KVR Audio

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sat May 19, 2012 11:24 am

Personally I still think NI Kore 2 is the best controller for me. It has a small form factor so I can keep it in front of my keyboard at all times, high resolution knobs, preset morphing that works well for most synths and effects, many plugins are mapped well enough to use without any setting up but it's also possible to create customised templates for plugins. And it functions as a preset database too. Even with my iPad armed with stuff like Lemur I often find that it needs too much setting up to get it working - the Kore just works. NI were fools to dump it. The only downside is 8 buttons and knobs per page but it's easy to create performance pages with a selection of the main params mapped for quick access and for most of my templates I start with one of those, plus it's not hard to switch pages fast using the controller. One thing I especially like is being able to standardise plugin interfaces - I try and keep positions of similar params together which cuts down the time needed to learn a plugin's gui. From a practical standpoint I'd rather have something like this that works well with all my plugins than a highly specialised knobbox like the imp one that takes up so much room and only really masters one device fully (and that, possibly, only until it is updated to v 3).

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Sat May 19, 2012 11:28 am

munchkin · Post by **munchkin** » Sat May 19, 2012 3:16 pm

braj wrote:
SadPuppyBlues wrote:I will never have a Vax77 or an Eignharp.

http://www.eigenlabs.com/product/

Pretty cool

Mother of God!

I've just seen the demo video. I want a Pico - the pink one. And it has an Alchemy player. This is the motherlode.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:42 pm

thecontrolcentre wrote:

Definitely the best solution

generic controllers are ok, but something that is finely tuned to a plugin (even if only for one version) is best IMO. I want one!

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:45 pm

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:46 pm

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:47 pm

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:47 pm

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:51 pm

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:53 pm

I have not found a new midi keyboard controller I really like.

Good action, PolyAT, x/y pad and a breath controller input, well built and some knobs and sliders. I'd be happy to pay a sizable chunk of cash for something really top notch!

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:57 pm

Yeah I sold an SQ-80 a few years ago, honestly the synth part of it didn't inspire me much, but it had polyAT and now I kick myself a bit for getting rid of it.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sat May 19, 2012 6:48 pm

braj wrote:Yeah I sold an SQ-80 a few years ago, honestly the synth part of it didn't inspire me much, but it had polyAT and now I kick myself a bit for getting rid of it.

I like older synths better as controllers... designed for playing!

maxmace · Post by **maxmace** » Sat May 19, 2012 6:57 pm

+1 for Kore 2. That thing is the nexus of my online system. It makes every VST an order of magnitude more powerful even before you factor in layering, chaining, the cross-vst patch library and the fact that it seems to work easily with almost anything I throw at it (& has workarounds for the few instruments that don't play nice, and it controls my Sequencer in Mackie mode.

SQ-80...synth part of it didn't inspire me much, but it had polyAT and now I kick myself a bit for getting rid of it.

In my biased opinion the synth part is the closest thing you will get to an Oberheim Xpander in a keyboard form-factor, plus it has so many routing options and mod sources that it is essentially semi modular. Check out some of the experiments on my SQ80 site. Most of them translate well to the SQ8L VST.

PraxisCat · Post by **PraxisCat** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:00 am

MaxMace, you probably did not know this, but with the SQ8L the arturia analog laboratory keyboards (49 and 61 keys, I have the 61 key version for the record) seem to be pre-mapped with some key parameters of the sq8l. I am not sure if this is an easter egg or what. There are a few other soft synths that work as well without needing to map the knobs to it that are non-arturia.

In terms of a controller, the Arturia stuff is okay, but this did add to the value for me quite a bit. I actually owned an sq80 at one point, and it added more real time control than the sq80 ever had. The original SQ80 sounded great, but programming it was a bit time consuming because of the interface. I was very much borderline about purchasing the keyboard, it did well...make me like it more for this reason, and since you are an enthusiast of the SQ8L and this is about controllers, I thought you would like to know.

crimsontider · Post by **crimsontider** » Sun May 20, 2012 6:13 pm

It's not a Yamaha PSR-85. I get to use the pitch bend, that's it.

But unless you are on stage, as long as the keys work, you can deal with it.

What are the 'ultimate' VST midi controllers?