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Good luck with this. I gave up on using my Panorama P6 as anything other than a keyboard and drum pad. I had SO many issues trying to get it to work well as a control surface, that I gave up and bought an old FaderPort. For example, I found a serious bug in the .sysex file and identified it to Nektar tech support, but they said it worked for them. Which meant, by extension, that I was SOL. Nektar seems to get their interface software working just well-enough to make the YT video, and then they mostly wash their hands of it. Terrific hardware. Poor software. I'll NEVER buy another Nektar product.

I didn't have to do this, neither did I have to choose the midi ins and outs in preferences, it set it up straight away. In Studio One, I had to set the midi ins and outs even when using the setup files. In any event it says in the instructions on the website what you have to do if the midi ins and outs are not set up correctly. Mixcraft required something different, manually installing a file in Mixcraft from memory. I did not use CB ACT, the point of the setup files is that you don't use the DAW's midi control setup procedure. I don't know if it's possible to use both together. In Studio One I made a midi control file for the LX and didn't use the setup files to see how that went, it did work and I was able to customize things how I wanted but Studio One's compatibility with third party controllers isn't very good, CBd is much better. S1 wouldn't color the tracks when you switch to the next bank of 8 so you could never easily see what bank you were using, S1 also has no soft takeover and the rotary controls didn't match properly. I would think if you want to use ACT to setup the keyboard then you wouldn't use the setup files. I cant recall how this worked. I am not sure when you say "the manual", what you are referring to. The procedure I used was to register the keyboard (which was secondhand) which created my Nektar account. In my Nektar account, the setup files together with the functionality and instructions were available for all different DAW's. I downloaded and installed all the setup files for each DAW and followed the instructions, It worked ok for all the DAW's I tried it on, I think in Mixcraft, I did have to select the midi ins and outs after installing the file. Something I think I remember, if you download the setup files from the Nektar website then there wasn't as much info available. You have to have an account and then there was additional information in your account that wasn't available just on the website. Not for me, the "inst" key bought up the instrument for any track that I had selected. You have to install all the setup files for each DAW on your system, then there is the issue if for some reason, the DAW does not select the correct in and out midi preferences so you have to do that yourself and the instructions for this are available as part of the instructions in your account. I think if you want to setup this level of customization then you could use the ACT and not use the setup files, I've not used the Cakewalk ACT so cannot help you there.

At this point I would un install all the software that came with the Nektar and see if the problem goes away. Also make sure the sample rate is set correctly in all locations. Windows, Cakewalk and the ASIO panel for the interface.

I have mentioned the whole known set of "supported" keyboard controllers: Roland A and Nektar Impact. Both are limited as hardware (f.e. no encoders) but the integration was provided by the companies. I write "was", Roland is no longer affiliated with Cakewalk and all Nektar's powerful controllers do not support Cakewalk. But MPK261 is not a bad choice for controlling Cakewalk. It has capable hardware. The only problem the solution is DIY. So you will need to invest a bit of time to make it work. Depending from what you are ready to sacrifice: you want transport buttons and 24 tracks (with ABC keyboard banks) Volume+Pan+One switch per strip (Mute OR Solo OR Arm, etc): setup Generic surface plug-in. you want overlay the right part section (8 encoders + 8 faders + 8 buttons, NO transport, NO ABC banks) for mixing, controlling plug-ins and executing commands: setup ACT MIDI plug-in. you want all controls, overlay functionality, LED feedback: you will need AZ Controller. First two options you can get up and running within an hour. Set MPK261 to Bitwig mode and follow Cakewalk PDF I have mentioned. For the third option you start with mentioned preset, that should work out of the box. To extend it or change the functionality you will need to spend significant time (days or even weeks) and without background in programming I would not recommend diving into complex modifications.

