this whole thread just makes me sad as I question my choice of m-audio, sonar and the whole decision to start trying to record my music.  it's been nothing but a hassle, what should be easy is hard, what should work, doesn't.  both communities lead me to think I might as well never even bothered posting. 
 
meh...
 

 
 

Yeah, please don't get discouraged, Michelle.  After all, you have just stepped into a new arena of music production, and digital at that.  We all know and understand how daunting that is.  I checked out this thread because I never heard of hypercontrol.  Nonetheless, like Craig's initial experience with ACT, once you understand how it functions, what it needs to "know," it does eventually come together...maybe not perfectly, but that's not unusual.  For instance, when I was trying to figure out ACT I selected the wrong MIDI output thinking it was an obvious choice, but that just made ACT act unreliably.  After using the correct port I was amazed at how much better it worked consistently.  Given some time, you will only come to appreciate all the possibilities.  Like recording your own music/performance at your whim.  Don't let the prospect of losing expected functionality side track you from making things happen.
 
So, it might take some time, and please do take your time, to absorb all the info out there regarding the digital recording realm.  Once you do, you will be giving others help in no time.  Nonetheless, there are many options available to us.  As it is, if the shoe don't fit, you must... I mean you can always make room in your closet for another pair.
 
Now you may be discouraged from some of the responses here.  Just give it a chance.  The people here are excellent resources and are only intent on helping and setting you on a successful path.  Spend some time around here and you will realize just how cool the CW forums are.
 
We hope to hear more from you.  Good luck!
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

In no way my intention was to make someone sad...
 
But on question "any chance violin strings from X-Audio are supported by your guitar?" the only answer I have "when X-Audio produce guitar strings..."
 
While so obvious with strings, it is not so with Control Surfaces. I have tried to explain why in case of HyperControl with SONAR it is near the same.

thanks everyone, for kind replies to my little emotional outburst lol just frustrated that most of my time in the last two months has been spent with my guitar in my lap and my hand on the mouse trying to make sense of, mainly, just the ACT controller... and getting my new and old gear working. When I read what Hypercontrol was I thought that's perfect!  I can buy a new keyboard and it will map itself and I can -finally- just play.  I never thought for a second that Sonar wouldn't want any part of it. So I never researched that until my new Axiom was on my desk.  *my bad*
 
Anyhow, I have four midi controllers:
 
ART X-15 Ultrafoot (footpedal w/ 2 expression pedals)
Source Audio Hothand Ring (super cool!)
Axiom 25
Axiom Air 49
 
(and I have an M-Audio M-Track Quad as my interface, tho that doesn't really matter here)
 
I can't for the life of me figure out my Hothand or my X-15  They both work beautifully in GuitarRig standalone, but since getting sonar I've basically lost use of those as controllers.  When I get fed up I just quit Sonar and load GR standalone and can get back to being creative... and then I find myself wanting to record.  nasty cycle this.
 
My Axiom Air 49 I've managed to somewhat get working with a generic surface, I was thrilled to get my transport working!  but... I've got 3 banks in each of my sliders, slider buttons and rotaries.  I can't figure out how to get more than one bank working well with anything.  I'd like to be able to select tracks and Echo with the slider buttons, not just Arming the Record, but I can't figure it out.  I want to get my Axiom's tempo in sync with sonar, also a fail. 
 
I wanted to use both Axioms at the same time, but everything goes wacky when they're both plugged in.  They just don't seem to even be recognized. I can fiddle with USB connections and ports, but I either get my Air or my 25 in my midi device list.  Never both of them at once.
 
When I try and program my footpedal I have learned to hit Act Learn in Guitar Rigs VST, and hit the things I want to control.  The problem is ACT doesn't seem to be picking up what I want, and is learning things I DON'T want.  And if I make a mistake and program (learn) the wrong thing, then I can't delete it, I have to delete the whole control surface and start again from scratch (so frustrating! I've been doing this a little bit each nite for a few weeks straight)  oh, and once I map an expression pedal to something successfully I find that it's almost always backwards...  i.e. toe is 100% and heel is 0%  and I need it the other way around... I can't find a way to reverse that.
 
My Hothand ring... I don't even know where to start with this in ACT.  By its nature, if it's on, it's constantly sending out midi commands even if resting still on my desk. so as soon as I try and Learn something the parameter I'm trying to control picks up whatever it sees first - which is consistently what I don't want LOL  In Guitar Rig you can either Learn a command or assign one manually, and assigning manually is pretty much the only way to get the Hothand mapped.  I can see no way at all to do this in Sonar.
 
(sigh) I feel like I just wrote a short story here...  if anyone is still with me, and could possibly follow all that, well... I'm very grateful for your time. And believe me, I have HOURS and hours of web and forum searches invested before ever registering here.
 
:)
 
Anderton, here is a link to on M-audio's forum.
 
thanks again everyone.

I've got a device that sends some odd commands at times and I use a midi filter plugin to filter them out.
 
First, I just put it on a track and hit record. For me I had to turn a dial to get the problematic message, but maybe for you the messages will just come.
 
Then you can identify those events and filter them out with the midi filter plugin.
 
