best midi controller for upcomming features

[David Else]

hello,

i am looking at getting a midi controller just for diva. i understand there are some important midi features to be released soon? (ability to select different modules (ie moog/jupiter) and then keep same knobs for cut off/res etc?)

i was wondering if any midi controller in particular is going to be good for this? don't want to buy one then find the update means i would have been better off getting another

best option would be 2 choices, motorised or not.

THANKS.

[olikana]

i'm interested in this too....at the moment i'm just gettin by on korg nanos...
.but it's time for somethin proper but no ideas also considering the frustrating experiences ppl have been reporting with diva vs automap?

[bmrzycki]

Urs has mentioned he's re-working the midi innards of all his products. I'm not sure when that will come out but it might mean some controllers are better than others in the near future.

Other than that it's really up to user preference as to what constitutes "better". Some people love faders, other encoders. And still others really care if aftertouch is well implemented. It's really difficult to point to one controller and say "use this" for everyone.

I know Michael Kastrup uses a Novation SL 61 and Howard uses an E-MU Xboard 49 (unless either guys have recently upgraded keyboards).

There's also interesting things going on with touch interfaces on tablets. It's possible that might make an interesting hybrid choice of simple keyboard + ipad/android device.

Finally, there's a relatively new keyboard by Nektar that does a great job of integrating with Reason -- but it might be re-programmable, I have no idea. http://www.nektartech.com/ The NAMM demos were pretty impressive w.r.t. not having to use a mouse to quickly change the sounds in the rack.

[Breeze]

There's also interesting things going on with touch interfaces on tablets. It's possible that might make an interesting hybrid choice of simple keyboard + ipad/android device.

While it's already possible to customize a variety of controller apps on the tablets (esp. IOS), I could definitely see an "iU-he" controller app optimized for use with use with U-he synths and even plugins. Multi-touch screens make for particularly attractive and functional modulation controllers, and as bmrzycki points out, could obviate the more traditional hardware surfaces. Templates can be recalled on the fly, virtual controls repositioned, resized... seems like the way to go.

[risome]

LIVID controllers=ultimate

[JD Gaffe]

LIVID controllers=ultimate

Could you explain this to me? I've wondered since I have looked at their stuff, and for most of I can't see why I would ever get them over the APC40 or a launchpad. The price difference is huge, and I've read bad comments on the buttons being kind of iffy and being noticeable that it was hand made (which is not good in this case).

[olikana]

LIVID controllers=ultimate

Could you explain this to me? I've wondered since I have looked at their stuff, and for most of I can't see why I would ever get them over the APC40 or a launchpad. The price difference is huge, and I've read bad comments on the buttons being kind of iffy and being noticeable that it was hand made (which is not good in this case).

i think he means this....which could be indeed very interesting...if the price is not too scary
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2011/ ... ontroller/

[Urs]

I wished we could give any recommendations just yet.

I'm putting a lot of energy into a solution that should work well with anything 8 knobs. Configurable buttons (navigation/shift) would be a plus, but are not necessary with a keyboard attached (and a host that doesn't eat all keys).

Thing is, with the diversity of use interfaces there's simply no way to do a flexible enough control surface. The strength of graphical user interfaces is related to the use of *general purpose* input devices.

We're thusly also discussing touch interfaces (e.g. templates for common iPad apps like TouchOSC) as well as alternative gui skins that feature *cough* boring *cough* layouts with rasters typically found on control surfaces.

That said, while this stuff takes up a lot of space in my head, it isn't finished yet and it needs widespread testing and refinement over the next few months.

[Crackbaby]

Urs, is there a reason that no dev that i know of offers an additional UI for controllers? It wouldn't have to be pretty, just logical in 8 knobs, 8 buttons and .. uhm. I know you can mod your UI's but that's a bit brainsquishing for me

[Urs]

Urs, is there a reason that no dev that i know of offers an additional UI for controllers? It wouldn't have to be pretty, just logical in 8 knobs, 8 buttons and .. uhm. I know you can mod your UI's but that's a bit brainsquishing for me

It's brainsquashing for anyone. Doing guis is a time consuming tasks. A lot of the work to be done is tedious.

Urs

[xh3rv]

Having something in the GUI that matches the physical controller is a big plus I think, maybe this is something that could get it's own configure tab? It'd be ridiculous to drag and drop knobs or sliders onto a pre-made template for a given controller, and then blow that up to take over the GUI (or spit out to TouchOSC even, or things along those lines)

I bet intrepid users could build these controller templates with just a few resources, and upload to the PatchLib or something - we're already posting TouchOSC, Kore, Automap etc. templates I've never seen Apple MainStage in action but I keep imagining cross-breeding that with Novation Automap ... inside a VST would blow up heads IMO.

[t3toooo]

i think 8 knob controllers aren't too bad.

other than that,i like midi learn and the ability to save the assignment in a preset for use with program changes like native instruments or image line have this implemented.


..or simply use a midi plugin which can reassign the controller number.

[phazedown]

delete-me

[phazedown]

delete-me

[Breeze]

Urs, is there a reason that no dev that i know of offers an additional UI for controllers?

Spectrasonics did for Omnisphere, and actually threw some innovative new features in the process. Re-iterating existing control is one thing, but the potential for expanding on the existing is what's really exciting.