Need help setting up Arturia Keylab 61mkii

[ReallySlow]

Well I may have just solved my problem!  So I just realized that if I put my controller in user mode life is easier, but I'm posting anyway!  I am trying to set up my keylab mkii using the DAW mode! I have it set as standard MCU.  I must admit that when it comes to the controller sending fader messages across more than one channel I'm out of my league.  But I figured out that the IQP preset works well for this controller.  The regular Mackie one doesn't because the rotors and faders seem to cross each other.  Still even with the IQP preset my global control buttons (save, in, out, metro, undo) don't work like they should and so I figured out that if I go to the Logic tab press my save button it brings up the bus logical control!  Now I figured out that if I change the logical control to the Save option I can copy the action list press my save button and bring back up the bus logical control, delete it's action list and paste in the one for save and now my save button works as it should!  And now that I think about it I could just make a new control, unassign my save button to bus and reassign my save button to my new control and copy the save ------ WAIT!!! I can to that all from the hardware tab without making ANY new hardware controls!  WOW!!!  During this post I finally figured that all out!!!  So I can make my buttons anything in that hardware control list! 

So instead of deleting this post I'm leaving it here for your amusement!

I would also like to ask if there be anyway for a slow guy like me to really learn the logic behind all this so I could understand it better and maybe apply it more that maybe you could lead me in the right direction to materials that could help me?  Things like, how the faders are actually working?  Also I notice at times the lights on my buttons stay on or go off, can I control that and how?

[azslow3]

In general, make sure you really put the device into "Standard MCU" (not HUI) mode. Cakewalk standard Mackie plug-in should work correctly then, just check "Disable handshake" in its configuration. Encoders and faders should not cross.

AZ Controller allows you to configure everything you want (from allowed by Cakewalk functionality). But that is complicated process. Mackie preset (as well as IQP) are more "a prove of concept" then fully working. There are known caveats in these presets.

If you want to learn how everything works, start from user manual for Arturia. Till you use standard Mackie plug-in, you can ignore what particular control does in DAW mode. At the end, it just sends some MIDI signal and it is up to plug-in (Mackie or AZ Controller) to do something useful. Plug-in also sends MIDI to keyboard, f.e. to turn LED on/off (if supported). There is NO direct mapping between control/LED and some DAW operation.

For more information check Documentation board on this forum. "Control Surfaces" thread gives general overview how controllers work. "Programming for Musicians" gives essential background for AZ Controller programming. For practical examples/tutorials start with "Quick start" in Documentation, followed by "Startup preset" in Presets (there is Video) and then "ACT MIDI Controller explained" in the Tutorials. All of them are "step by step", which you can follow using your controller. For fancy functionality and LEDs, check "Buttons or Pads with LED" and "Buttons, multi-mode with feedback" Tutorials.

[ReallySlow]

Thank you for the response!  I will check out all those posts.  I have already read the starter material, but since I was in Mackie mode on the keyboard was not able to do the faders and pots with the startup preset, the user mode on the keyboard should prove a lot easier to do, since the faders and rotors just work on one channel, instead of two, I've learned a bunch by just playing with the IQP preset and trying to delete and copy the items in the action list and make my own.  Thank you again!!!

[azslow3]

Some comments about "MCU mode", which can help you to understand why you can't assign controls or that was not working correctly (all the following is described in different topics I have recommended you to read, but not in one place and so hard to realize).

Faders on Macke device are touch sensitive. Any device which emulate it, including yours, has to emulate touch as well. So, when you move fader you get 3(!) messages:
1) fader touched
2) fader moved
3) fader released.
In case you "learn" such control, it will really learn "touched" message, not "moved" message. And you get not working configuration. To solve the problem, you need separate control, f.e.
"Fader 1 Touch". You can put single "Undefined" action in the logical list (since for your device Touch is not real). Learn (assign MIDI to it). And change control type to System in the Options tab (don't forget Save button). System typed controls don't trigger "Last MIDI event" no control switch into tab.
Then you can learn your real fader (since messaged (1) and (2) will no longer interfere the process).

Knobs. Your knobs are encoders. In MCU mode they generate a kind of "turned right" and "turned left" messages. Simple knobs are finite and generate absolute position. Most tutorials are written for finite knobs, but I periodically mention you just need to change Value Action parameter to "Encoder" (better followed by adjusting resolution for your taste) to make encoders work as desired (also try "Accelerated" flag). In MIDI mode, you can ask your device emulate finite knobs. But that is just cut the functionality of your device, related parameters will "jump" or have to be "cached".