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John P

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  1. For some reason I'm reminded of Don Quixote saying to Sancho Panza "The dogs are barking, we must be advancing!" Kidding, but as with all great satire, it wouldn't be funny if there weren't a hint of truth hidden beneath the absurdity. The tragic flaw of Don Quixote was his tendency to misperceive what things really were. When I searched the forum for "M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini" this seemed like the only viable thread about it. And there it was, probably posted in earnest originally by whoisp, but with no reply other than a short advisory to RTFM. I can say from experience that Reading the Manual doesn't help set up the Oxygen Pro Mini in Cakewalk. Neither did chatting/emailing with their support group. And as I mentioned above, the Oxygen Pro Mini setup process differs from the Oxygen Pro 61 etc. Now I see that my Quixotic quest to help whoisp and others by enlisting this forum to help quickly document a reliable setup step-by-step for Oxygen Pro Mini is nothing more than tilting at windmills. I'm not sure what this thread is, but it was my mistake to see it as an Oxygen Pro Mini setup how-to thread. Notes in passing: Azslow's correction to my 13 Dec 2022 posting of revised setup and test steps is valid: it doesn't work to set the track input to MIDIIN3 (Oxygen Pro Mini.) For me it did work to just leave the track input in the default input setting. It's hard for me to understand exactly what Azslow is saying, but I think it boils down to 1) you think it's better to set it up as an ACT Controller than a Mackie Controller, 2) better still to use your AZ Controller, though 3) you advise the AZ Controller-Cakewalk interface will probably result in some instabilities or anomalies. The anomalies you give as examples are similar to the ones I experience using the Mackie Control settings. I'd consider trying to use AZ Controller to make a setup for Oxygen Pro Mini in Cakewalk, except I fear that it's complex enough that issues will arise, and when they do, my only option will be to try to work through them by talking with you on the Cakewalk forum. You are a great guy, I just don't think such a talk is possible here.
  2. Ok, I have the Oxygen Pro Mini controls working acceptably in Cakewalk now, as a result of further testing and changes to my initial setup outlined above. Main change: I did not define an ACT controller, only the "Mackie Control" included with Cakewalk. I still notice a few anomalies, and I've only done this on an AMD Ryzen 7 4000 series laptop running Win 10, connected via USB. But I did achieve a repeatable setup process, throwing out all prior controller and midi device settings in the current version of Cakewalk by Bandlabs, and resetting the Pro Mini between setup iterations. Here are the M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini setup steps for Cakewalk by Bandlabs that worked reliably: Connect the Pro Mini via USB to the PC. Don't start Cakewalk yet. Set the Oxygen Pro Mini to Cubase mode: a) toggle the DAW/Preset button so it is lighted; b) press and hold it until DAW appears in the Pro Mini display; c) use the Encoder knob directly below the display to scroll to CUBASE, and then press down (click) the Encoder knob to set the Pro Mini to CUBASE mode. Start Cakewalk and select New Project >> (Basic or Blank project will do.) Go to Edit >> Preferences in Cakewalk, or press P on the computer keyboard to bring up the Preferences window. Select MIDI >> Devices. Under Input Drivers, check Oxygen Pro Mini and MIDIIN3 (Oxygen Pro Mini) Under Output Drivers, check Oxygen Pro Mini Click Apply. (Don't click OK yet.) Select MIDI >> Control Surfaces Click the yellow start button next to the red X button. In the popup window, click the Controller/Surface dropdown and select Mackie Control. Click the dropdown for Input Port and select MIDIIN3 (Oxygen Pro Mini). Click the dropdown for Output Port and select None. Click OK to exit this popup window. Click Apply (just to be sure), and click OK to exit the Preferences window. Select Utilities >> Mackie Control. It takes a moment to load. Under Protocol, select Mackie Control Universal (Cubase Mode) Click the X at top right of this popup to close it. Testing the Oxygen Pro Mini setup in Cakewalk In track mode in Cakewalk, select the Plugins tab from the Cakewalk Browser. Find a VST2 or VST instrument. I suggest a Piano VST for this. Drag and drop the instrument to the Track window; accept defaults and add it as a Simple Instrument track. Click the small keyboard icon in the top left of the new track. The instrument control window will pop up. (Many VSTs require you to load a program or preset in this popup in order to hear sounds. Some don't need this extra step.) Play some keys on the keyboard. If you don't hear sounds, check the In/Out section of the vertical track window on the left. It may work as Omni, but if not, trying changing it to MIDIIN3 (Oxygen Pro Mini) in the Input dropdown. The Output dropdown should be set to Master. If still no sound, be aware that some VST instruments use only a subset of the piano keyboard. While you're looking at the vertical track control strip, right click on the channel fader. Select Remote Control in the popup. Select the Controller radio button. Click the Learn button. Now, on the Oxygen Pro Mini, move the first fader fully up and down once. Click OK to exit the popup. Now moving the physical slider on the Pro Mini should move the track fader in Cakewalk. Again, in the Cakewalk track strip, right click the Pan control. Select Remote Control, select the Controller radio button, click Learn, and now rotate the leftmost knob above the pads fully from stop to stop. Click OK. now the leftmost physical knob on the Oxygen Pro Mini should move the Cakewalk channel pan left and right. This may require some "tuning" to get right. Right click the fader in the Master channel next to the current instrument track. Same steps as before, except when it's time to move a physical fader on the Pro Mini, move the rightmost fader once through it's highest and lowest levels. The Master fader in Cakewalk should move with the righmost Pro Mini fader, and the leftmost Pro Mini fader should still move the Instrument track fader. If this all works, if you have the Instrument's popup window open, and if you click the DAW/Preset button on the Pro Mini so that it is now not lighted, press and hold that button to bring up the Preset display on the Pro Mini. Turn the Encoder knob, below the display, till you reach Preset 9. Click the Encoder knob down to select this user preset. Once you have this, you should be able to assign some controls in the VST Instrument's control window to physical controls on the Oxygen Pro Mini. When you have these as you like them, remember to save the Preset with the name "Preset 9" in Cakewalk. I can't promise that this will work for everyone, but it worked for me. If there's a better way, let me know.