Don't now if my issue is related, but I've been seeing something like this with regularity the past month or so: The input to my MIDI tracks keeps switching from my MIDI controller (Nektar LX-61+) to my audio interface (Scarlett 6i6). I have to switch it back manually. The Nektar controller has also lost a bunch of DAW functions, roughly, it seems to me, at the same time as this I/O weirdness. As usual, I don't remember exactly when this started, so I can't blame Noel for a bad update. Or can I...?

how do we keep cakewalk relevant if we have no authorized hardware? Now I want yo all to go to the next level and tell me how to put Bandlab and Roland back into touch.... only if you have good ideas.... criticism is also welcome but will not be as useful. Im going to ask the CEO of bandlab to re aqquire some licences from Roland, Behringer, Nektar, Arturia... Any one I left out... please help me. lets make this important... crucial. suggestions... contacts. THIS IS THE BEST DAW IN THE WORLD. IT COMPLETELY SLAYS PROTOOLS. Its just that we have no hardware

The iRig Keys is nice but you could just get a Nektar 49 for I think around $90. My latest pair of keyboards are used E-MU Xboard49's - compact B-3X heaven! I paid $50 for one that the pitch wheel doesn't work (I swapped it's pitchwheel with the second keyboard and it worked - something is up with the mainboard on the first one) and $90 for one that needed clean up but works perfectly and looks good now that I gave it a detail. I really like the action. They are a bit over 10 years old but the keybeds are in great condition.

There is no well defined "Play" nor "Volume" commands any DAW should recognize. The keyboard just sends normal key messages when you press play, you need explain the DAW how that should work. For Keystation: * put transport buttons into Mackie mode (if it is in HUI), see the documentation how * remove ACT MIDI and put Mackie Control, set its input as on your screenshot (no output). Open its configuration (Cakewalk Utilities menu) and set "Disable handshake". The fader works as "MIDI Volume". Some synth recognize it, some not. To control something in the DAW, you can add ACT MIDI, with input set to the first input of Keystation, so the same as keys. And configure the first "Fader" there (see ACT MIDI documentation how). With Nektar you are out of luck, Nektar has not written plug-in for Cakewalk and the device does not use any common protocol (like Mackie). Can be configured, but that is not simple...

I too, had the same issue come up, about 3 years ago. You will not like the explanation I am about to give. In my case, I had two identical Nektar midi controllers, and just like your situation, both worked fine separately, but only one would work properly within Sonar Platinum (Cakewalk's former self before Gibson abandoned the brand, and Bandlab so wonderfully picked up Sonar and staff and gave us Cakewalk by Bandlab). The issue is that both controllers sent out identical broadcast information ID's, so because of this, Cakewalk/Sonar has no way to treat them as different midi controllers, and this is why only one will respond properly within Cakewalk. There is no current workaround or fix for this situation. In my case, Sweetwater worked with both the Cakewalk folks and with the Nektar folks, but there was, and still is, no way to have two identical midi controllers work together in Cakewalk. My only recourse was to return one of the midi controllers to Sweetwater, and they swapped it out for a different make and model, and things have worked wonderfully, ever since. I suggest you either keep one of your identical controllers as a backup, or sell/return one of them, and pick up a different brand or model controller. The issue lies within the internals of the midi controllers themselves, and not with some issue with Cakewalk, and there is just nothing in Cakewalk anybody can do to alter the fact that identical midi device types will almost certainly broadcast themselves with identical information, and that because of that, Cakewalk will have zero chance of being able to have whichever device is detected 2nd, respond properly. Perhaps there is some kind of way to either use a filter to intercept and modify that broadcast information, or to write some kind of little program to accomplish that, but I do not consider that likely, as a solution. I cannot rule that out - though, so perhaps something along those lines could be undertaken - I just accepted the situation as being an unfortunate reality, and after swapping the 2nd controller out for a different one, I no longer had to deal with the issue. Bob Bone

Before you try the steps below, check that you aren't in punch record mode. I had the exact same problem. I think there are many answers in this thread that don't understand the problem. You don't need piano rolls or the like if you have a midi controller. I have 3 instances of the same soft synth running different patches. If you look at track 15 on the bottom below, you will see that there are no dots in the lane to the right of the clip. For some reason that seems to indicate something but I think it is co-incidental. The virtual controller I am using is a Nektar LX25+ I went through all my tracks that were using midi input and reset the input on the inactive tracks to none as shown below then it worked as normal. The small clip in the lane was recorded from the keyboard. I hope that helps.

