MrLand
Is Cakewalk ever going to advance its ACT midi controller, or change to something else, so we can tryout or just use some new equipment without being forced to set up programming ourselves or is it that to much to ask. just starting to put a studio together and want I get equipment I i feel comfortable using with the software that convinced me to go all in and make music creation the center of the rest of my life instead of computer programmimg.
You can not forced to program yourself to use ACT. When you buy some equipment, it can come with ACT solution (MCU, Nektar Impact, Faderport) or without such solution. In the later case that is your choice, and you should understand the consequences. You can make any controller to work with Sonar within a half an hour, no programming skills required. If you want "more", be prepared to spend more time.
If you are "tired", in make sense to explain why. May be you can get better advise then. If you just tired by attempts to do something without reading the documentation, read it. That is common scenario with ACT MIDI, some people believe they can use it the same way as a VST (whatever you click/turn it still produce some sound), that is a mistake. It is impossible to use these plug-ins without understanding what every single click is going to produce.