf
 
The creator of the document  Fast Biker Boy was kind enough to give Myself -Jesse G, and Blades credit he received from from  the Sonar forums.
 
Peace,
 
Jesse G.

Thank you all for the replys.
 
I guess I am not the only one. To bad all these workarounds have to be made to make hardware that will commonly work with DAW's that havn't been around for so long....
 
I will for now try to use my impulse as an ACT controller, as it should save time and money.
 
Next up I will try out Azlow3 magic program and from what I understand (if I could set it up) I would be very happy camper.
 
Eventually I will go for a Behringer bcf2000 and bcr2000 as I have learned these have MCU functionality a huge CW userbase and cost a fraction of the MCU's.
 
If money wasn't an issue now I would go for the MCU's (no brainer) Actually wanted to buy an logic control (was on logic back then) evenually went for the 01x (price an added functionality) It wasn't supported within a few years (no 64bit drivers etc) I stopped my musical career and gave away the unit to a friend (who still uses XP an cubase 5). These type of thing makes the MCU the cheaper unit (if you calculate the supported years).
 
Because I am (was) used to a pretty nice controller in am missing it big time. Touchscreen isn't that good yet in my opinion. Cakewalks take on it anyway (small buttons with a lot of spacing in between). An implementation in the GUI form of touchDAW or touchOSC would be more workable (not pretty but practical IMO). So I leave my touchscreen untouched (the biggest wrong investment I made).  
 
I guess the user base here in CW land is important in these type of situations. Maybe there should be a list of recommended hardware.
 
I now have to much bad experience with salespitches..... 
 

AndyDavis
I have an Impulse 49 and I am able to control both VST/VSTi and Pro Channel items. I do it by switching between Automap for the VST items and the ACT plugin for the Pro Channel. 
 

 
Do you have control over more than one prochannel module per track?
How to setup an ACT contoller (2 controllers?one device?) on the same device?
 
I thought ACT is for fast contol per project...
Is it posible the ACT mappings to be saved? So if I configure once I could use it on all my projects or do I have to configure it every project?
 

AndyDavis
One extra caveat, the Impulse rotaries work as rotaries for Automap enabled plugins.
 

 
I thought of rotaries as a pro,....  learned the real value of a led ring around a rotary the hard way :P
 
 
Thank you all
 
Reza
 

ok,
 
So with ACT I could only control one PC module per project? And this also is one and only PC module that could be controlled?
 
So you get fine by just controlling one? How do you suggest to work with that?
 
If this is the case I think I have no other option but to move on to Azlow3's (difficult) sollution. (I really do not want to spend to much time settings things up, until now it seems mandatory).
 
Have you tried Azlow3's sollution Andy?
 
Thanks again,
 
 
Reza

AndyDavis
The ACT mappings are saved system wide. But, ACT is flaky and sometimes you lose those mappings. I think the phase of the moon comes into play somehow.

My "founds": http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,5.0.html
In general, removing/corrupting one file and keeping another one up to date (manually editing XML or by described "reverse mapping" trick) keeps everything working and stable.
 

AndyDavis
Sorry, I didn't phrase the rotaries bit all that well. I think rotaries are a plus as well. You don't get rotaries when doing ACT, they are more like plain old MIDI CCs.

My Nocturn (unlike Impulse) has no native MIDI mode. But Automap "imitate" MIDI mode in software. And it is possible to say there that encoders are endless. May be that imitation works with Impulse as well, I do not have it to test myself.
 

AndyDavis
I briefly looked at Azlow3's plugin but it didn't solve my problems better than the combination of Automap and ACT.

It will be nice to know which problems you have. I am collecting good ideas. Even in case you do not have plans to use my controller.
 
@rezab:
I agree with Andy that Automap + "ACT MIDI" is the way to go, at least initially. Once you see that something is not working as you want, you can have a look at my plug-in. But I recommend initially invest an hour or so into reading chapters 20 and 40 in Sonar Reference guide as well as http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,107.0.html so you understand how "ACT MIDI" is working, its possibilities and limitations.

Thank you for the explanation!
 
About (1). I completely agree with you. I have the same problem with that plug-in... I could just play piano (and other instruments around) all the time I am programming it.
 
About (2). You (and other) do this all the time, just without realizing that... I bet fixing most ACT related problems in Sonar will take just several hours (some of the minutes) for the person who has originally written the code. That has not happened since many years. So the only logical explanation is the person is left long time ago, may be he was not even employed by CW. CW has not developed any hardware controllers, they have tried to cooperated with Peavey, Roland, may be Mackie. We do not know who was contracted to write that plug-ins and under which conditions. And finally, when someone is using outdated devices (like Alphatrack), they are using closed source plug-ins with zero(!) developers behind...