Yeah, I know you can map directly and BC Manager is just a tool/interface to make mapping more easy. I also know there are some other tools but so far BC Manager is the best I know -and indeed universal). But as it's meant to make things easier I don't feel there's anything wrong with looking into another tool that might be even more easy ;)
I started out with Sonar X2 and the ACT midi learn was really a breeze but I sold it and decided I now only focus on Ableton so -just for my purpose- the perceived limitations are in fact "custom tailored".