control surfaces and Cakewalk SOLVED

[Steven V Sweat]

I am using the current version of paid Cakewalk Sonar. I have never had any luck with control surfaces and Cakewalk . The solution always seemed to be "try the mackie mode" but never worked. I just picked up a Mackie Control Universal off of Craigslist and even though it has a Cakewalk overlay and mentions Cakewalk it doewsn't work. the ACT section tells me the Mackie is connecting but it never does connect. I have tried a lot including handshake on and off but no luck. At one point the Mackie unit was displaying the time code but it never responded to any movements.

 

Is this a known issue with Cakewalk? Am I foolish to expect a control surface to work well with Cakewalk Sonar?

 

Thanks

Edited October 12 by Steven V Sweat
solved

[JnTuneTech]

You may want to check the related documentation more closely. I'll admit it took me some time in the beginning to understand the proper setup, and then options for Mackie control in CW. From the sounds of it, you have read some specific things, but maybe try looking at it all again, connecting from scratch.

I have had an X-Touch controller, using default Mackie Mode, connected and working fine with SONAR, CbB and now the newer version (which I label as BCS), for quite some time now. It is set up as a control surface - Mackie profile, not an ACT controller. I have since added a smaller X-Touch Mini as an ACT controller, but don't really use it much. -But again, for me, a basic Mackie control surface device, via USB connection & standard Windows driver has been working fine for years. I also use full meter display support (which improved slightly with CbB and on), and I also even got a SONAR overlay for the full X-Touch, and that comes in handy for all the button options with Mackie control (MCP).

[Steven V Sweat]

Got it. bad midi cable

[msmcleod]

Just FYI - the Mackie Control is not compatible with ACT, and instead uses a different method for controlling plugins - if you look at the Control Surface page in preferences, you'll see that the ACT checkbox is greyed out for Mackie Control:



Plugin parameter mapping on the Mackie is defined in MackieControl.ini ( usually in C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Surfaces ).   If no mapping is defined for a plugin, the parameters are just presented in parameter order.

You can edit MackieControl.ini to define your mapping, but it's time consuming, so I wrote the C4 Mapper utility to edit MackieControl.ini for you:



Although it's called C4 Mapper, it works with the main Mackie Control too - you just need to set "Number of VPots" to 8, and restrict your mapping to the top row of pots.

Note:  C4 Mapper uses the  %APPDATA%\Cakewalk\ACT Data\genericpluginparams.xml  file to determine what plugins/parameters are available.  This file is only populated AFTER you've added a control surface in preferences, and is updated when you exit Sonar/CbB.  So if you're not seeing a plugin in the list: Open Sonar, add that plugin to an audio track, then quit Sonar.   

If you want C4 Mapper to be added to Sonar/CbB's Utilities menu, just run this .reg file:  
c4mapper.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cakewalk Music Software\Tools Menu\C4 Mapper]
"Type"="Generic"
"ExePath"="C:\\Program Files\\Cakewalk\\Shared Surfaces\\C4Mapper.exe"
"MenuText"="C4 Mapper"

 

[Steven V Sweat]

On 10/12/2025 at 4:38 AM, msmcleod said:

Just FYI - the Mackie Control is not compatible with ACT, and instead uses a different method for controlling plugins - if you look at the Control Surface page in preferences, you'll see that the ACT checkbox is greyed out for Mackie Control:



Plugin parameter mapping on the Mackie is defined in MackieControl.ini ( usually in C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Surfaces ).   If no mapping is defined for a plugin, the parameters are just presented in parameter order.

You can edit MackieControl.ini to define your mapping, but it's time consuming, so I wrote the C4 Mapper utility to edit MackieControl.ini for you:



Although it's called C4 Mapper, it works with the main Mackie Control too - you just need to set "Number of VPots" to 8, and restrict your mapping to the top row of pots.

Note:  C4 Mapper uses the  %APPDATA%\Cakewalk\ACT Data\genericpluginparams.xml  file to determine what plugins/parameters are available.  This file is only populated AFTER you've added a control surface in preferences, and is updated when you exit Sonar/CbB.  So if you're not seeing a plugin in the list: Open Sonar, add that plugin to an audio track, then quit Sonar.   

If you want C4 Mapper to be added to Sonar/CbB's Utilities menu, just run this .reg file:  
c4mapper.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cakewalk Music Software\Tools Menu\C4 Mapper]
"Type"="Generic"
"ExePath"="C:\\Program Files\\Cakewalk\\Shared Surfaces\\C4Mapper.exe"
"MenuText"="C4 Mapper"

 

Thanks!

[Psalmist35]

Hello folks.

I'm not trying to hijack this thread but, did the paid version of Cakewalk break your control surface functionality for anyone reading this?  My Control Surface has always worked for Sonar and CbB until this new paid version.  My control surface does NOT handshake with Sonar anymore.  This means, my channel sliders no longer snap to attention when I first open cakewalk or when I open other files.  I have to click each slider in console view to get teh sliders to move.

Is anyone else experiencing a similar issue?  If not, I will start a new thread.

 

Thanks!

[Psalmist35]

On 10/12/2025 at 5:38 AM, msmcleod said:

Just FYI - the Mackie Control is not compatible with ACT, and instead uses a different method for controlling plugins - if you look at the Control Surface page in preferences, you'll see that the ACT checkbox is greyed out for Mackie Control:



Plugin parameter mapping on the Mackie is defined in MackieControl.ini ( usually in C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Surfaces ).   If no mapping is defined for a plugin, the parameters are just presented in parameter order.

You can edit MackieControl.ini to define your mapping, but it's time consuming, so I wrote the C4 Mapper utility to edit MackieControl.ini for you:



Although it's called C4 Mapper, it works with the main Mackie Control too - you just need to set "Number of VPots" to 8, and restrict your mapping to the top row of pots.

Note:  C4 Mapper uses the  %APPDATA%\Cakewalk\ACT Data\genericpluginparams.xml  file to determine what plugins/parameters are available.  This file is only populated AFTER you've added a control surface in preferences, and is updated when you exit Sonar/CbB.  So if you're not seeing a plugin in the list: Open Sonar, add that plugin to an audio track, then quit Sonar.   

If you want C4 Mapper to be added to Sonar/CbB's Utilities menu, just run this .reg file:  
c4mapper.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cakewalk Music Software\Tools Menu\C4 Mapper]
"Type"="Generic"
"ExePath"="C:\\Program Files\\Cakewalk\\Shared Surfaces\\C4Mapper.exe"
"MenuText"="C4 Mapper"

 

BTW, Thanks for doing this.  I'm not a programmer and may not ever fully understand the amount of effort it takes to do something like this.  Needless to say, it is greatly appreciated.

[Psalmist35]

UPDATE:

Well ..............

I was able to get it working.  After disconnecting my 24 channel legacy TASCAM US2400 Control Surface, reconfiguring it to "Sonar" mode, restarting my PC, deleting my control surface from the Control Surface configuration page, then adding back each of the three Mackie Extensions one at a time and restarting Cakewalk after each Mackie extension was added ...  they are all working properly now.

 

 

Gosh!  What a mess!

 

Thanks for letting me waste your time!

Edited October 28 by Psalmist35