  3. Jeremy - note that the OP and I are talking about the Oxygen Pro Mini. It's also class compliant, but it's not the same as the Oxygen 61. The M-Audio instructions for setting up the Pro Mini (in any DAW) are not the same as the Oxygen 61. On the Pro Mini, there's NO option to specify PC or Mac in the Global settings like there is on the Oxygen 61, for example. I did my homework, on both the M-Audio and CbB support pages/forums. There is nothing currently published on either web presence that results in a good, working integration of the M-Audio Pro Mini with Cakewalk. That doesn't mean it isn't possible. I'm pretty close, using the steps I captured above. The reason I posted the method I used and the functions that are/aren't working is I'm hoping there are actual Oxygen Pro Mini users on the CbB forums who can help us quickly get to a good, repeatable working Cakewalk DAW setup, step-by-step, for Oxygen Pro Mini. Anyone out there willing to help with this specific request?
  4. I'm having similar issues. I've gotten only so far. First I watched the Creative Sauce video titled Cakewalk Hardware Control. It at least generically explains what needs to be set up in Preferences, the controller hardware, and how to add a control surface definition in Cakewalk. Mike says the hardware needs to be set to Mackie MCU mode. He doesn't explain how to do that for the Oxygen Pro Mini specifically, but he advises that if the controller has Cubase mode, that may be a good starting point. Here's what I did: 1) Connect the Pro Mini via USB to the PC. Don't start Cakewalk yet. 2) Set the Pro Mini to Cubase mode: a) toggle the DAW/Preset button so it is lighted, b) press and hold it until DAW appears in the Pro Mini display, c) use the Encoder knob directly below the display to scroll to CUBASE, and then press down the Encoder knob to set the Pro Mini to CUBASE mode. 3) Start Cakewalk and select New Project >> (Basic or Blank project will do.) 4) Go to Edit >> Preferences. Select MIDI >> Devices. Select the checkboxes in the Input Drivers and Output Drivers section for "Oxygen Pro Mini" and for "MIDIIN3 (Oxygen Pro Mini)" and "MIDIOUT3 (Oxygen Pro Mini)". Click Apply. 5) Go to MIDI >> Control Surfaces. Click the star button at the top right (next to the red X). In the popup window, click the Controller/Surface dropdown and select Mackie Control, and select MIDIIN3 (Oxygen Pro Mini) from the dropdowns for Input Port and Output Port. Click OK. 6) While still in MIDI>> Control Surfaces, again click the star button; this time, in the popup window, select ACT Control Surface and select Oxygen Pro Mini as the Input Port and Output Port for this. Click OK. Click Apply and exit the Preferences window. 7) Go to Utilities >> Mackie Control 1. It takes a moment to load. Under Protocol, select Mackie Control Universal (Cubase Mode) Exit this popup. With the above settings in Preferences, if I load a VST instrument like a piano, the Oxygen Pro Mini keyboard will play the notes, velocity of key strike works, Pitch Bend and Mod wheels work. I was also able to assign a couple of knobs on the Pro Mini to knob controls in the VST. To do that, I clicked the ACT learn mode button at the top right of the VST window, then right click the knob I wanted to control (a popup appears for that) and I click Learn in the popup, then twist the physical knob on the Pro Mini, and, seeing that the parameter is changing in the VST window, click the ACT learn mode button in the VST again. I had to use my mouse to arm the VST track, but then I was able to start recording by pressing the Pro Mini's record button, stop recording with the Pro Mini, and all the transport controls on the Pro Mini worked as expected. Nice, BUT - I can't disarm that track for recording using the mouse or otherwise. If I delete the track, I can add a new VST instrument track, arm it using the mouse, and do the same thing, but the new track also cannot be disarmed. I see to the left of the track controls there is a thin green bar which says that Mackie Control is active when I hover on it, but nowhere does it say that ACT is also active. I think my remaining issues may be related to Mackie Control and ACT Control being defined/selected in Preferences. Ideas?
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