Hi all...I'm still trying to transition from using Propellerheads Reason all the time but I think it would help if I had a MIDI parameter controller that works similarly to way my Nektar Panorama P1 (http://www.nektartech.com/PRODUCTS/Panorama-P1) with Reason.  I guess I could *probably* spend a lot of time trying to learn how to program the P1 to speak SONAR, but if I could get something small like the P1 that was USB powered and already spoke SONAR then it might be worth it not to have to go through all of that.  Anyone have any suggestions?  If it also has keys on it, that's fine but I'd like for it to control as many aspects of SONAR as possible and I already use a Yamaha MO8 88 key synth as a glorified key controller.  Any help or ideas are appreciated!

Your link returns "page not found"  but this one should work.
 
Rather than buying a new controller (that P1 looks very nice) azslow3 is writing a utility that should map any controller to Sonar easily that should in theory make your P1 do whatever you want in Sonar.
 
I just use a PreSonus Faderport with its default settings.  It does what I want and does it well.

Link fixed...and thanks for the heads up!  It would be GREAT to be able to use my P1 with SONAR as it is a very solid, well built controller and works flawlessly with Reason.  That would be my number one choice, but I just didn't want to take the time to sort out the mapping stuff.  I'm basically a guitar player with a keyboard habit, so this is not wiz-bang easy for me to do - yet :)

Thanks Karyn.

Nektar's Impact series keyboards are configured to work with Sonar right out of the box. You just download their Sonar control surface plugin and set it up through the control surface section in preferences.
Download the manual for one of the Impact boards and review what it can do.
Everything works exactly as described in Platinum except for one feature: toggling the surface controllers between synth plugins in the virtual rack does not work correctly. It works, just not as described in the manual. 
It's a wonder that the wrote a Sonar controller plugin for the Impact series, but have not done so for any of their other pieces of kit. I am holding out hope that the Panorama series is added soon.
 
 

reactorstudios
Nektar's Impact series keyboards are configured to work with Sonar right out of the box. You just download their Sonar control surface plugin and set it up through the control surface section in preferences.
Download the manual for one of the Impact boards and review what it can do.
Everything works exactly as described in Platinum except for one feature: toggling the surface controllers between synth plugins in the virtual rack does not work correctly. It works, just not as described in the manual. 
It's a wonder that the wrote a Sonar controller plugin for the Impact series, but have not done so for any of their other pieces of kit. I am holding out hope that the Panorama series is added soon.
 

My original thought was to swap freely between the P1 and the Impact LX25, but I figured I'd ask before laying out investment capital

The Panorama is well made and as I said, works great with Reason being able to control every aspect of Reason from it.  The mixer, the transport section and each instrument and rack extension I have.  It's really quite amazing to me actually.  But Reason and SONAR are very different animals in my mind.  I'm no pro by any means, but they just seem aimed at different targets.  I have enjoyed using Reason because the synths are a blast to program and play around with, and the P1 has made it more enjoyable.  But I gotta believe that SONAR's open VST based architecture makes it a lot more powerful than I know.  I'm lucky enough to have the Platinum Edition too, so I figured it was time I sat down and truly learned how it all works beyond recording a couple of guitar tracks and futzing with various effects.  The first thing that caught my eye was the Impact series, and mostly because of how good Nektar did the Panorama I already have.

The situation with Control Surfaces for Sonar is not good. CW has switched to touch sensitive displays idea as the only method. They are not advancing Control Surface API, so many features since Sonar X are not controllable at all. They are not even fixing bugs in that part, while producing more with each new future.
 
From what I know, Nektar Impact was the last product introduces with Sonar support. But they have not continued with Panorama. Still in the market devices with Sonar support: Impact, MCU, Automap and Faderport. Most complete support had discontinued VS-700.
 

Karyn
Rather than buying a new controller (that P1 looks very nice) azslow3 is writing a utility that should map any controller to Sonar easily that should in theory make your P1 do whatever you want in Sonar.

Unfortunately that is not possible with Panorama. They use "proprietary" protocol. They could make it public, but they want full control on which DAWs they support. AZ Controller can work with P1 in MIDI mode, but that is far from what P1 native mode allows.
 
I have "resurrected" support for some devices (Faderport, Alphatrack) and provide possibility to support other (in case they use open protocol or just simple MIDI). For the moment I do not have ready to use advanced presets for modern multichannel device.

