yeah I hear ya, I've been having similar issues too and seriously been frustrated too... 
 
I would suggest changing the thread's subject title to something like "Help needed - Unable to setup Oxygen 49 Controller in X3", or something along those lines.. maybe post separate threads for different problems...
 
Anyway, I didn't mean anything by the google comment, so hope I didn't offend.  It's just what I typed in and did find lots of hits on Oxygen 49 and sonar..
 
maybe ping that guy from the thread chuckbabe, he is very active on this forum.
 
good luck with it...

jedilaw
Okay, I've managed to get my plugins recognized, and I can call them up, insert them, et cetera.
 
Now why in the h**l can't I get my MIDI keyboard to work? I can get Sonar to take input from it when I insert just a MIDI track, but for the life of me I cannot get the controller to actually play a damned instrument.
 
This is beyond frustrating. Whatever secret, ninja, 12-menus-deep option I need to magically discover in order for this DAW to allow me to actually play my instruments, it is too well hidden, too obscure, too poorly documented, and too unintuitive.

Instrument track? What midi device is selected as input? Echo on enabled?

As of this morning, I managed to finally get X3 to accept MIDI notes from the keyboard.  No idea what the difference was, because I literally repeated the same steps from the "getting started" guide that I followed the first time around.
 
I had to go to work, so I haven't had a chance to see if I can get X3 to do this more than once.  Hopefully, not just a fluke.
 
I'm looking forward to getting into the program itself, now that the MIDI issue has (apparently, hopefully) been solved.
 

Were you installing 64bit or 32bit Sonar? This would make a big difference on the plug-ins that show up. I also have GearBox and it will only work in 32bit. Pod Farm 2 is the new version that will work in 64bit or 32bit.
 
For midi I never install a midi track I just insert an instrument via insert/softsynth and it sets it all up just fine. I am a guitar player so I use synths in this way because the whole midi thing tends to hurt my brain and waste my time. :)
 
Glad you worked it out anyway. 

64bit Sonar X3d Studio.
 
I got the plugins thing handled, had to set up a plugin layout that showed what I wanted to see.  As far as I can tell, everything I'm supposed to have is now showing up.

Three things...
 
First, most people think that USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus." It does not - USB stands for "Unpredictable Serial Bus." I can have a controller show up consistently in Sonar, Live, or whatever. Then one day the phase of the moon changes, or I'm wearing the wrong color socks, and the keyboard isn't recognized. Usually the solution is to restart the computer with the keyboard connected, although sometimes the solution is to restart the computer and THEN connect the keyboard after the computer is completely booted. (I have a Blu-Ray drive that works only if connected to USB after the computer is booted.)
 
Second, if you're trying to use ACT to control a synth from hardware, I find the standard ACT methodology convoluted. I use controllers in a less complicated way, and wrote an article about it for Sound on Sound. You may find this a more user-friendly way to deal with controllers.
 
Third, as to finding VST instruments, make sure all folders are included in the file path, and that some VST instruments aren't proprietary to certain pieces of host software. Some of these devices are considerate and put up an error message if you try to load them, but others won't.