Sorry for delayed reply on this - but thanks ston, using your last message I figured it out.  It was that I first has to turn automation lane ON, and then choose from the drop down list the soft synth I wanted to modulate from there.  Each soft synth seems to have their own rules how to handle things from there, but thanksfully I figured it out for the 2 I was using.   

No problem :-)
 
One caveat worth mentioning (which I think I put into another thread recently) is that if the auto-punch button is enabled, write automation (if you're using that technique) will only operate within the boundaries of the punch region!

Aha, thanks for the tip.  I'm not using Write automation - I'm using envelopes, as I find much easier to control what I want with the nodes.   Sometime getting the right envelope, that controls the right parameter, that can be more tricky than Midi learn and Write automation though ... 

You could also try writing the initial automation from the synth's controls, and then fine-tuning the results using the envelope.   Two advantages of this method are A) It can sometimes be quicker to set up the basic "frame" for what the automation needs to be, and B) Since the automation already exists it will be bolded in the Edit Filter's list of available automation.
 

Hmmm ... sometimes using the W (Write function) I get envelopes with nodes that I can edit, sometimes its more like a graph which I cannot edit with nodes ... I'm not sure how I get the 2 different types ..?