Hardware controller with lots of rotary encoders recommendation?

[clangorous]

I've used several rotary mapping setups and honestly I've given up on the idea. ...

I just mouse now, with the exception of Aftertouch, Breath, Xpress, and the wheel physical controls.

+1 and most of the time I'll draw in the aftertouch, mod wheel etc in the automation lane, sans controller. Typical guitar player move

But I do hope you find what you are looking for. I don't know if it would be worth buying a BCR2000 from the US, but if so there is this:

https://reverb.com/p/behringer-bcr2000?hfid=6031538

And this:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... 164&SID=-1

[rosschehayeb]

That control master looks awesome. I'm having poor results trying to get used to a bunch of midi knobs and faders on my M-Audio Code 49. I almost always use my mouse instead because I hate having to look down from the screen. Having a single knob that rotated whatever my mouse was over would be great, but I wonder if it is actually faster than a mouse.

[btw]

Were I to buy another hardware knob I'd consider something like this
https://touchinnovations.com/products/kontrol-master/

Gives me the haptic feedback of a rapid knob with the convenience of learning exactly one interface: the soft synth. But that's just how I approach my workflow of course...

There's also this: http://nobcontrol.com

There's a downside to knob controls that rely on mouse scrolling: potential inconsistency in scroll behavior of interface elements across various plugins and the DAW. For example, Logic knobs/faders and u-he knobs/faders respond in opposite directions to a given mouse scroll.

[rosschehayeb]

Wow I have never seen these single-knob controllers before! At first glance, i love them. But I worry about the fact that you have to click a button/flip a switch depending on the knob/fader you are controlling. With a mouse, you can hover and start rotating the wheel no matter what type of knob or fader it is.

Has anybody used these before? Would you say it's faster than using your mouse?

[joris.roling]

After reading all this about a single knob thingy, I dusted of my old powermate (€45) and it works flawless! Recommended!

[pumafred]

Delete

[nilhartman]

After reading all this about a single knob thingy, I dusted of my old powermate (€45) and it works flawless! Recommended!

Same here hehe. It simply works.

Just wish it'd be possible to somehow integrate it to the computer keyboard control feature (com.u-he.*synth*.Preferences.txt V_PROPERTY name='Preference' id='0' value='AllViews:KeyControl:YES'). It's already damn handy and fast to operate (give it a try, it's incredible... even though a tad host-dependant), but it'd be even better to be able to automatically lock the Powermate to the then selected parameter. Urs?

[alexpen]

A Roland system 1m might a better idea than a virus for controlling, it has more knobs.

Roland System-1m works very well for me to control REPRO-1.

Still struggeling with Diva though, but I think, I will try to merry it with Diva on another lazy day.

[VariKusBrainZ]

After reading all this about a single knob thingy, I dusted of my old powermate (€45) and it works flawless! Recommended!

Are you on a Mac?

On windows it's very steppy, no smooth changed

[Michael L]

^^^on Mac I use a mouse in my right hand and magic trackpad under my left. I hover over a knob etc with a mouse and change it with the pad. Really fast! Also, using right hand on keyboard and left trackpad tweaking parameters.

[joris.roling]

After reading all this about a single knob thingy, I dusted of my old powermate (€45) and it works flawless! Recommended!

Are you on a Mac?

On windows it's very steppy, no smooth changed

Yes, I'm glad to say...

[rod_zero]

Are you using a system 1m in that scenario, Rod? How's it holding up (knob quality & spacing, how practical is changing CCs on the 1m itself etc)?

I got a system 8, it is the closest thing to Diva in HW and I just mapped it. Some observations:

1.- The System 8 has enough knobs, buttons and faders for most of the main functions of Diva, it falls short in the LFO's, effects any other stuff in the lower panel.

2.- The oscilators is the complex part to make sense on how to map. The fact the the two controls for tunning (the one for octaves and the fine tune one) are tied kind of messes up sometimes.

3.- Diva oscilators have some stuff that make it hard to map completely, for example the Mini VCO has continuos waveforms shape control and in the system 8 it is dented. The dual VCO has buttons for waveform selection, there isn't a similar control in the S8 to map those buttons, so it is one thing you can't have control over.

4.- Some controls on the system 8 doesn't send midi: the main volume, the arp controls.

5.- The variation knobs on the S8 can be used to control selection of VCO/Filter but since they only have 1, 2 or 3 steps you can only move through the first (VCo/Dual VCO; Ladder, Cascade).

Very important if it is not obvious: You can't change the MIDI CC's that the synth sends, but Diva has MIDI learn which IMHO is more easy to use.

