I tried it and found it very flaky with my old Evolution MK-449C so I abandoned it. I thought that it was because my MIDI controller was so old but after reading this thread I now think that ACT was another half implemented idea. 

ACT works fine for me but I do find that I need to (re-)configure it via the ACT-learn functionality for most effects and plugins (even though I use a PCR-300 which is supposed to be 'nicely pre-configured' to work in Sonar).
 
There is one main difference between using ACT-learnt controls and MIDI-learnt controls that I figured out recently (after a fair bit of confused head-scratching), which is this: MIDI-learn only differentiates based on CC number whereas ACT can also differentiate based on MIDI channel number.  e.g. all of 8 'Rx' rotary controls on the PCR-300 use the same MIDI CC but are spread across 8 MIDI channels.  In other words, you cannot MIDI-learn those 8 controls to 8 different target parameters on the same plugin as MIDI-learn sees them all as the same controller.

ston
ACT works fine for me but I do find that I need to (re-)configure it via the ACT-learn functionality for most effects and plugins (even though I use a PCR-300 which is supposed to be 'nicely pre-configured' to work in Sonar). There is one main difference between using ACT-learnt controls and MIDI-learnt controls that I figured out recently (after a fair bit of confused head-scratching), which is this: MIDI-learn only differentiates based on CC number whereas ACT can also differentiate based on MIDI channel number.  e.g. all of 8 'Rx' rotary controls on the PCR-300 use the same MIDI CC but are spread across 8 MIDI channels.  In other words, you cannot MIDI-learn those 8 controls to 8 different target parameters on the same plugin as MIDI-learn sees them all as the same controller.

How does it work fine if you have reconfig it? And you have the controller designed to work flawless with ACT .

My point to this whole thread is , in hopes that the powers to be are listening , ACT needs a revamp , or bring back midi learn the way it use to be ..

bitman
ACT Absolutely rocks.
 
If it has one shortcoming it is that it "assigns" hardware controls to fx widgets in the order that the fx developer provides them which may not be logical such as left to right on the GUI you are looking at.
There is not really anything Sonar can realistically do about that so they do provide you with ACT learn
so you can map ACT assignments by fx and that assignment is persisted.
 
Come to think of it, A Clear ACT learn for a particular FX would be nice. As it is now you have to hand edit some XML to do that
 
ACT still rocks though.
 
 

hi bitman
 
could you shed some light on which XML file to edit to get a persistant ACT mapping. it's always the same plugs that require ACT re-learn. so fixing that in some XML file would be fine with me, if you could pls explain how. thanks.

What I'd like to see is being able to build my act controller easier. For instance drag and drop pads, buttons, knobs, sliders, foot pedal, and levers and organize, name and assign to hardware. I've never gotten past that part to see if assigning the act controller controls to various vsti or vsts etc works.

ACT is a crock of steaming poo.  I can get it set up and working okay, but the settings never stick, which means setting it up on a per use basis.
 
Life is too short.  Haven't touched it in over a year.  Along with VVocal and Audiosnap, it is one of the bigger disappointments (for me) in Sonar.  It promised so much and delivered so little.
 
I'm using a Yamaha KX49 btw.

FreeFlyBertl

bitman
ACT Absolutely rocks.
 
If it has one shortcoming it is that it "assigns" hardware controls to fx widgets in the order that the fx developer provides them which may not be logical such as left to right on the GUI you are looking at.
There is not really anything Sonar can realistically do about that so they do provide you with ACT learn
so you can map ACT assignments by fx and that assignment is persisted.
 
Come to think of it, A Clear ACT learn for a particular FX would be nice. As it is now you have to hand edit some XML to do that
 
ACT still rocks though.
 
 

hi bitman
 
could you shed some light on which XML file to edit to get a persistant ACT mapping. it's always the same plugs that require ACT re-learn. so fixing that in some XML file would be fine with me, if you could pls explain how. thanks.

Warning:
 
Flying by hazy memory on this but:
Under XP:
 
In C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Application Data\Cakewalk\ACT Data
 
There are some XMLs
I copied the ACT Data folder to make a safety copy then went into the ACT Data folder and deleted some files. There is SonarACT/XML 8.5? and SonarACTX1.xml etc.
 
Deleting these that pertained to the sonar version in question deleted all my "custom" maps so as to be able to start over.
 
In win vista/7 and 8 the folder is likely to be found in \users\<username>\appdata ......etc

FreeFlyBertl

bitman
ACT Absolutely rocks.
 
If it has one shortcoming it is that it "assigns" hardware controls to fx widgets in the order that the fx developer provides them which may not be logical such as left to right on the GUI you are looking at.
There is not really anything Sonar can realistically do about that so they do provide you with ACT learn
so you can map ACT assignments by fx and that assignment is persisted.
 
Come to think of it, A Clear ACT learn for a particular FX would be nice. As it is now you have to hand edit some XML to do that
 
ACT still rocks though.
 
 

hi bitman
 
could you shed some light on which XML file to edit to get a persistant ACT mapping. it's always the same plugs that require ACT re-learn. so fixing that in some XML file would be fine with me, if you could pls explain how. thanks.

Warning:
 
Flying by hazy memory on this but:
Under XP:
 
In C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Application Data\Cakewalk\ACT Data
 
There are some XMLs
I copied the ACT Data folder to make a safety copy then went into the ACT Data folder and deleted some files. There is SonarACT/XML 8.5? and SonarACTX1.xml etc.
 
Deleting these that pertained to the sonar version in question deleted all my "custom" maps so as to be able to start over.
 
In win vista/7 and 8 the folder is likely to be found in \users\<username>\appdata ......etc

djjhart@aol.com
How does it work fine if you have reconfig it? And you have the controller designed to work flawless with ACT .

Yes, it works absolutely fine and consistently after I re-map in ACT.
 
The initial (default) 'ACT mapping' between controllers on the PCR-300 and the plugins' parameters isn't very good (in my opinion), but a) it's very little work to remap - it just takes a few seconds and b) I prefer to create my own mapping that makes sense to me anyway - I can remember the mapping much easier then.
 
I've even ACT mapped from the 'Touch DAW' android application running on my Nexus 7, over wireless rtpMIDI onto the PC, through a virtual midi cable into  'midi doodle' to convert the X-Y touchscreen controller to polar (angle/radius) coordinates, through another virtual cable into Sonar and thence onto Omnisphere's 'ORB' controller.  It's somewhat easier if you have an iPad ofc ;-)

I was messing with these files a while ago when trying to figure out why ACT settings are not retained between Sonar restarts. My observation was that X2a doesn't seem to write to these files and I could't find any other file it might have written to ...