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Saunters in casually..whistling..oh...erm Hi Peeps
....I think there are plenty of controllers available, it is the fact that you have to set them up pretty much each time you want to use them, especially when switching between different apps and synths.
What would be nice would be if some nice company would invent controllers that could detect which app was running and then adapt the controller setup accordingly. Hmmmmm....you know, a company that has maybe done this on the PC platform already
Musical interlude
Ok just remeber...you started this
We need some lyrics....
OK, time for a top 10
iPad has no chance against these wonders
Who'd have thought cheeks where a sound controller option
I'm trying that tonight
There's like 10 different issues being raised here. One of the questions is if we need more functional music controllers in general. Another is whether we need MIDI controllers similar to what we already have, but more compatible with iOS.
I actually tend to prefer controllers that can be used for more than just iOS. That was kind of the point of MIDI in the first place - they needed a universal language that could send musical "data" between all different kinds of computers, sequencers, and hardware.
I think a lot can be done on the software side to make the controllers we already have easier to use. For example, robust MIDI Learn should be available on everything, and ideally, autosave on all those settings.
I just got a Korg padKONTROL ($60 used), and I think it's the most well-conceived MIDI controller of any of the ones I've tried. You can change the Note and CC assignments to every pad and knob on that thing from the device. More importantly, it has a 3-digit LCD display to tell you what you're doing. (Which is critical - how the heck could you know you're assigning a knob to CC #14 unless you had a display to tell you that?). You can map each of the 16 pads to a different MIDI channel, if you like, and you can save up to 16 "scenes" on the device without ever plugging it into a computer. You can even change velocity curves for the each individual pad on the device. And this was a MIDI controller released in 2006 before the iPhone even hit the market (and years before the iPad).
Agreed
Yes to this, and hopefully AB3 will be sorting a lot of this out for us, at least so that we can make a setup, and save it.
I have a Novation remote 25 that is the same, I can program everything from the device, BUT it does take a long time to setup a complete program for a synth, and then you have to page through your saved setups to find the one you want. For a controller this was about as good as it got back when it came out......Novation have since then created Automap which will adapt the controller setup based on the VST being controlled......this is what we need, so we can concentrate on making music, and not end up focussed on configuring the tools we use to make music.
I don't think there's yet a single hardware controller on the market that has an iOS config app. Novation is getting closest by going web based for the Circuit config app but even that doesn't work on iOS yet. Config apps seem to generally be written in Java so that they can operate on both Windows and Mac and the company doesn't have to maintain two totally separate apps. Thing is, no Java on iOS. Web based is the answer (as soon as iOS Safari supports web midi, that is).
I'd really like to see more synthesizer looking MIDI controllers. And that can store and send presets via CCs.
This is what I really want - and yep Novation has the Circuit Editor, and the LaunchPad Pro also has a web-midi version that links right up w the hardware - there's even a web-midi wrapper for the LCXL that works - once Safari gets web-midi, exciting. I'd like a web-midi "store" where my controller is auto-mapped (replicate gui) to whatever product I'm checking out, can demo it right on the web - or subscription for web-midi DaW that's mapped to my controller(s), plugins, cloud storage - and cloud Processing. Web Bluetooth and USB are also on Google experimental - but I haven't seen much anything music-related with them, yet.
The persistent issue with the MIDI controllers is disconnect between the controller and the software, to the point where you lose heart and go back to using a mouse or (like we do here) the touch screen. There is just so much doubt, when you touch a midi controller knob, for the first time in a session, what is going to happen. Anything?
MIDI controllers with all of these gorgeous banks of blank knobs, wait, what do they do? You can cover them in masking tape, and labels, but then they are just labeled for one thing. Maybe two, if you don't mind the mess.
IOS is such a potluck, with lots of little sound makers, you'd want a controller that could work for lots of different apps.
The novation remote series is nice with the LCD over the knobs for that reason. Like I made about 10 gadget templates, and a couple other synths. It is still disconnected feeling, though. I don't use it. One, you have to find the template. Note to Remote SL people, you can switch templates with the otherwise useless drum pads, you just need to program each template to do that, not too bad for a dedicated performer to work out.
The other problem is the main one. When you bring up your midi template, the knobs are in a totally random state, and don't reflect what is going on with the software synth. You touch a knob and it jumps to that random setting, and only then does the knob setting mean anything. Then try to puzzle out, by ear, how to get the knob back to where it was.
I was very interested in the recent Animoog update, that sends out CC's for all of the mapped controls, out to MIDI controllers, when you touch a control on the screen, OR when you change a preset, excellent! Excited to try that out with the BCR2000 lighted encoder knob thing. Seems like they are trying to close the gap.
