I've just about had it with ACT. It needs to go away. I'm not sure how its a "step-up" from built-in MIDI-Learn on VSTs.

My issue is, I'll open a blank (temporary) project to learn my Akai MPK61's knobs and sliders, save the preset as my own. Map a VST's controls the way I want.
THEN, I'll close out the temporary project, start a new one with the same VST, and for some reason its like the preset I made didn't even save! The controller is "unlearned" and parameters I adjusted on the VST to my liking are reset.

Another thing.
The MPK61 has 3 control banks (A, B, C) which extend the 8 knobs, sliders, buttons to make 24 of each. These CC#'s do not overlap. Does ACT not support this? I thought the ACT Banks were for this purpose, but its not! I can only map ONE of the Akai's control banks it seems. Am I doing something wrong?

I can't even see which CC# is mapped to the ACT control panel (thing).
AND for some reason Knob 5 doesn't respond after its learned. Like ACT is blocking further messages.

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This whole ordeal makes me just revert to the built-in MIDI-Learn on each VST and drop ACT. Which leads to my next problem: FX VSTs and MIDI control of them.

I've already researched that you have to set the VST effect as a synth, create a separate MIDI track and route it to the effect.

THAT IS TOO MUCH WORK ALREADY. 
I have my synths and FXs as separate, neat lists. It's off-putting to say "oyeah, the effect is a synth..."


Why can't I just directly MIDI control the effect when its in focus? Is it THAT hard to implement? Did the folks at Cakewalk figure I wouldn't want some hands-on MIDI control of an effect? Do they want me to use ACT?

Hello mjc.  Sounds like you're getting a little frustrated with ACT.  I just went through this with a new Akai MPK88.  I'm not sure I can help, but I will give it a shot.  First off, after you assign the knobs, sliders and buttons to the proper places in the ACT MIDI Controller window, make sure you save the configuration as a preset.  For instance, after you have gone through all the R1, R2,...through B8 (or whatever the buttons are numbered) and clicked them to midi learn the controls.  Then save that as a preset named something like My MPK61.  Also, the banks in ACT are not the same as the banks on your MPK-61.  The additional banks on the MPK will do you no good in ACT.  The additional banks in ACT can be accessed by assigning a button to  NextButtonsBank and NxtRtrsAndSldrsBank.  These need to be in every bank, so you can switch through all four banks.  I put mine in Shifted Buttons 7 and 8.  I used my second foot switch for Shift, but you can also use a very low note assigned to one of the pads in pad bank four, for instance.  Its also a good idea to use a button for ACT Enable.  That way, you be in a VST window and turn the ACT off for it and control the main Sonar window.

One other thing, its probably not a good idea to use the Sonar preset that is factory installed on the MPK, if you are use Sonar X1 or X2.  Instead, go to this website and download the guys files and instructions.  They did me a world of good.


[link=http://www.unrelatednotes.com/update-how-to-setup-the-akai-mpk88-with-sonar-x2/]http://www.unrelatednotes...i-mpk88-with-sonar-x2/[/link]

I hope I am not being condescending to you, but I don't know how much experience you have with this stuff.  If you have and questions for me, don't hesitate to ask.  I will try to answer if I can.  There's a lot they don't tell you about ACT in the manual.

By the way, you can use those other banks on the MPK to control things in Sonar using the Generic control surface.  That's what I plan to try next.

See you
Ron

yeah save your presets for act, but also try adding parameters to automation lanes and controlling them from there.  warning: mappings are NOT saved session to session.

Hey Ron, thanks for clearing this up for me.

Yea, I kinda figured the Sonar preset on my MPK was for an older version of Sonar since it didn't "snap in" easily.

Just as a note, I WANT to use ACT as it seems nifty. Just abit of a headache to learn. I had been using the built-in MIDI-learn on VSTi's until I wanted to automate an FX using my controller...just to find out that wasn't straight-forward, which led me to check out this ACT thing.

That bit about the MPK's control banks having no correlation to ACT's banks makes sense now. I guess I'll use the MPK banks for standalone VSTs. So I have 4 banks with ACT? Nice; even though I have to assign a Shift Modifier. I'll set S8 as the mod and set the controller to make it Momentary instead of Toggle. (Actually, setting buttons that require a single hit means I have to set those as Momentary anyway.)

swamptooth


warning: mappings are NOT saved session to session.

Well that blows. 

yup

I think there may be some confusion as to what an ACT preset saves.

The ACT preset only saves the mapping of the controllers physical controls to the cells in the ACT dialogue configured using MIDI learn.

The parameter assignment (configured using ACT learn) doesn't need to be saved and should be remembered automatically. If that isn't happening there may be some sort of corruption in the XML file where the ACT mappings are kept. Rename them and they'll be automatically created at next use.

You'll find those XML files in "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\ACT Data" - the ones you want are "sonaract"and "genericpluginparams"

ACT works as expected here. i.e. If I reassign a parameter to a control it is remembered. First use of a plugin is a bit haphazard but if that's anything like assigning parameters to the Mackie Control Surface it's done on the order the parameters are presented to Sonar in by the plug.

HTH

Right.

So after configuring my controller to ACT, I saved the preset. Okay, all is well on that front.

The issue now is VST parameter assignment having to be re-learned via ACT Learn EVERY time I open a project.

Now swamptooth says mappings are NOT remembered session-to-session, while FastBiker says there is a corruption. (If I'm understanding correctly.)

So VST parameter mappings SHOULD be remembered? Or am I still in wishful thinking?

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EDIT: SOLVED! 

Using what FastBiker said about the XML files, here's what I did to make VST parameter mappings "stick".


I went to the directory and deleted all the files. Then reinstalled X2.
I had X1 previously and did the upgrade to X2. Later on, I bombed X1 off my machine. Perhaps this had something to do with the issues? Not sure.

I did some tests on one VST to see if the parameter "stuck" after closing/shutting down Sonar and reopening a saved project and a new one with that same VST. The parameters stayed!

Looking at the XML files, I see VST IDs are what makes parameters "save" permanently? (IDK, I'm not the brains behind Sonar, heh)

Congrats mjc.  Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you had to save that ACT preset for every session, just after you midi learn the controls in ACT midi controller window.  The assignments in each vst or Sonar should save automatically. 
Glad you ironed out the problem with the assignments not sticking.
By the way, have you got your transport on the mpk working ? As far as I can tell, you have to add a Cakewalk Generic Surface to get that working.   Nice to have though.

Ron

rloseven



By the way, have you got your transport on the mpk working ? As far as I can tell, you have to add a Cakewalk Generic Surface to get that working.   Nice to have though.

I got it half working.

As you (and others) have said, I made the Cakewalk Generic Surface. I set the transport controls on my MPK to send CTRL messages. I then learned these to the Generic Surface's Global Parameters. It didn't end up smoothly but I'm not as concerned with it as I was with ACT.

I was able to map the Stop, Start, and Record buttons, but Rewind and Fast-Forward are a no-go for me.
I had to modify the Trigger Value on Stop/Start/Record to 127. It was set to 0 and it wouldn't work with that value.
Trigger Value is greyed out on Fast-Forward/Rewind. Instead, MIDI Message Interpretation lights up, but the MPK only sends a full 127 value when I press them. (I used MIDI-OX to see this.) There is no 0 value sent when I release either button, so this MIDI Message Interpretation box is no good.

Am I doing something wrong again?