Trouble with midi learn and Alesis VI25

I bought the Alesis VI25 so i could assign the 8 dials to different VSTi/VST parameters. In Reason 10.1 the midi learn works without any issues but I can't for the life of me get it to work on VST plug ins in Sonar. I don't want to use it as a control surface though I was able to set it up that way in the ACT menu but even then ACT learn doesn't work. I just want it to be midi learn only on a per plugin basis when required.