Best hardware controller for Zebra

[pdxindy]

Programming a softsynth from a general purpose controller is never really going to be satisfying because you're never going to be able to map more than a fraction of the typical synth's params out and the rest of the time you'll be scrolling through lists of cryptically named params on a tiny LCD screen, if you're lucky.

I do disagree... I guess within a few years we will see controllers with large multi-touch screens which will display the softsynth gui (if you choose) and you can use both hands to be changing parameter values (far better than the mouse)

[kuniklo]

I do disagree... I guess within a few years we will see controllers with large multi-touch screens which will display the softsynth gui (if you choose) and you can use both hands to be changing parameter values (far better than the mouse)

My iPhone has cooled my enthusiasm for touch screens quite a bit. I suppose they'll get better than this, but the resolution and responsiveness aren't great.

[pdxindy]

I do disagree... I guess within a few years we will see controllers with large multi-touch screens which will display the softsynth gui (if you choose) and you can use both hands to be changing parameter values (far better than the mouse)

My iPhone has cooled my enthusiasm for touch screens quite a bit. I suppose they'll get better than this, but the resolution and responsiveness aren't great.

indeed... perhaps it will be 5 years... but there is a lot of interest and developing the interface is a logical evolution and there is the interest. In the meanwhile, I agree with you, let's have a really good controller.

[zerocrossing]

I think this comes down to patch building vs performance. Frankly, during a performance the last thing I want is a million options. What I want is a KORE style of interface (so much so I got it) but I think KORE falls down a bit because the best thing they could think of were... knobs? In 2008 all we get are KNOBS!? Oh yeah, and a few buttons...

I'd like to see KORE push the envelope a little more, but after searching for cool ways to control synths during a performance I find that I actually would rather not take my hands away from the keyboard at all. Give me a controller with aftertouch (still bitter about the lack of support for aftertouch per voice) and a few pedals and I'm happy. I find myself using the xy controller on my Novation less and less.

As for building a patch I'm really fine with using a trackball. Better than a mouse IMO. The best I've found is the Kensington Expert Mouse.

http://us.kensington.com/html/2200.html

You can program one of the buttons to lock your click on and then it's like you have a big trackball "knob" after you've locked on to it. It's nice and big and you never run out of mousepad like you can with a traditional mouse.

I've been able to do some really cool things with the x/y controller, though I had to modify a template.

Of course it's currently possible to map real controls to the parameters of your choosing. This is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having a synth control surface that let's me access, in one surface, a much higher proportion of controls than just assigning banks of 8 parameters onto some generic knobs. It's about layout and accessibility. Paging in sets of 8 is no way to program synths...

And - I don't want to have to manually map all the controls into pages, or even have this done automatically. What happens when I want to be tweaking the filter cutoff on page 1, and the oscillator wave 1 knob on page 4? I can't.

I want a controller that has an envelope section, a filter section, an oscillator section on the front panel, not just generic knobs. This is an entirely different thing than mapping up *some* parameters in advance for every synth you own into a generic controller.

[Howard]

I'd like it to have a high end version that has more keys, poly AT and breath controller input

+1 for breath control input! And: Dual manuals, with optional piano-action / semi-weighted with poly AT / short throw waterfall per keyboard. Yum.

[fas1piano]

+1 to this!

pity that the vax77 on infiniteresponse.com does not leave vaporware state - my old roland a50 + doepfer lmk2+ is as close as i can get to this ideal.

also, breath controller would be interesting, even though: who would dare to use it live?

fab

[aMUSEd]

I think this comes down to patch building vs performance. Frankly, during a performance the last thing I want is a million options. What I want is a KORE style of interface (so much so I got it) but I think KORE falls down a bit because the best thing they could think of were... knobs? In 2008 all we get are KNOBS!? Oh yeah, and a few buttons...

Yeah that's one reason I got a VSynth - so my control system is a combination of KORE and the VSynth's 2 DBeams and TimeTrip pad.

[aMUSEd]

I've added a couple of examples of how to use my Zebra 2 template for KORE 2 to the Zip with the template in just to show how flexible it is.