Maybe we should blockade the Cakewalk offices until they restart development of the CS API...

azslow3
The situation with Control Surfaces for Sonar is not good. CW has switched to touch sensitive displays idea as the only method. They are not advancing Control Surface API, so many features since Sonar X are not controllable at all. They are not even fixing bugs in that part, while producing more with each new future.
 
From what I know, Nektar Impact was the last product introduces with Sonar support. But they have not continued with Panorama. Still in the market devices with Sonar support: Impact, MCU, Automap and Faderport. Most complete support had discontinued VS-700.
 

Karyn
Rather than buying a new controller (that P1 looks very nice) azslow3 is writing a utility that should map any controller to Sonar easily that should in theory make your P1 do whatever you want in Sonar.

Unfortunately that is not possible with Panorama. They use "proprietary" protocol. They could make it public, but they want full control on which DAWs they support. AZ Controller can work with P1 in MIDI mode, but that is far from what P1 native mode allows.
 
I have "resurrected" support for some devices (Faderport, Alphatrack) and provide possibility to support other (in case they use open protocol or just simple MIDI). For the moment I do not have ready to use advanced presets for modern multichannel device.

Wow, thank you for the detailed and informative response!  It looks like I have these choices, if I understand you correctly:

1. Use SONAR the same as I always have and deal with it.
2. Buy and use the Nektar Impact LX25 series controller as I thought.  The downside sounds like I could be SOL on support down the road though as CW is not really supporting control surfaces like they used to.
3. Upgrade to a Windows 8.x (or 10?) system with touch screen capabilities and do things the "brave new way", which might ultimately be best for future proofing myself to some degree.  Gee, I wonder if Reason will go "touch screen capable?

This gives me a lot to think about because honestly, I was considering selling off my desktop based system at some point soon and getting a decent laptop with touch screen support.  I suppose it is possible to just use Reason exclusively, but man I'd hate to leave SONAR  so nearly totally untapped on the table like that.  I love how Reason works -- it seems to adapt to me really, but I am technically capable and can learn new tricks.  Dang it.

Thanks again for the info!

If I were you I'd pick up the new LX88, which gives you a full size keyboard (useful for keyswitching, orchestrals, multis, and sooooo many things) which is mapped for Sonar and just be patient for Nektar to add Sonar to their Panorama protocals...
 
I was following this pretty closely a few months ago and Nektar reps said Sonar is on their Panorama agenda, as are other daws... they've added several already.  They played around with the X series but realized it would be a lot of work at the time and they had their hands full.  I assume it is still on their agenda.  
 
This would be the best of both worlds, as the LX is very light and already works and the 88 is a rare bird to be configured for sonar... and the Panorama doesn't have an 88 version.
 
I'm sure they'll get to it.  I have an lx-61 and it is quite nice with sonar...

Just reading posts on control surfaces for Sonar and thought I'd jump in here.  AZslow3 has created a great preset for the UC33e (which I own), which covers basic functions (transport, volume faders, pan, send and gain for channel strips) as well as most of ProChannel functions.  I also have a Frontier Tranzport, and together, they work brilliantly for Sonar.
 
I originally bought the two units to control Sonar years ago, but gave up when I couldn't get ACT working, and switched to Ableton Live and Maschine.  But with the new combination I can use Sonar for comping, and run Maschine as a vst in Sonar for the Midi stuff; the only issue is that Sonar doesn't have elastic time stretching, so one can't change tempo on the fly (c'mon, Cakewalk, everyone else is incorporating Elastique - well, ok, Maschine needs to as well...)  But one can always drag/drop an audio clip into Live, and it will match tempo perfectly.
 
Another severe limitation is the lack of support in Matrix for controllers like Launchpad....
 
IMO, Sonar is best thought of as a very advanced audio recorder (with its comping and Melodyne) for classical vocalists and instrumental musicians, but the other functions (e.g. Midi, beats, backing tracks) are done so much better by other programs (e.g. Maschine) that it is worth it to purchase one for everything else (e.g. a Maschine Mikro).  And I think a preset for Mikro (and other Maschine controllers) might be possible, but Azslow3 would have a much better answer than I.
 
But if you can pick up a used UC33e and Tranzport, you'll find them a great solution... with AZslow3's preset.
 
https://reverb.com/item/3141994-evolution-uc-33e-silver