Hi there. Having dug through the X3 documentation and searched online, I'm pretty sure the impending answers are "No".
 
But, in hopes that there might be a hidden .ini feature or a reasonably quick workaround:
 
Is anyone aware of a way to temporarily bypass a MIDI controller, short of opening the controller options and disabling the MIDI ports? Specifically the Mackie Control Universal.
 
RME TotalMix has pretty extensive support for the MCU (and general MIDI), and will gracefully release control of the hardware the moment its window focus is lost. Unfortunately there seems to be no related feature in Sonar. Short of making a trip into the controller assignment options every time you switch apps, it would appear it is a fruitless endeavor to attempt natively sharing this controller with Sonar.
 
The only workaround I can think of would be to use Midi Translator / etc to route the MCU's MIDI data onto separate virtual ports within each program. At that point a macro could be created that would toggle Midi Translator's Sonar-assigned virtual ports to filter all incoming / outgoing data when the Sonar window loses focus. Or one could simply assign a rarely used MCU button to manually toggle the port filtering.
I suppose the added benefit would be that the controller configuration would stop losing its port mapping to the MCU (an annoyance that happens any time Sonar is started when the MCU is off). If I understand correctly, technically any usb-midi device routed this way (Korg PadKontrol, Behring BCR2000, etc) should become hot-swappable while Sonar is running, as the virtual ports always remain open.
 
Anyone have experience with similar setups / solutions?
Thanks!

Interesting question. Try this.
 
1. Go to Preferences and create a bogus control surface, like ACT MIDI controller but don't assign any MIDI ports.
2. In the Control Bar, make sure the ACT module is showing.
3. In the drop-down menu of the ACT module, choose the bogus controller when you want to release the MCU.
 
Let me know if this works for you.

SONAR is sending incoming MIDI to all configured surfaces, independent from which one is selected in the Control Bar (it is impossible to use more than one surface per time otherwise).
 
To make that "feature" working, SONAR should support "share MIDI" (in more or less the same way as "share audio") and the plug-in should be prepared for such "temporarily disconnect". I think that is not implemented.

Actually a clever idea there, and I see what you're after, but unfortunately the controller drop-menu doesn't really activate or select anything (nor deactivate / deselect), rather it gives access to the controller's specific configuration options. I did try it, just for kicks, but as expected it doesn't release any of the other controllers (this behavior would negate using multiple controllers).
 
In the interest of being thorough, I should note that I actually have an MCU, two XTs, a BCR2000 under ACT and a Novation Nocturn as controllers.
 
I think the virtual port mapping / macro will be a viable solution (if no others are presented), but its going to take a few hours of experimenting.
 
Its not the end of the world, but its rather unfortunate. All of my live input monitoring and effects (34 in / 34 out) are handled by Totalmix FX, which is 100x faster to work with when using the MCU controller. The ability to quickly swap control back and forth automatically (as RME supports) or even manually via a key-press would be a productivity godsend (thus my interest).
 
I suppose I'll download the Midi Translator demo and the open source AutoHotKey and see if the pair can't get me where I'm aiming.

Agreed azslow. I haven't seen any discussion on the forums or in the manual regarding such functionality, so I have to feel pretty confident that its not something that can be solved within Sonar's internal framework.
 
As far as I can tell, when the transport is stopped and the user isn't actively fiddling with the controller, there aren't any intermittent handshakes / keep-alives being transmitted one way or the other.
 
Thus I have to assume that (hopefully!) if the data is routed through constantly open virtual ports, the controller should be able to duck in and out unnoticed. However, I do think the MCU has an initial handshake, which might be a deal breaker if Sonar and the MCU don't automatically resync upon removing the virtual ports' filters.
 

ewb
Actually a clever idea there, and I see what you're after, but unfortunately the controller drop-menu doesn't really activate or select anything (nor deactivate / deselect), rather it gives access to the controller's specific configuration options. I did try it, just for kicks, but as expected it doesn't release any of the other controllers (this behavior would negate using multiple controllers).

Bummer, but thanks for trying it out. I had another thought. MIDI is just two wires. Why not make a mechanical switch, the same way you can switch a monitor to two different computers? Put it within reach, and rock out.

That's a solid idea, and something to keep in the back pocket, but unfortunately the MCU's additional MIDI ports (for the XTs) do not work unless you are connected via its USB connection. In other words I'd have to buy an additional MIDI I/O interface to have use of the other 2 extenders (24 faders total).

That, and I'd need to wire all 3 inputs AND outputs to be switched. Its wouldnt be particularly difficult, but its a rather messy solution thats quickly surpassing my diminishing returns threshhold for labor and investment. I'm sure there's a cheap MIDI switcher in existence if I took a moment to look, but I highly favor a software solution.

ewb
I suppose I'll download the Midi Translator demo and the open source AutoHotKey and see if the pair can't get me where I'm aiming.

If it does, I hope you can share the results with the community. I'm sure there must be others in similar situations.