Most Compatible Keyboard Controllers?

Hello everyone!
 
I am setting up a new DAW studio....  i remember in Sonar X1 I had so much trouble getting my M-Audio Oxygen to keep its CC/ACT controls in sync.   I was wondering if there are any controllers that work more compatible with Sonar X2.   
 
I looked at the Roland ones sold by Cakewalk but the Mod Wheel acts like a pitch wheel!  It goes back to zero when you let go!  That's a big NO for me because certain patches totally change sound when you have the mod wheel adjusted.  Sometimes, i want to set it and go!

Any others?
 
Thank you in advanced!

Adam

aglewis723
I looked at the Roland ones sold by Cakewalk but the Mod Wheel acts like a pitch wheel!  It goes back to zero when you let go!  That's a big NO for me because certain patches totally change sound when you have the mod wheel adjusted.  Sometimes, i want to set it and go!

I have the A500pro, but considered the MPK49 or the 49SL MkII, which is just bad ***. The A500pro, of course, was the most affordable, but still retained many useable features, including it being easy to program. So therefore, the simple workaround for not having the modwheel return to zero is to program a slider to send CC01.

aglewis723
Thanks for that!  The A500, is it pretty much plug and play?  Did you have to map anything and does it retain its control?

No problem! Yes, the Cakewalk A-Pro's will retain their programming if control maps 1-16 are used. I forgot exactly, but control map 0 cannot be programmed, or it can be programmed but will not retain its settings.  The A-Pro editor is intuitive and makes it very easy. Screenshot below...
 

＠2:43AM:
ACT is confusing at first but it’s not that complex to understand, but I see why you choose Remote Control over ACT. I think it really depends on what you want to use these knobs/sliders/buttons/pads for.
 
@aglewis723:

aglewis723
The A500, is it pretty much plug and play?  Did you have to map anything and does it retain its control?
 

 
What do you want to use the knobs/sliders/buttons/pads for? If you want to use the L1-L8 buttons as a transport module or if you want to assign various commands in Sonar (which you can assign keyboard shortcuts to) to the L1-L8 buttons, A1-A8 pads, etc., and if you don’t mind about ACT not being able to control volume faders and pan knobs of non-contiguous tracks/buses in Sonar, I’d say the A-Pro Control Surface Plugin is the one for you (and there’s not much to set up). In my case, I want to use sliders S1-S8 to control non-contiguous tracks/buses so I combine ACT and Remote Control (combining the two isn't recommended by Roland, but it works fine if you employ a special technique), which means buttons L1-L8 and pads A1-A8 do their jobs according to ACT, while the sliders and knobs act according to the Remote Control feature. I think you want to use one of the sliders as a modulation wheel, so maybe you'll end up combining ACT and Remote Control, too.
 
Btw, if you intend to use the pads A1-A8 for drumming, you might want to check this thread first (maybe you already have):
http://forum.cakewalk.com/The-dynamic-pads-on-the-A800-Pro-are-pretty-lame-m2831929.aspx
 
To be honest I'm not sure if A-Pro is the best controller for Sonar, but I like the key action and the size/weight of the product very much (note that the keys are a little shorter than regular keys of hardware synths).
 
Hope that helps.