The Cakewalk Generic Surface property page

The Cakewalk Generic Surface property page appears when you click the Open Control Surface Plug-in button in the ACT module while Cakewalk Generic Surface appears in the drop-down menu. The Cakewalk Generic Control controller/surface plug-in must be enabled first, however (see Setting up control surfaces, if necessary).

The property page contains the following sections:

BaseTrack

This section contains 2 buttons on either side of a number field. You can click the buttons to move the Base Track to a higher-numbered track (right button) or lower-numbered track (left button). The Base Track is the first track in the bank of tracks that your controller/surface is currently controlling. You define how many tracks are in a bank by entering a number in the Number of Track Strips field. The number can be from 1 to 32, inclusive. The property page is designed so that you can minimize it (by dragging the border) to show only the BaseTrack buttons and Preset window, so you can click the buttons while you’re working. The buttons are an alternative way to change the Base Track if you haven’t assigned any buttons on your controller/surface to do that. The Move 1 and Move Bank fields are what you use to assign those functions.

Track Parameters

This section lists the particular track strip you are assigning controls for, the number of strips that make up a bank of tracks, and the various track parameters you can control with the faders and knobs on your controller/surface. You can assign the following different track parameters (they are listed in the drop-down menu next to each Parameter “n” field):

Volume

Pan

Mute

Solo

Record Arm

Write Enable

Phase

Send “n” Level (“n”=1-16; depending on number of active buses; Send 1 Level=Reverb for MIDI tracks, Send 2 Level=Chorus for MIDI tracks)

Send “n” Pan (“n”=1-16)

Send “n” Enable (“n”=1-16)

Send “n” Pre/Post (“n”=1-6)

Use ACT or Strip Params

This section lets you decide whether your controller/surface is controlling track parameters, plug-in parameters, or both.

Note: It’s possible to use the same control on your controller/surface to control both a track parameter and a plug-in parameter. It’s not usually a good idea to control both at the same time.

This section has the following controls:

ACT Enable radio button. Lets you assign a control on your controller/surface to enable or disable the ACT Enable check box. Radio buttons are used with Learn mode.

ACT Enable check box. When this check box is enabled (and not grayed-out), your controller/surface controls plug-in parameters only.

Both check box. When this check box is enabled, your controller/surface controls both track and plug-in parameters. When neither the Both check box nor the ACT Enable check box are enabled, your controller/surface controls track parameters only. In Both mode, you typically allocate some physical controls to control Track parameters, while other physical controls are allocated to control plug-in parameters.

ACT Controls

This section let's you assign buttons and knobs to control plug-ins. This section has the following controls:

Lock Context radio button. Lets you assign a control on your controller/surface to enable or disable the Lock Context check box.

Lock Context check box. When this check box is enabled, your controller/surface controls only the particular instance of the particular plug-in that had focus when you enabled this check box.

Context field. Displays the name of the plug-in that currently has focus, unless the Lock Context check box is enabled.

Physical Control Type. This field lets you tell Cakewalk what kind of control you are using for the selected parameter. For example, if the parameter you’re controlling is an On/Off type of parameter, like a power button, it would be a good idea to use a button or switch on your controller instead of a slider.

Radio buttons 1-9 and A-G. Each of these 16 radio buttons lets you map up to 16 plug-in parameters to controls on your controller/surface. The name of each of the 16 plug-in parameters that are currently being controlled are listed in order next to each radio button. To use these buttons, you must first assign a control on your controller/surface to each one of these buttons. See To Use ACT with the Cakewalk Generic Surface.

MIDI Message for the Current Cakewalk Parameter

This section is where you can choose a specific kind of MIDI message to control whatever parameter is selected in the Track Parameters, ACT Controls (including the ACT Enable check box), or Global Parameters sections. Most of the time you don’t need to choose, because the Learn button fills in the fields automatically.

Choose from the following options:

None. Click this button to disable control of the selected parameter.

Learn. If you don't know the exact MIDI message that a fader/knob/button transmits, you can simply move the fader/knob/button a couple of times, and then click Learn to automatically fill in the correct MIDI message.

Controller. With this button enabled and a Controller number entered in the Number field, Cakewalk moves the selected parameter whenever it receives this specific controller message from your controller/surface on the specified channel.

Channel. The MIDI channel the controller/surface uses for the MIDI Message that is controlling the current parameter.

NRPN. With this button enabled and a NRPN number entered in the Number field, Cakewalk moves the selected parameter whenever it receives this specific NRPN message from your controller/surface on the specified channel.