I'm brand new to music production and I can't seem to figure out why the oscillation knob, resonance knob, LFO knob, etc. don't do anything when I turn them. I'm using the Nektar LX25+ MIDI controller if that helps. I want to mess around and see how they impact the sound of the instruments but as of now they do nothing. Maybe I'm not using it right or something, any help is appreciated!

FYI, I'm now working with a much newer Control Surface, the Nektar Impact LX88+, and Cakewalk is behaving as I expected. Auto Zoom correctly zooms in on the selected track when clicking with the mouse AND moving from track to track with the Surface controls. Regards, Tom

Yes, I use he older model Nektar Impact LX61 which is fantastic with Cakewalk, everything (i mean everything) works as it should without setting anything up at all, even just using the old Sonar integration files from the Nektar website. I was looking at the Arturia and Kontrol keyboards as well, others that I have tried, I always keep running back to the LX61. My pet peves with the mk2 KK keyboards is that you cannot turn the keybed lights off, whereas you could with the mk1. Also, the 8 encoders can all be different resistances. These things can bug the hell out of some people. Haven't tried Arturia but if the setup is that much of a pain, I don't think I will.

Another thing that is easily overlooked is that keyboard/controller hardware combos usually have two virtual midi devices for input to the DAW and both must be enabled. For the Nektar LX+ series, when viewing the CbB midi devices dialog, the one named MIDIIN2 (Impact LX25+) is the control surface midi device and the one named Impact LX25+ is the keyboard midi device. You may not have both enabled. Also check in the control surfaces dialog, the one named MIDIIN2 (Impact LX25+) is the one to use for the control surface input. (Yes, the input and output names will not be the same device!) I have an LX49+ and it works perfectly, I'm very happy with it.

I have seen LABS crash my Cakewalk and my Unify vst. I reported this to Spitfire Audio last week and opened a support ticket. You should also know that The Pluginguru complany has indicated that there is a problem with LABS crashing their PluginGuru Unify program and that LABS also is crashing multiple DAWS. Pluginguru opened a support ticket with Spitfire ; their support ticket # is: 169679. You should also report your problem to Spitfire and mention that ticket number. The more people who complain about this problem with LABS, the better the chance that it will be fixed. [EDIT: Since you mentioned the possiblity of a Netkar issue, let me add that this crashing happens no matter which controller I use, which are Native Instruments S61, StudioLogic SL990, and my Edirol/Roland PCR800; so I do not think it is related to Nektar controllers.-- I hope that helps. Please report your issue to Spitfire Audio's Support.]

Any reference for such statement? Modern controllers usually do not support old protocols at all on hardware side (Ableton oriented, NI, Nektar), try to mimic completely (Behringer) or partially (Presonus, Icon, NI Machine) MCU. Some specify "HUI" in addition, just as "ProTools compatibility". Unlike "MCU" clones I have not observed "HUI" clones (note that original device has different from MCU physical layout). Mackie and HUI protocols have fixed number of channel, no support for TFT displays, touch sensitive knobs nor colored LEDs. EUCON pretend to be more universal, but it is hard to support on both sides. In practice all that make no sense since controllers are connected with USB/Ethernet and so can follow whatever protocol they want (== what is cheaper to implement for defined set of hardware elements). The rest can be done in a proprietary (or open) driver (including conversion to old protocols, usually with limitations). F.e. Behringer while using Ethernet and sending MIDI messages throw it has not bothered to implement any "common" MIDI over ethernet solution. Why pay money for licenses, develop special firmware and get all sort of complains "your XXX implementation does not work with YYY?". "Proprietary" is the trend in modern controllers. So "we do what we want, you are with us or we do not care about you" style. The openness vary. Some give protocols for free (Ableton), some do not open anything (Nektar), other can allow you to communicated with the device throw proprietary driver if you ask kindly (NI).