So I made some videos as I was trying to figure out my setup (and I did get my setup figured out)...
 
This one shows how to use the midi filter and record to a track to see the midi messages that are coming in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3KFP1D6qgw
 
This one isn't likely to help you much but it shows that I did finally get all my stuff working as I wanted...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Lqj6-j05Q
I have the string decay envelope from my GR20 mapped to parameters in the Synth as well as using my foot pedal to control other params.
 
There is a person in the world who goes by BRock. He's pretty much a midi god as far as I'm concerned. Every time I've had a question or needed help he's risen up out of the ocean and pointed his trident and my problems have evaporated.
 
I don't know if he's out there and listening but I thought maybe invoking his name might do the trick. ;-)
 
This video might also be helpful...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51o-IRKx0aY
 

sorry, I get busy in real life, but I have not forgotten this thread.  I really appreciate the help and the welcome.  I will put this advice to good use!
 
any thoughts as to getting two usb midi keyboards working at the same time?
 
thanks you guys!

FastBikerBoy
That should be as simple as plugging them in and making sure they are checked in Preferences-->MIDI-->devices. Probably better to keep using the same USB slot for each if you are disconnecting and re-connecting them regularly.

thanks, but yeah, it's just not working like that, was the first thing I tried as I didn't expect any issues.  one seems to override the other.  I tried reinstalling drivers, and I've looked in device manager and both appear without any problems according to it.  But none of my midi capable programs recognize more than 1 keyboard.  All other midi devices are there, just not both keyboards.
 
sorry, I should probly start a new thread (and that at m-audio's forums) instead of going on about this here.
 
thanks tho!

Are you familiar with MIDI channels? By default, many controllers and synths respond to all inputs/outputs (MIDI Omni), so separation of note data requires channel assignments.

ok, well cool :)  I did post at M-Audio forums too after writing this early this morning.
 
Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with Midi, setting up channels and so forth.  As a side note I've configured my keyboards in Sonar to respond to keys on Midi Channel 1 for Piano and Synth etc, and my Drum Pads on Midi Channel 10 for Drums and Percussion... works great, so I have a rudimentary knowledge there.
 
The problem is when attempting both keyboards at once.  Sonar, in the Preferences window, only sees one keyboard at a time. And is seems a random chance as to which one decides to show up.  So it's not a midi configuration thing or getting them to respond to midi messages together. 
 
Oh, and it's not just Sonar, but Ignite, MidiOx (a little free midi monitor I found for testing) and every other music program that works with midi devices.... but Device Manager in Windows sees them both.  So I'm at a total loss here.  Especially since I have other midi gear and those are all available.
 
Thanks for the help btw :)

b rock
This might help, from our own Craig Anderton, Esq.   Solving The Windows MIDI Port Problem.  It's worth a look.  I also have a lot - and I mean A LOT - of integrated MIDI hardware in my system.  It all requires systematic maintenance, on multiple levels.

Thanks for that b rock.  I had a go at it, found some extra midi devices alright, uninstalled them...  unfortunately it didn't make a difference.

yeah, I reset. double checked devices and made sure everything was good. I've tried reinstalling drivers and keyboards both, in different orders even...  tried the keyboards on two different hubs and on my motherboards built in ports... I tried different cables, short ones and long ones - with and without ferite beads. I've checked my USB drivers, unplugged all other midi gear and tried with just keyboards alone...  I'm pretty ok with computers, and know my way around...  I've tried a million things in the last week or so since I got my new Air49.  Really wanted to get this working.... but I'm at a loss now.
 
 

Hi Paul, thanks for trying to help, I really need it. lol
 
I have tried exactly what you suggest, I tested both keyboards separately (my Axiom25 was first and I used it for some time before getting my Axiom Air49), but yeah, both keyboards work beautifully with AND without my other midi gear plugged in. 
 
Dan from M-Audio (he's an employee) say this:
 

Dan
Had you installed the drivers for both controllers? Even though the Axiom series is class-compliant, Windows does require drivers for some functions. Using multiple units in tandem is one of them.

 
so to your last question
 

Paul P
Then, when you add a second keyboard to this most basic setup, what happens ?

I add the second keyboard and it shows up in Device Manager, as it should with no errors.  I then proceed to load my Daw (I have Air Ignite too)  or Midi-Ox, or anything that uses midi devices I go the Preferences, or midi device setup and the keyboard I've added is simply not listed.
 
Dan doesn't seem to answer posts everyday...  so currently waiting on a new reply there.
 
This is a link to that post.

Have you already tried uninstall M-Audio drivers for one/both keyboards?
 
They both should be class-compliant, "multiple units" should be no problem for MS drivers (in that respect the replay from M-audio sounds strange).
 
If that still does not work and you are familiar with computers, you can try to check properties for the devices in the device manager to find similarities. At least for MS drivers, there must be something which clash.

I believe you had mentioned that Windows see both controller, and it is within Sonar that you can only see one or the other.
 
What do music applications running stand-alone outside of Sonar see?  Can both controllers be enabled for use in on or more of these applications?  (Dim Pro, Rapture, etc).
 
Bob Bone