So for me given what is avaible in the market the System 8 works good enough as a controller for diva, maybe you set the oscilators and mod sources and you tweak from the Synth knobs all the other stuff. Not excellent but enough.

The quality of thew knobs/faders on the system 8 is quite Nice IMHO, the letdown is that the KB doesn't support AT, which is lame on this price range but well I can live with out.

As for the Synth it self, IMHO it sounds as good as Diva but is less flexible obviously because of the fewer filters, modulations, oscilators and LFO's. To its advantage it can load emulations of the System100 which is lovely, SH2, 101 and Promars, all of them superb. The Oscilators of the System8 engine could very well supply the Jp8000 ones, it has supersaw and other waveforms. The sideband filter is also quite unique.

So all in all I am happy, I got a very nice controller for Diva and a very nice synth, not perfect but good enough. I have seen some go for 1000 USD second hand, IMHO it is a great deal at that. I bought it at full price but I can use the bill for Tax discounts.

[Polarity]

Hi! If this can interest you... I bought two Korg NanoKontrol 2 and designed an overlay sheet and built a box for them for myself and using this custom controller happily since a couple of years:
https://payhip.com/b/VLpv
http://www.andreapriora.com/apst-umcc.htm

16 knobs, 16 sliders and a lot of buttons useful in the case of Diva for changing Filter types, revisions, activate unison and arpeggiator and so on.

If you are good with graphic software you can modify by yourself the labelling as you wish,
because I made it for being a universal Controller for the many synths and Kontak libraries I own.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Nice to see another S8+Diva fan. Controlling Diva was a big part of why I ended up buying my System-8 last fall, and I don't regret it at all.

2.- The oscilators is the complex part to make sense on how to map. The fact the the two controls for tunning (the one for octaves and the fine tune one) are tied kind of messes up sometimes.

Do you know you can setup Diva for Fine Tuning? Map the Fine tuning knobs on the Sytem 8 to the Fine tuning in DIVA, then go to the MIDI Mapping table and change the Mode from Normal to Fine.

3.- Diva oscilators have some stuff that make it hard to map completely, for example the Mini VCO has continuos waveforms shape control and in the system 8 it is dented. The dual VCO has buttons for waveform selection, there isn't a similar control in the S8 to map those buttons, so it is one thing you can't have control over.

There's a "Diva 2 Wishlist" thread and improving this area is something I hope will eventually get some attention in 5 or 6 years when they update it. One thing that would improve mapping is to have an option that would replace the oscillator buttons with a continuous mapping. Example: CC range 0-10 might be the sine only, 11-20 saw only, and by the time you get to 117-127 you've got sine, saw, square, and noise all on.

4.- Some controls on the system 8 doesn't send midi: the main volume, the arp controls.

I was also disappointed by this. Especially the Arp controls!

So for me given what is avaible in the market the System 8 works good enough as a controller for diva, maybe you set the oscilators and mod sources and you tweak from the Synth knobs all the other stuff. Not excellent but enough.

That's my take too. It's not perfect for Diva, but better than anything else I've found. Now...try mapping the System-8 to RePro-1. It works very well.

The quality of thew knobs/faders on the system 8 is quite Nice IMHO, the letdown is that the KB doesn't support AT, which is lame on this price range but well I can live with out.

Agreed. Aftertouch should've been included. Instead, I just got an expression pedal and will usually remap Aftertouch to Expression any patches.

As for the Synth it self, IMHO it sounds as good as Diva but is less flexible obviously because of the fewer filters, modulations, oscilators and LFO's. To its advantage it can load emulations of the System100 which is lovely, SH2, 101 and Promars, all of them superb. The Oscilators of the System8 engine could very well supply the Jp8000 ones, it has supersaw and other waveforms. The sideband filter is also quite unique.

So all in all I am happy, I got a very nice controller for Diva and a very nice synth, not perfect but good enough. I have seen some go for 1000 USD second hand, IMHO it is a great deal at that. I bought it at full price but I can use the bill for Tax discounts.

I still don't think the S8 engine sounds as good as Diva, RePro or the Legend but the built in synths are pretty darn good regardless. The Jupiter is my favorite and the Juno sounds just like I remember those things sounding. That said, I'd still take Diva for a Jupiter type of sound. And overall, the S8's built-in effects just sound bad to me, which is a shame.

I think what makes the System-8 particularly attractive is that it's a good synth, but an amazing knob/fader box for plugin control. If Roland dropped the sound engine out of it and just sold it as a controller for a grand, I think it would still be attractive.