To use the controller with your DAW and plugins, you need to make sure that the controller is set-up in your DAW. In some DAWs, Logic for example, it’s automatic when you plug it in and you don’t need to do anything. In others, you might need to turn on an option in the preferences to active the controller as a MIDI input in your DAW (output is not necessary even for 2-way communication). Please refer to your DAW manual for details.
The controller is sending MIDI CC messages and can be mapped to plugins using their MIDI mapping functions (more plugin-specific information further in this manual). To specify which instance of a plugin you want to control, simply route the MIDI to the right track. This is usually done by scrolling (or clicking) from one track to another to put a specific track in "record-arm". In some DAWs, you can specify which MIDI devices are used as input on a specific track, so you can filter per device and sometimes also per channel. Please refer to your DAW user manual for specific details.
Please refer the later sections of this manual for specific plugin instructions.