what is your favorite controller surface (compact with good knobs)

[peteb2006]

I have a P1, everything works in Bitwig 3.31 as advertised by Nektar, when I get going I can often work it with the monitor off for lengthy sessions moving between channels, presets, transport and edit mapped devices via the display.
The knobs and sliders are reasonable quality for the price point, my main gripe is the physical surface is so shiney that it smudges and dust shows up!

[BobDog]

For knobs: https://kentonuk.com/product/killamix-mini/

Extremely high quality encoders, led rings, bi-directional, multiple pages of CCs via buttons.

[haircut]

I haven’t tried it yet, but I must say that the Icon Pro Audio Platform M+ looks like a worthy option to consider for faders. The overall emphasis seems to be placed on the faders and buttons, but it has knobs as well. Anyone have experience using this one? How are you getting along with it?

[xbitz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq5Ii987syE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkpu-Na5rVM

... https://novationmusic.com/en/keys/launchkey https://novationmusic.com/en/launch

Code: Select all

https://www.youtube.com/c/J%C3%BCrgenMo%C3%9Fgraber/search?query=launchpad

[guitarfrenzi]

https://intech.studio/

[antic604]

https://intech.studio/

Is it really your favourite? Are the connections firm enough that it doesn't fall apart? How well does it integrate with Bitwig?

[pdxindy]

Faderport 16 (don't have one yet but looks interesting for Bitwig)

[Hez]

Faderport 16 (don't have one yet but looks interesting for Bitwig)

I also noticed that in Dave's recent video... I wasn't even aware there was a 16 fader version of the Faderport. Looks like great fun, I've never used motorised faders before!

[pdxindy]

Faderport 16 (don't have one yet but looks interesting for Bitwig)

I also noticed that in Dave's recent video... I wasn't even aware there was a 16 fader version of the Faderport. Looks like great fun, I've never used motorised faders before!

Same here... Be cool if Dave did a video showing how the Faderport 16 integrates specifically with Bitwig.

[esq1]

Push 1 with Jürgen mossgraber scripts. Compact, playable for me the best total integration. Encoders are the best too. Nektar p4 / p1 is great too but for me 70 % = 100 % for push 1

[umbongo]

I never thought I would hear Push 1 described as 'compact' ! A proper lump of landfill that thing.

[umbongo]

The Intech look great - I was ready to order the encoder one straight after seeing that link but the price is too expensive for me with tax and shipping added on..
I am sure they are top quality but seems quite high.

[ThomasHelzle]

I haven’t tried it yet, but I must say that the Icon Pro Audio Platform M+ looks like a worthy option to consider for faders. The overall emphasis seems to be placed on the faders and buttons, but it has knobs as well. Anyone have experience using this one? How are you getting along with it?

I own the older Platform M without the plus.
It's a pretty mixed bag. The build is solid, rather slim and looks good, the faders are medium-silent, the knobs feel solid...
But.
The faders on my unit and another users one are very different in speed. While you can adjust the overall speed, you can't do so individually for each fader. Maybe not a problem if you like fast faders, but then the noise is rather loud when they hit the endpoint - there is no damping, it hits with a loud clacking sound.
So if like me you would prefer the faders to be slower and more silent, you may end up like me with one very sluggish fader that just doesn't really reach it's destination and so it mutters along, zippering audibly all the time...
But much worse: The rotary knobs are total crap. While they feel good and solid, I was totally unable to make them behave in a smooth predictable way. They jump and their acceleration can't be turned off, which would be okay if it wouldn't be crap. We were in long discussions with their support (which was lovely) and while they improved the firmware a lot over time, the rotaries are still close to unusable on our units.
So ATM I use only the faders and can't recommend it - which galls me, since if the quality control and final adjustments were just one tiny tad better, I'd call it the best motor fader unit available in such a price range.
Buttons are good and almost everything can be re-programmed with an okay editor.

I do not know if the + series is any better. It came out relatively quickly after the non+ version. So with luck, it's a hardware-bug-fix release as well as having RGB LEDs instead of just red ones.
Worth a try maybe and send it back if it's not working for you.

BTW. We tried a Behringer X-Touch Compact first and that was the worst pile of crap ever. Huge, ugly, very loud faders, crapy rotaries and worst of all for our use: the Faders are NOT high resolution 10/14 bit but only 7 bit, so the unit is actually a step back from the BCF2000 (which it is in several respects IMO). So I can only say: Stay away for all it's worth.

Compared to that the Platform M is pure bliss

Cheers,

Tom

[pdxindy]

BTW. We tried a Behringer X-Touch Compact first and that was the worst pile of crap ever. Huge, ugly, very loud faders, crapy rotaries and worst of all for our use: the Faders are NOT high resolution 10/14 bit but only 7 bit, so the unit is actually a step back from the BCF2000 (which it is in several respects IMO). So I can only say: Stay away for all it's worth.

Compared to that the Platform M is pure bliss

Cheers,

Tom

Have you had chance to try the Faderport 16?

[ThomasHelzle]

Have you had chance to try the Faderport 16?

I no longer do any scripting for Bitwig other than updating what I use myself and only had those controllers since I wrote a paid script for somebody who also provided me with the gear.
So no, I never tried the Faderport 16, but I remember in the early days of Bitwig I had the first Faderport with a single fader here for a while and it's motor fader was very good and smooth.

Other than the noise, I think there is something extremely satisfying with motorfaders.
When you switch between devices and you instantly see what the parameters are set to, that's really special and the sheer physicality of them moving is magic
That's basically why the Platform M - even with it's problems - is the only DAW controller I've kept.

One important point is also, how flexible you can control a controller from your own scripts. The Platform M has only like 2 or 3 buttons that you can't address yourself and that don't send messages. Other controllers are sometimes much more limited to the preset functions or simply don't tell the script when buttons get pressed etc...

Cheers,

Tom