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/music/Zebra2ksds.zip

The whole idea was since Zebra 2 is modular I made the template modular as well. Every module that can be dragged around in the matrix at the centre of Zebra 2 has a corresponding KORE page (bigger modules like the Comb oscs needed 2) and these can also be dragged around to mirror exactly the structure of each Zebra 2 patch. This includes all the Sound generators and Filters (I didn't do pages for the modules on the right hand side as many of these don't seem to be automatable anyway)

Quick tutorial

You do this in the KORE Sound manager page

Open it and you will see this view:



Each of the pages can be dragged to rearrange them as you please (or you can use the arrows). You can even delete pages that aren't used in the patch (I haven't in these examples so people can keep the flexibility but you could).



Once you have it how you want save as a new Sound.

To easily flip between pages using the KORE controller set it to control mode (just hit the Control button) and then you use the arrow keys to select the page you want to control.


The point of this is you can use the template as a starting point for creating a KORESound for each Zebra 2 patch as each one will be different. Whatever modules are used in the matrix you can pick out of the Pages in KORE and drag them to the top so they will be what the host sees to automate (and you can more easily flip between them using the KORE controller arrow keys).

You can also choose which order to put the KORE pages in to reflect different priorities - e.g. for one patch you might want to focus on performance so I would place the filter modules at the top so they are the first thing you see, other patches the focus might be more on sound design so put the Oscs at the top.

One thing to note is with some hosts like Ableton Live only the first 128 params can be automated anyway so it makes sense to be able to reorganise the pages so the priorities for automation are always at the top of the stack. The template makes this easy.

[Howard]

breath controller would be interesting, even though: who would dare to use it live?

I would! I used to play DX7 with plenty of BC1 many years ago, then VL-7 with lots of BC2 in the early 2000s. I plan on playing Zebra2 (in a hardware VST host) with tons of BC3 live next year

[fas1piano]

wow, i will keep an eye on this,then.

maybe i can put years of painful oboe practice to some use envetually...

[hakey]

What about something like the Reactable ( in action and ), but adapted for Zebra?

[aMUSEd]

I've updated the KORE 2 template for Zebra 2 to add another envelope and some more modulation sources and I've also converted several of the factory presets with attributes to demonstrate how best to use it.

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/music/Zebra2ksds.zip

[bmrzycki]

I know this is a really old thread but I thought I'd post my weekend findings. I purchased the Korg nanoPAD on a whim ($59!) at Guitar Center on Sunday. I was interested in using it as an XY controller for Z2.

The Good:
* Cheap!
* 4 scenes (presets) map 1:1 to the 4 XY controllers
* can map multiple CC messages to each of the 12 pads
* creating a custom Z2 template was a breeze
* able to touch two spots on the pad to cause the XY to jump between two places (handy for quick effects)
* USB powered with included cable

The Not-so-Good:
* XY pad can have a little trouble tracking fast sweeps or if you're touching it too lightly the value can jump.

Overall I'm very pleased with this little device. If anyone wants me to post my preset I'd be happy to.

[musiklov3r]

Anyone tried the new Novation Automap 3.0 Pro?

Looks like it works really well. I've only played with it briefly, but I'm loving the way it automaps and allows for easy editing.

For the first time I can easily set up the Remote SL's xy pad and send patch change messages to zebra as I'm exceptionally lazy and have been dumbfounded by most editors to date.

If anyone creates a well thought out template for Zebra, please post it!

[PaulSC]

+1 to this!

pity that the vax77 on infiniteresponse.com does not leave vaporware state - my old roland a50 + doepfer lmk2+ is as close as i can get to this ideal.

also, breath controller would be interesting, even though: who would dare to use it live?

fab

Seeing the vax77 was one of the biggest disappointments for me at NAMM this year.

It has its strong points:
- the keyboard action feels good
- poly AT ! ! !
- the vax people are super nice

If I played live on tour, then there would be one more good point: it folds (so you fly with it as a carry-on, which is usually impossible for a 76-key controller). Of course that's a major part of the whole design idea. But there's a flipside: in order to make it fold, they've apparently been forced into some very strange choices for the pitchbend and modulation hardware. The former is a wheel mounted on the left SIDE panel, pretty much invisible unless you peer over the left edge of the instrument. The latter is a flat, spring-loaded slider, kind of like a joystick with the stick broken off. The modulation control is positioned on the top (front) panel, just far enough away that it's basically impossible to operate it and the pitchwheel with one hand.