Presonus Faderport V2 not working in Cakewalk

[Geoff Childers]

I've been using a Presonus Faderport 8 for ages in Cakewalk by Bandlab and it works well enough. I decided to downgrade to the Faderport V2 to save desktop real estate, and was surprised to discover that the FPV2 seems to be less compatible with Cakewalk than the FP8. On the FPV2 the RTZ function doesn't work, the (<<) and (>>) buttons don't skip between markers properly, and the Undo and Redo functions don't work. None of these are problems on the FP8. Has anyone had success using the FPV2 in Cakewalk?

I'm running the FPV2 in MCU Logic mode with the most recent firmware. Under Cakewalk's MIDI Devices, I have Presonus FP2 checked under inputs and outputs. Under Control Surfaces, I added it as a Mackie Control, with Presonus FP2 enabled as both the input and output. WAI is checked. I'm not sure what else to try.  After several back and forth messages with Presonus' support, they sent me here.

[reginaldStjohn]

The person to respond to this would be AZSlow3. He has written a plugin controller that is much more flexible than the build in ones that come with cakewalk. In addition he might know how to help you.  I don't have a faderport so don't know how to help you.

Here are a couple of semi-related threads.

 

[Geoff Childers]

Thanks, reginaldStjohn. Unfortunately, it looks like that info applies to the FaderPort Classic. rather than the FaderPort V2.

[azslow3]

Classic had specialized plug-in for Cakewalk. V2 does not have such plug-in and it can not mimic Classic.

There is no published preset for V2 (at least I have not seen it), but in case you put V2 into some "native" mode (so its controls just send what user is doing, without attempt to be "smart"), you can MIDI re-learn the preset for Classic using V2. That should work, except feedback (Classic designers have made a... mistake... so feedback to buttons does not match commands from these buttons. I think "Use Ctrl" instead of exact MIDI messages in the Feedback section should work for V2.)

So, definitively manageable (with device in hands) but a bit of DIY. If you have no time nor willing to invest it, I can not help.

[Geoff Childers]

I appreciate the suggestion, azslow3, though to be perfectly honest with you, pretty much everything you said went over my head. I've been using MIDI gear forever, but when basic functionality fails, I revert to noob status.

I did try putting the FaderPort into its native StudioOne mode (not sure if that's what you meant), but having it in this mode crashed Cakewalk when I went into the MIDI settings.

I'm tired of fighting with the FaderPort V2. I'm going to return it and stick with my FP8.

[azslow3]

Crashed DAW just because of some MIDI device internal mode is not expected result. It can be you have some "MIDI loop" inside your project, during surface (and other MIDI devices) setup it is better have black project loaded (without any MIDI tracks). Other reason can be some Control Surfaces in Cakewalk preferences (Cakewalk tend to mess with MIDI IO assignments when new devices are added). Finally "starting from scratch" is also an option, after cleaning all MIDI devices in Windows Device Manager and removing Cakewalk MIDI related INI files.

But in case you prefer out of the box solutions, I agree that FaderPort V2 is not the device to use with Cakewalk. At least till someone make working preset and write/record installation instructions.

[Marco Corona]

I just got the Presonus faderport v2 to dismal results with CbB, I guess I was mislead by both my eager enthusiasm to have an economic surface control unit without enough tech research and also by following the wrong logic of "if the Presonus 8 channel version works great with CbB -this according to all tutorials in youtube- the one channel should work at least as good or even better", so I assume this purchase solely as my mistake, I'd just would have appreciated if either Presonus or CbB gave some kind of warning about known incompatible products, as well as any of the CbB/Presonus related tutorials on youtube, which we usually trust, and none of them mentions this problem; I have read all the previous posts here on the topic and all of them point to the same conclusion, and it is Presonus Fadeport V2 won't work properly with CbB, not at least until further notice, all this while by all review accounts on youtube, the device seems to work marvels and properly with just about any other brand of DAW. Bummer! I won't be able to use the thing (I can't afford to switch operations to another DAW, so I'll keep the device until either CbB or Presonus get anywhere near of a solution, hopefully eventually it'll happen, but I won't hold my breath, so I just may have to sell it to one of my colleagues who use other DAWs, too bad, not only for the $ invested but for the added frustration and wasted time and effort in trying to make it work). I'll keep on checking this forum, just in case someone finds a way out eventually.  Cheers.  

[azslow3]

Have you seen Cakewalk in the Faderport v2 user manual? It is not there. Normally at that point you should extra check for compatibility. Good idea for MIDI controllers, computer components, auto accessories and everything else which potentially can be incompatible 🤪

But your controller is compatible.

-------------------------------------

You have 2 options:

The first is MCU and HUI modes on controller with Mackie Cakewalk surface plug-in. If you try HUI, don't forget to set corresponding option in the plug-in (and unset it otherwise). "Disable handshake" is probably also required. Not everything will work as labeled and you can't change the functionality. But till the goal is not to make "every labeled button work as labeled", that can be sufficient solution.

The second is using native mode with AZ Controller: https://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,444.0.html
(note I have forgot that preset when posting into this thread 4 years ago... sorry, I never had this controller and I don't remember for which controllers I or someone else have created some preset already). In this case you can modify the functionality at your wish.