Trigger Value. For triggered actions (mute, solo, play, stop, etc.), specify the Controller, NRPN or RPN value that will trigger the current parameter.

RPN. With this button enabled and a RPN number entered in the Number field, Cakewalk moves the selected parameter whenever it receives this specific RPN message from your controller/surface on the specified channel.

Note. You can use a Note On message to trigger a parameter or action. The Number field next to the radio button displays the note number, and the Trigger Value field displays the velocity the note must use to trigger the desired parameter. If you use a MIDI keyboard for this field, you can enter zero in the Trigger Value field, and the property page will then use the Note Off signal as a trigger, instead of the Note On.

Wheel. You can use a pitch wheel to trigger a parameter. In this case, the Trigger Value field uses a range of numbers from 0 to 16383. Continuous parameters such as Pan or Volume are the best choices for a pitch wheel (except for the fact that the wheel usually returns to its original position when you let go of it), but you can use a wheel to control toggle-type parameters by entering 0 or 16383 in the Trigger Value field. That way, you’ll trigger the desired parameter when the wheel reaches its maximum or minimum position.

Sysx Single Byte. Selecting this option tells Cakewalk that the significant data (the variable, or parameter value) in the incoming Sysx message is in the form of a single byte. The Sysx Single Byte option has the following structure: F0 ? VV ? F7. The pre string should be F0 ?, where you must include the F0 byte, and the post string should be ? F7, where you must include the F7 byte.

Sysx High Byte First. Selecting this option tells Cakewalk that the significant data in the incoming Sysx message is in the form of two bytes, with the high byte first. The Sysx High Byte First option has the following structure: F0 ? HI LO ? F7.

Sysx Low Byte First. Selecting this option tells Cakewalk that the significant data in the incoming Sysx message is in the form of two bytes, with the low byte first. The Sysx Low Byte First option has the following structure: F0 ? LO HI ? F7.

Starts With. Fill in the string that your controller/surface sends in Sysx messages that precedes the significant data.

Ends With. Fill in the string that your controller/surface sends in Sysx messages that follows the significant data.

Sysx Trigger. Triggered targets (play, mute, solo, etc.) are enacted by using a Sysx trigger, where the user simply types the entire Sysx message F0 ?? F7 that will trigger the action.

Trigger Message. The exact Sysx message, in the form of F0 ? ? F7, for the Sysx Trigger option.

Note: The Sysx Single Byte, Sysx High Byte First, and Sysx Low Byte First options assume that the Sysx message will be interpreted as a value to control continuous parameters such as Volume, extracted from somewhere in the middle of the message. That is why those three options are unavailable for “triggered” targets, like play, record, mute, solo, move 1 left, move 1 right, etc.

MIDI Message Interpretation

A special interpretation of a MIDI message is commonly used in the following two cases:

Literally/Toggle. The property page interprets almost all MIDI messages as either literal values or toggle-type values, so most of the time this button is checked. A fader usually sends out a stream of different messages that are different for each position of the fader. The values of these messages are used “literally” to make timely changes in a continuous parameter such as Volume. The other common interpretation of a MIDI message is that it is meant to “toggle” a control such as a Mute button on and off. The property page interprets almost all MIDI messages as one of these two types of message.

Increment/Decrement. This option is valuable if you want to use a button or knob that can only send two different values to control a continuous parameter, such as Pan or Volume (see Conserving knobs and buttons).

Plus+. The value that causes the desired parameter to increase by 1.

Minus-. The value that causes the desired parameter to decrease by 1.

On/Off. This option is currently only used with the Forward >> and Rewind << shuttle actions. You should only assign buttons to these functions if each button sends a different MIDI message when it is released from the message it sends when it is pushed. The On field displays the value the button sends when you push it, and the Off field displays the value the button sends when you release it.

Global Parameters

This section let's you assign buttons and knobs to control Cakewalk’s transport. The parameters you can control are:

Play

Stop

Forward >>

Rewind <<

Record

Write Automation

Jog <- (previous measure)

Jog -> (next measure)

Move 1 Left. This parameter changes the currently-controlled track to the next lower-numbered track.

Move Bank Left. This parameter changes the currently-controlled bank of tracks to the next lower-numbered bank of tracks.

Move 1 Right. This parameter changes the currently-controlled track to the next higher-numbered track.

Move Bank Right. This parameter changes the currently-controlled bank of tracks to the next higher-numbered bank of tracks.

Presets

After you have carefully configured the Cakewalk Generic Surface property page to work with your control surface, you will likely want to save the configuration as a preset.

To save a preset

Type a name in the Preset box, then click the Save (floppy disk) button.