Hi everyone,
 
I've just bought a Yamaha MOXF8. I have MIDI and Audio recording and playing back fine from Sonar Professional through the MOXF interface, and the MOXF VST mostly working as I expect.
 
What I would like to do though is get the Remote DAW function working so that I can at least use the transport controls such as Record, Stop, Play etc. on the MOXF to control Sonar. Apparently this is done by adding a Mackie Control Surface to Sonar which is mapped to Port 2 on the MOXF. The documentation is however a little vague on DAW's that aren't Cubase (can I even say Cubase in here?) so I'm not sure what else needs to be done to map the buttons to the appropriate Sonar functions.
 
I've tried a bunch of things without success and wonder if anyone here has made this work and could give me a step by step guide. 
 
Thanks,
Pete.

I don't have a MOXF, but I do have a Motif XF, where I can control the daw from the XF. 
 
On the XF, you can set the DAW preference. It was default set to cubase, but Sonar was an option. In Sonar, you add a mackie control and set it to Port 2 (on the XF it was called Motif XF Remote). 
Lastly, to be able to control the DAW, there is a button on the XF that says Remote On/off. When I look at the MOXF pictures, it has a button called DAW Remote.
I took a look at the MOXF owners manual. On Page 56 of the MOXF Manual it tells you how to switch the MOXF into the correct mode for the DAW, and it tells you what you need to do for Sonar. So, it should work.

One thing I forgot to mention... 
Once your mackie control is set up in Sonar, and your MOXF set to DAW remote mode, the transport buttons should immediately work. Other things will work as well, but that is no so straightforward...
 
If, on the other hand, the sonar bar keeps saying "connecting..." for the mackie control, I would suggest you download aszlow's dll's for the mackie. That seems to work better with connecting to mackie control emulations (which is what the MOXF does)

Thanks a lot c5_convertable, I think you've got me headed in the right direction. I had already done all the steps you listed, but indeed the Mackie status was just sitting there saying "Connecting..."
 
I tried the other Mackie options and got the same result, however the Cakewalk Generic Surface did connect, and then I installed the Azslow controller and it connects as well. Now I just need to read the docs to figure out how to map the MOXF buttons to the appropriate functions and I should be up and running.
 
Thanks again,
Pete.

Peter Lowe
Thanks a lot c5_convertable, I think you've got me headed in the right direction. I had already done all the steps you listed, but indeed the Mackie status was just sitting there saying "Connecting..."
 
I tried the other Mackie options and got the same result, however the Cakewalk Generic Surface did connect, and then I installed the Azslow controller and it connects as well. Now I just need to read the docs to figure out how to map the MOXF buttons to the appropriate functions and I should be up and running.
 
Thanks again,
Pete.

c5_convertable was mentioning this: http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,341.0.html
That is not AZ Controller, it is a modification of MackieController to avoid "Connecting..." (had an option to "Disable handshake").
But Yamaha documentation is explicitly mentioning Sonar as compatible for MOXF8 on page 56 (with original Sonar plug-in), I will be surprised in case they have never tested that.
 
If (and only if) resulting functionality is not what you want, AZ Controller can do more. But I recommend to contact me directly before spending time, to check what you need is possible in Sonar and implementable for MOXF.

Hi Azslow3 - thanks for responding. Just after I posted to c5 I had another look around your site and found that thread and realised that he was actually referring to the modified Mackie dll.
 
I'm slowly making some progress through trial and error and getting some interesting results. Now that I know how to check the connection status I've tried all the default Surface plug-ins that are available in Sonar. Despite Yamaha's assertion regarding Mackie compatibility in the MOXF manual, I've found that the 3 Mackie Options in Sonar are the only ones that DON'T connect. They just sit there saying "Connecting..." forever. The Sonar ACT, Sonar Generic Surface, and a couple of other "VS something" options all actually connect.
 
I installed the modified Mackie DLL from your site which connected as soon as I used the option to disable handshaking, and your AZ Controller connects fine as well. I actually used the last midi message monitor on it to test every control on the MOXF to see which ones output a signal when operated in DAW Remote mode. With the MOXF set to use Sonar as the remote DAW I get messages from the six transport controls, plus two banks of six function buttons. If I select Cubase as the remote DAW then I get additional messages from the eight rotary knobs, each of which can be switched between 3 parameters, so 24 more codes available in total.
 
Anyway, now I just need to pick the most appropriate surface plug-in, as they seem to have subtle differences and configure it to learn the commands I want to use.
 
Thanks again for your help, and for making such an awesome product available to everyone.