My ROTOR controllers came. Verdict: finicky.

johnfromberkeley

My rotor controllers came. They're pretty finicky. It's hard to "pick up" and drag and object. Even harder to change it while dragging, the presumed value proposition of the controllers.

Anyone else have any insights?

Edit: I still love the app. It's sort of competes with other "groove machines," like blocs, launch pad, etc., but I still like it.it works great without the controllers

ExAsperis99

Thank you for being our canary in the coalmine. I would write to the good people at Rotor. Tell them you have a few thousand people eager to hear their suggestion.

skiphunt

@ExAsperis99 said:
Thank you for being our canary in the coalmine. I would write to the good people at Rotor. Tell them you have a few thousand people eager to hear their suggestion.

+1 And, I suspected that. As a motorcycle rider, I've played with several special gloves with capacitive finger tips to control your smart device. Some work better than others, but the kind of contact connectivity you'd need to use these knobs on an iPad surface and be able to move, slide, etc. quickly... I don't think is there yet.

johnfromberkeley

@skiphunt said:

@ExAsperis99 said:
Thank you for being our canary in the coalmine. I would write to the good people at Rotor. Tell them you have a few thousand people eager to hear their suggestion.

+1 And, I suspected that. As a motorcycle rider, I've played with several special gloves with capacitive finger tips to control your smart device. Some work better than others, but the kind of contact connectivity you'd need to use these knobs on an iPad surface and be able to move, slide, etc. quickly... I don't think is there yet.

I wonder if some software updates could improve the control?

skiphunt

@johnfromberkeley said:

@skiphunt said:

@ExAsperis99 said:
Thank you for being our canary in the coalmine. I would write to the good people at Rotor. Tell them you have a few thousand people eager to hear their suggestion.

+1 And, I suspected that. As a motorcycle rider, I've played with several special gloves with capacitive finger tips to control your smart device. Some work better than others, but the kind of contact connectivity you'd need to use these knobs on an iPad surface and be able to move, slide, etc. quickly... I don't think is there yet.

I wonder if some software updates could improve the control?

I don't know, but I doubt it. There's some liquid that supposed to have good capacitive properties. You could get some and paint a little onto another small knob like shape... see if it makes a better connection than whatever the Reactable people used... and if so, paint a little onto the knobs you bought since they're a nice size and design?

I don't have any experience with this, but check out stuff made to apply to gloves to make them capacitive. Or maybe some capacitive fabric. I know the tips of some of the spongy styli with capacitive fabric at the end, sometimes work very well on touch surfaces.

You would think that with the long delay getting those Rotor knobs ready for shipment, and the high cost, that they'd have tried the very best options though.

u0421793

@johnfromberkeley could you do me a favour, could you try one of the rotors versus a fruit such as a small apple, or a tangerine, or perhaps a plum (which probably won't remain standing up), and let me know what the result is - fruit vs rotor?

johnfromberkeley

@u0421793 said:
@johnfromberkeley could you do me a favour, could you try one of the rotors versus a fruit such as a small apple, or a tangerine, or perhaps a plum (which probably won't remain standing up), and let me know what the result is - fruit vs rotor?

Maybe a hotdog. Will report back.

Littlewoodg

Two fingers on top of an object close together but keeping 2 distinct points of comtact is pretty cool, it expands the size of the object and makes adjustments a bit easier.

johnfromberkeley

Does it matter how you hold the rotor? Also, with regards to contacts, are you talking about the two black dots on the bottom of the controller?

stemshade

@u0421793 said:
@johnfromberkeley could you do me a favour, could you try one of the rotors versus a fruit such as a small apple, or a tangerine, or perhaps a plum (which probably won't remain standing up), and let me know what the result is - fruit vs rotor?

H

skiphunt

@johnfromberkeley said:
Does it matter how you hold the rotor? Also, with regards to contacts, are you talking about the two black dots on the bottom of the controller?

I don't know. Didn't get them. Thought there were over-priced for what they are. I was just offering suggestions of how maybe you could re-engineer what Reactable did in order to get better performance from them. But I doubt they didn't check out every possible capacitive agent before before they settled on one.

On second thought... I sometimes use Procreate on the iPad and iPhone. It's a great painting and graphics app that I bought early on. All I have are a variety of capacitive styli. Nothing bluetooth. I did notice with each update over the last couple of years, it DID become more responsive to the capacitive styli I'm using. So, perhaps the performance of your new rotor knobs could indeed improve with future app update as well.

lukesleepwalker

Thanks for taking one for the team. Think I'll pass on these controllers.

Phil999

I have the Tuna-knobs, which can be used for any rotary touchscreen control. The response is not very good. It is good, and maybe good enough for not so critical inputs. Response could probably be improved with a very clean touchscreen surface, and very clean Tuna-knobs. But I haven't used them a lot because I rarely have my iPads flat on the table. I have them mostly in an angled position