There are very few MIDI controllers with lighted encoders, and LCD scribble strips. There is the Mackie thing, and the Behringer X-touch, now. They are quite expensive.
In the spirit of where this thread has gotten off to, on the subject of AR
Yes yes and yes. The first problem is the exact problem that can be fixed with a synthesizer based MIDI controller like the Novation X-Station. Map your app's 'Filter' control to the physical knob labeled 'Filter' and stop thinking. We need modern versions.
The second problem (slider state vs synth state) is a common problem in any analog synth that stores presets (like the Juno-60 or the Jupiter 8 or the Prophets or...). It's not awesome but I'd rather have presets.
stuff like faders with their corresponding knob (pan) should be globally written in. Just like modulation, pitch, sustain and note selection, ehich works universally. I plug in my korg taktile and all that works. But the faders etc are useless. My nanokey studio works great with gadget but only with gadget.
And the problem on the iOS side is the lack of parameter tree exposure to external devices. If this weren't the case, it becomes very easy to quickly make up dynamic mappings, name the parameters, duplicate parameters, or banks - mix parameters from multi-apps, between desktop and iOS, and make changes to presets w/out having to create new presets, and have parametric recall of all parameters (which apps already can do). I use the LaunchControl XL & BCR2000 w/ the XXL/PrEditor scripts and it's a good combo for protocol handling, dynamic mapping, encoder/fader/visual feedback. Hopefully this will be implemented some day.
MidiPickup , or Knobpickup , is the name of the issue described above .
It is primarily a software issue I think , why so many IOS devs have bothered to implement MidiLearn WITHOUT adding MidiPickup is beyond me , as the former is a lot less useful without the latter .
I have tried lobbying for this for some time to many devs, though only Cream Mobile
(as a betatester ) & Mimix have subsequently implemented.
To solve , or at least lessen the issue for myself I bought a Novation Remote SL ,
as the firmware includes the elements necessary ; each template displays & stores its last parameter values & offers a pickup option for the pots & faders ; so when you switch back to a previous template you can see the previous values & move the knobs/faders without any jump new position matches remembered value .
BTW pickup is not necessary for the row of endless encoders , & as I've mentioned before I think Novation are missing a trick not offering an encoder only "zero " model based on the Remote SL compact , with 8 x 4 banks of endless encoders & 8x 4 banks of
buttons + screen it would be a very useful purchase .
There may be a future IOS software solution , if it's OK to share private email chat ,
I requested to MidiFlow dev @JohannesD that he add MidiPickup functionality to MidiFlow , which would hopefully bestow any multi channel controller with MidiPickup.
Whilst busy with AB3 at the moment he said he would be willing to look into this in the future . Maybe other users could communicate their interest to him about this .
Really glad that it's for you.
Still got bugs and it's limited, but good enough for basic sequences.
I had higher hopes for it, after all it's 2016...But it is Arturia, isn't it? Lol
Check out what a sequencer could be like:
http://store.kilpatrickaudio.com/carbon/
The price is not the same
Been watching the Carbon for quite a while now (or so it seems) and yeah, they are most definitely not the same—in price (3X more) or features or really intended scope. Carbon is a full on six track polyphonic sequencer. BSP is two track mono step sequencer + one track drum sequencer + MIDI controller. If you want a Carbon, doesn't seem fair/right to blame the BSP for not being that. It's like buying a rompler and complaining it's not a modular.
BSP has a few bugs (certain the carbon does as well) but I think it's quite good at doing what it claimed it would do.
But now that we're talking about it... The two things I most wish for with regard to the BSP:
1) Ability to set the drum notes on the fly. I have presets for a few different targets but it's a drag to have to open the editor when you want to point it at something that doesn't align properly to its drum note setup. Plus, if we could set them on the fly, we could also use the drum sequencer as a sort of poly sequencer.
2) @JP-08's OB6 to hook it up to
When you say globally written in, do you mean written into the MIDI spec? If so, I agree! Seems a total waste of everyone's time to keep reinventing this stuff. There aren't enough available CCs though—the spec would need to be extended in some way. NRPNs or something.
Yup. That. If a mod wheel works on any controller, automatically mapped, why can't faders be universally assigned to software mixers as general midi?
Think it really just takes motivation on the part of instrument/controller makers. MIDI is an old spec but just in the last few years it has expanded to include the bluetooth and MPE subspecs. I'd wager someone has introduced an expansion of predefined controller mappings but perhaps didn't have enough support from other manufacturers. Seems a no-brainer to me for companies like Korg, Novation, Behringer, Alesis, Akai, etc (active controller makers) to get together and just define the defaults. If instrument makers picked it up it would instantly make their controller products more useful.