Problem integrating Nektar Lx25+ with cakewalk

[jimtzu]

I've been having troubles getting full integration with cakewalk with  the Nektar Lx25+ unit.  been talking with Justin over at Nektar and he's stumped.  drivers installed in the correct place, correct settings in shared surfaces.  midi IS getting thru, i can  play a vst.  all controls showing midi action in windows midi display.  but fader/transport/and knobs not activating anything.  Justin wants to know if anyone with Cakewalk has any imput with this.  it's a communication thing, almost like something needs to be turned on in the software?

thanks

jim

[Larry Jones]

Implementation of control surface functions between Impact LX+ series and Cakewalk (also SONAR) has been terrible for me since day one. It's hard enough to learn a device like this when it works as expected, but the Nektar Impact doesn't do what it's advertised to do. Run a search on this forum for "nektar" (or maybe this link will work) and you'll see what I mean. I haven't contacted Nektar directly myself, but those who have say they got no help.

[Larry Jones]

Sorry, my previous comment wasn't very helpful. The truth is I gave up on using my Impact LX61+ as a DAW controller -- I just use it as a piano keyboard. But here's a quote by @Tezza from one of the older threads on this topic that might at least get you going in the right direction. Best of luck with this:

Quote

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.

 

[Robert Bone]

For whatever the worth, I have a couple Nektar midi controllers, and I will be going over to my rehearsal space on Wednesday, and will bring them back with me, at which point I will see if I can get them properly mapped and the transport controls correctly triggering the correct functions in Cakewalk.

I will follow up to this post sometime on Wednesday evening, hopefully with some good news.

Bob Bone

[Esteban Villanova]

Transport and other controls work fine with here with the same controller. Right-clicking vst knobs and clicking 'Learn MIDI' does nothing though, maybe I'm doing something wrong...

[Thatsastrat]

When you say you can't get a vst instrument to play, did you look to see if the input echo was turned on on the track in question? The reason I asked is because I could not figure why I had no play back using my LX49. Duh    no input echo on.

[Paul P]

Everyone seems to have a different experience with Nektar LX controllers and Cakewalk.

I recently got around to setting up my LX88+ and after doing everything Nektar specifies and checking and rechecking (with MidiOX, etc), the controller part just doesn't work at all, only the keyboard.

I gave up and decided to fire up Studio One 4 which I have no experience with just to see  (again following Nektar's instructions) and everything seems to work fine, controllers, buttons and all.

It's going to be hard not to switch over to S1 because of this.

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Paul P

[reginaldStjohn]

2 hours ago, Paul P said:

Everyone seems to have a different experience with Nektar LX controllers and Cakewalk.

I recently got around to setting up my LX88+ and after doing everything Nektar specifies and checking and rechecking (with MidiOX, etc), the controller part just doesn't work at all, only the keyboard.

I gave up and decided to fire up Studio One 4 which I have no experience with just to see  (again following Nektar's instructions) and everything seems to work fine, controllers, buttons and all.

It's going to be hard not to switch over to S1 because of this.

 

I have a LX88+ that I use with Studio one and it did integrate pretty good. However, There are drawbacks to Studio One controller support.  For one there is no indication what console channels you are controlling.  It also only supports absolute position for faders and pan.  So if you switch channels and move a fader it will imediately jump to the fader location and not wait for the fader to reach its current value before moving it.  Those are some things that I have found annoying.

[Paul P]

On 6/18/2019 at 2:14 PM, reginaldStjohn said:

I have a LX88+ that I use with Studio one and it did integrate pretty good. However, There are drawbacks to Studio One controller support.  For one there is no indication what console channels you are controlling.  It also only supports absolute position for faders and pan.  So if you switch channels and move a fader it will imediately jump to the fader location and not wait for the fader to reach its current value before moving it.

That's interesting.  The  manual says :

"Impact’s DAW integration files contain automatic catch-up or soft takeover functions that avoids parameter jumping by delaying parameter
updates until a physical control position matches the value of the parameters."

So it's a question of this aspect of the integration not working as it's supposed to in Studio One ?

I'll have to give Cakewalk another chance.  I seem to recall that I might have had a button or two work, but the transport was definitely dead.

I've managed to put together a pretty nice setup in which my laptop is positioned right in front of me on the second tier of my keyboard stand and from there I remote desktop into my nearby much more powerful tower PC over a LAN crossover cable.  So the daw and instruments run on the tower but I can control everything on the laptop in from of me.   Had to use midi over LAN for the keyboard plugged into my laptop because usb ports on the tower don't seem to be accessible when remote desktop is active so I couldn't plug the keyboard into the tower.  It was a lot of head scratching but now works very well with no noticeable lag which was a worry.

EDIT :  I've since learned that in the options for the Remote Desktop connection, audio must be set to output on the server (my tower PC) for the usb/midi ports to become visible/accessible.   Which is what I wanted anyway.  I can now have my midi controller plugged into the tower.

Edited June 28, 2019 by Paul P
Things have changed.

[Steve Moddelmog]

Using LX49 with no problems, other than my forgetfulness form time to time.  You're following the instructions in the file Impact_LX_with_Cakewalk_Sonar.pdf file, right?

[Tezza]

5 hours ago, reginaldStjohn said:

I have a LX88+ that I use with Studio one and it did integrate pretty good. However, There are drawbacks to Studio One controller support.  For one there is no indication what console channels you are controlling.  It also only supports absolute position for faders and pan.  So if you switch channels and move a fader it will imediately jump to the fader location and not wait for the fader to reach its current value before moving it.  Those are some things that I have found annoying.

One of the many reasons I gave up Studio One. It has those same and more problems with EVERY third party controller you try to use it with unless you use their own controller hardware.

I never had problems with either my LX or GX controller with Cakewalk, they both worked as expected, I cannot decide which to use though, not a fan of the GX keyboard action but like it's size.

If the controller section or midi section are not working, it will be because you have not got the right driver assigned to each, there are 2 from memory, with non descriptive names, if the controller is not working, make sure it is set up correctly in Cakewalks controllers section in preferences and make sure you have the right driver selected. You can switch them around and try both to see which works.

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Tezza

[Tezza]

2 hours ago, Paul P said:

That's interesting.  The  manual says :

"Impact’s DAW integration files contain automatic catch-up or soft takeover functions that avoids parameter jumping by delaying parameter
updates until a physical control position matches the value of the parameters."

So it's a question of this aspect of the integration not working as it's supposed to in Studio One ?

 

Yes, that does not work using Studio One with ANY third party controller, it just doesn't have that capability, no soft takeover. Ditto with the failure to color the tracks you bank when using banks of eight. You never know what bank you are on, again Studio One cannot do this with ANY third party controller.

Apparently, there has been some work with Nektar integration so I don't know if version 4 is better at this or not.

[Sonarman]

12 hours ago, Tezza said:

 

I never had problems with either my LX or GX controller with Cakewalk, they both worked as expected, I cannot decide which to use though, not a fan of the GX keyboard action but like it's size.

 

@Tezza Are you sure abt GX having diff key action compared with LX? I felt the same perhaps when I got my hand on both these models but the Nectar support keeps telling me both has the exact same action.. 

[Tezza]

I have the old LX not the newer LX+ but I do have the newer GX.

The old LX has a synth style action, nothing like the newer GX which has the stiffer piano style action. I don't know what the newer LX+ is like.

I really liked the action on the LX, I only got the GX to save on space, was expecting it to be the same but it wasn't at all.