@Heinz Hupfer I don't know what AZ Controller is, and I don't have programming skills, but I'd be game to try anything that would restore the function of my Nektar LX-61+.

thanks all for the replies. I wish the Nektar supported Cakewalk directly as it has all the features I want, I like the aftertouch and expression pedal port. They support cakewalk in their cheaper LX line, and the more expensive Panorama P4's so I don't know why they haven't done so in the Panorama "T" line, it should be a piece of cake for them to add integration to Cakewalk. Their customer service dept. seem to be making excuses and are saying cakewalk won't work with their MCU. If the MCU works I should be able to control the rest via midi cc.

I have an LX61+. I got it before Bandlab took over Cakewalk. I downloaded the control surface file from Nektar, and the transport controls and a couple of others worked right away, and still do in CbB. But I never used it much as a control surface, so it wasn't until I saw this thread that I realized there is trouble in paradise. Check it out. A bunch of functions don't work, and some say you don't get much help from Nektar. They do have a step-by-step downloadable PDF with pictures that was pretty helpful to me when I was setting it up. And by the way you have to register your product at their website to get the specific files you need for your DAW and your device. Apparently, however, if you are smarter than I am, you can use "MIDI learn" to get the various pots and faders and buttons to do pretty much whatever you want them to.

Do you mean latency with it recording midi? How bad is it? I have a Nektar LX88 and have not ever had this problem so I don't know how to help

You shouldn't be having any problem with the Nektar Impacts compatibility with Cakewalk. Just download the keyboard set up files from the Nektar website, the Sonar ones work with Cakewalk. Run the set up files and then all functions will work as they should. I have the GX impact and the LX one as well, they work perfectly with Cakewalk using the Sonar set up files. No manual set up required.

Thanks for the info. I did consider and haven't 100% written off the 88+ version, but I haven't actually seen one in the flesh so my main concern based on Nektar controllers that I have seen is with the build quality and 2020 hasn't made it easy to actually get in front of one. Good to know that it works though. Many of the more premium brands seem to ignore that CW exists and it seems there is always something that won't quite work properly with them.

I just received a Nektar LX+49 for Christmas. The LX+ series has a dedicated Cakewalk plug-in, which is why I chose that series instead of the more expensive T or P series. It works as advertised when set up per the instructions, I am very happy with it so far. I don't know if the overall specifications of the LX+ series meet your needs, but you might want to check them out.

I don't want to derail this thread, just want to followup on a couple of things I mentioned in my last response. I've had a chance to play a bit with the Nektar LX+49 that I received for Christmas. When set up according to the directions, it works as advertised with CbB, so I am very happy with it. The soft-takover works fine in CbB. It also works fine in Studio One 5, contrary to what I had read a while ago, but maybe this is a somewhat recent change for Studio One. Back to the KK keyboards, they are close to what you are looking for if you're using one of the supported DAWs. Or maybe if Azlow3 could figure out how to access the Track mode with his AZController??? There was a user on your site that said they had developed a preset for the mk2 keyboards that did most of the mixer functions, and he provided the file for download, but when I tried it, it appeared almost "empty" to me, none of the controls were mapped to anything, and not surprisingly, it did nothing.

Some simple controllers with non-motorized faders and/or traditional knobs instead of endless encoders still have two way communication with the DAW, so that they know what the DAW's current parameter value is, even if they don't display it. This enables them to write logic that does what some call a "soft takeover". As the knob/fader is being physically moved, the controller doesn't begin sending it's value to the DAW until that value equals the DAW's current value. It's not quite as good as motorized faders or endless encoders are, but it's a lot better than the alternative "parameter jumping". I don't know if the Korg controllers have some version of this or not. I know the Nektar LX+ controllers do, and they also have a "driver" specifically for Cakewalk (well, Sonar at the time it was developed). I'm hoping they will work well with CbB, especially because Santa is bringing me one for Christmas, so I should find out soon. Since I was just describing this soft takeover functionality, it is worth noting for users of Studio One that, based only on comments by others on this forum, Presonus has somehow disabled it in their DAW for non-Presonus controllers that have non-motorized faders and/or traditional knobs. I guess that is one way to gain an edge on their lower end hardware competitors.