What control surfaces work (mostly) out of the box with CbB?

[Stephen Rybacki]

I know I can fiddle with ACT and such, but are there any currently supported surfaces that work with CbB (SONAR)?

[msmcleod]

One's I know work, because I've used them:

• Mackie MCU  / Mackie MCU Pro   ( and also XT / C4 )  -  use the SONAR lexan overlay with the MCU / MCU Pro
• Korg nanoKONTROL 2
• Korg nanoKONTROL Studio
• Presonus FaderPort 8 / FaderPort 16

One's I believe work, based on reports from others:

• Behringer X-Touch  ( the large one ) + X-Touch Extender  - as far as I can tell, these are direct clones of the Mackie MCU / XT.  You'll need a custom overlay for them though, which are available through 3rd parties, or you can make one yourself.

Older devices I know work, because I've used them:

• Behringer BCF2000
• Yamaha 01X  (either through mLAN if you can get the drivers working, or via the internal MIDI modification dongle)

Any device that supports Mackie MCU mode, and has a specific SONAR / Cakewalk mode will work.

Any device that supports Mackie MCU mode, and has a Cubase mode, will mostly work in CbB's "Cubase Emulation Mode" - by that I mean the faders, v-pots and transport / looping / marker buttons should work.

Bear in mind these are all based on the Mackie MCU protocol, which is primarily concerned with transport / fader control.  Although you can use them for controlling plugins, you can't use ACT learn. 

Instead you have to provide a v-pot/parameter mapping for each plugin in MackieControl.ini, when then becomes a static mapping for those parameters. 

My C4Mapper utility provides a drag/drop UI for editing the MackieControl.ini file.  Although primarily designed for the C4, it'll work for the MCU if you restrict yourself to the top 8 v-pots.

[rfssongs]

I have used nanoKONTROL 2 (use with Mackie Setting on Cakewalk) for a while. Simple inexpensive & can alternatively send CC. 

[azslow3]

For the list of alternative solutions, check https://www.azslow.com/index.php/board,10.0.html
F.e. if you had plans to use NI(NKS) keyboard, M32/A25-61 can be integrated into Cakewalk using this way. And as key-less solutions, there are  Behringer Mini / Presonus Faderport  (one strip version)/ BCR2000 /Web browser based transport/Android app/etc. But note that way is using unofficial proprietary (my...) software.

For pure mixing with small fixed set of FXes, better go Mackie way as proposed (by developer...) before. Since that is official and open source, you will be on safe side.

[Stephen Rybacki]

Thank you for the responses.  I currently have a Nektar Panorama P4 that works GREAT in both Reason and Reaper -- just not Cakewalk.  I'd make a switch of I can find a comparable piece that does the same things and recognizes Cakewalk as well.

It's not terrible though since I also use a Yamaha MO8 that has a DAW Control function that DOES work with Cakewalk in a limited way - but is to my right, not front and center as the P4 is.

[azslow3]

I don't think any controller give you the same level of features as you have with P4+REAPER. Partially because there is no comparable hardware (keboard + motor fader + display + many controls), partially because control surfaces are more limited in Cakewalk.

May be it is worse to setup TouchDAW, this several $ app on a tablet emulate complete Mackie device and so you can test what and how is controllable in Cakewalk, before making decision what to buy.  Another "test" can be yet another several $ app with https://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,295.0.html

 

[ptheisen]

Stephen, for what it is worth, the Nektar P4 is not designed to fully integrate with Cakewalk, but the Nektar LX+ series is. I have the Nektar LX49+, it works completely as advertised and I am happy with it. The trade-off is that the LX+ series is not as technically advanced in some ways as the P series, which is more focused on plugin and instrument control.  So neither is perfect and each person has to decide what is more important to them.

[reginaldStjohn]

I have the 88 key LX+. It works good. One thing it does not do is switch between controlling the busses and the tracks.

[James Argo]

1. Peavey Cakewalk StudioMix.

OK, they're REALY OLD! But they work for 20 years plus on my studio without problem. I have 2 in my studio. Built like a tank, 8 + 1 motorized fader, jog + shuttle, transport buttons, many customizable button and knobs, no USB needed, no driver needed (they work with MIDI in and out) so no worry about whatever Windows you have. Work out of the box with Cakewalk (it WAS made specially for Cakewalk, duh!)

2. Frontier Tranzport

Also old, but it comes with Cakewalk/Sonar firmware. Support ended thru Win7, but I have no problem installing it in Win 10 and 11.