azslow,
There are different versions of the manual for this keyboard, but the one I got contains a section not found in the PDF on their site:
2.2.8 Mackie on/off
When the state cannot be set to “Mackie on”, “Mackie off” can be set.
- Press the "MIDI" Button and the LED under the button will light on.
- Press a key on the Velocity key Left. The LCD screen will display the current Mackie state ("on" or "off").
- Press the "MIDI" Button again (LED lights off) to save the edit.
Despite the confusing language, I was able to figure out what this meant (basically, turn on the settings mode, and hit an unmarked keyboard key just to the left of the "Velocity" setting key), and the keyboard did respond accordingly with "On" and "Off" messages. But no joy either way in Cakewalk.
As for two sets of MIDI ports, msmcleod, that's what I expected, but it only shows one. And I should note that I cannot even open the configuration window to disable the handshake. It is listed on the Utilities menu like any other control surface, but is grayed out.
Since I posted the question, I did get the play and stop transport controls working by using ACT instead of Mackie, but again none of the other knobs could be assigned, and the music part of the keyboard still went dead.
Maybe this controller is just overpromising.