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Mini rant… Where have all the good midi controllers gone?
I’m finding the weird time phase issue distressing…
Wayyyy back in time, so many companies were making interesting or unique hardware midi controllers that were not just cookie cutter clones… The problem was there was just not that much use or sizeable market for them, so most of them died… Product and/or company…
Nowadays, basically every modern synth seems like it’s digital. Thus, it’s basically indistinguishable from an iPad running AUM and a bunch of apps and a midi controllers…
But now we’re left in a world where by and large every damn midi controller is basically the same!
A certain number of keys, 8 or 16 pads, and 8 pots (not encoders, which are actually useful for software, but frickin pots that suck balls if you’re controlling more than one device), and faders are almost totally missing except on giant “workstations”.
Then when companies DO come out with unique midi controllers, they are so niche or so expensive they fail and the “story” told is no one wants unique midi controllers…
Yea, software or touch like MDP is an option, but physical controls always beat touch for performance (Beardyman may have a thought on that i suppose…)
Now get off my lawn…
Comments
here is answer to your rant - modular midi controller
https://intech.studio/us/shop/category/grid-modular-controllers
Uhhh… see my point re crazy prices… Those are some INSANE prices in terms of $/control
Happy with my Squarp Hapax. Have used the KeyStep Pro, the Akai MPC, and the original Oxi One. The Hapax is the first that isn't making me pull my hair out each time with obscure commands and lots of menu diving.
Dear lord…
$1000 for a midi controller…
https://www.perfectcircuit.com/neuzeit-drop.html?clickId=5217124638
I understand what you mean design wise, all controllers look the same, but I'm satisfied with the x-touch mini.
26 buttons in MC mode, 8 relative encoders (with different shapes of LEDs for midi feedback). You can apply a device ID.
And cheap, lol.
I own 2, on my way to buy a third. The documentation for midi RX isn't complete but not impossible to decifer
@joegrant413 Surprised to hear the KeystepnPronwas just a headache . Thanks for the heads up
They went with the cowboys
Gotta agree with @0tolerance4silence and @Etienne.
I did an insane amount of testing with Drambo's MIDI controller support using a bunch of controllers, had chats with many users and tried to gather as much information about the different controller models as I could.
And yes, configurable controllers have become extinct, some current ones have such weird implementations that supporting them would be too much work, but then even when someone has found his "dream" controller, someone else would find it useless for his own purposes.
My own take on it is to either keep it simple (like @Etienne does) and have a limited set of controls that is easy to remember, or find a dedicated controller that does most of what I want in a single box (like in my case, Arturia Spark LE with Drambo).
[edit tl;dr - just wait til the dust settles. No insider knowledge, just watching trends]
Oh man, we are at a weird place (my brain just discects everything down to distilled bits of 'why?'
I don't Live And Die by those thoughts until there's more conclusive proof, otherwise just a Logical To Me concept) in the world of tech and controllers of all kinds thanks to the ease of modern microcomputers... But like a lot of amazing tech, timing can cause huge hiccups... With tragities along the way
The beginning of last year was a wonderful boom of the m-vave line and a few random small cheap Other midi controllers popped up
Then, this worldwide tiff over terrifs popped (not here to talk ANYTHING about that, it's just A Thing That Contributed) and I noticed the interesting price shift and availability... Wobble
Coincidentally, I am addicted to retro games and emulation. Consoles and arcade, I have multiple ways to play anything from days of yore
SBC (single board computing) systems (handheld emulators that just require whatever games on a micro SD and you can play em wherever. Think - m-vave : most SBCs :: Teenage Engineering : Analong Pocket. Coincidentally, I want everything TE and Analog, but my collection is a handful of m-vave products and a couple of powkiddies lol iykyk) were popping up left and right
That subsided a bit
Mind you companies that WERE going solid are still going solid (Retroid Pocket is the closest analgus to M-Vave directly. A quick build up of increasingly more expensive feature rich, but still VERY cost effective comparatively, and setting new baselines for what can be accomplished on the cheap)... There's just increases across the board in end product pricing
The SMC-Pad was $30 easy, now it's $50 across the board (veeeery occasional $30 sellers can be found on AliExpress, but not like where they were at all)
But, small companies/larger than hobbiests couldn't take advantage of the Super Cheap arduinos/etc and parts quite as well... Since the production-size bulk side has gone up just enough to say 'Oh... Maybe I won't be able back prior investment enough to justify going forward' (i.e. raised startup costs)
There were new cheap breath controllers popping up. A very small handful of full(er) size instruments on Amazon (still there occasionally, but only a couple when there were a dozen or so varying sellers last year, and a Kickstarter for a USB mouthpiece for your phone... New weirdness (innovation) is still coming. We were/are on the cusp
Just sucks that these certain stars aligned to give us a healthy dose of Patience lessons 😅
(In a similarly long-winded spiel about horrible timing, Id be happy to blather on about how [again, NON politically] the pandemic's greatest TECH travisty was Google's very own Stadia. Not here. Just a similar tale from an obsessive hobbiest)
A great controller, specially for Drambo. I can even use it together with my Launchpad Mini MK3 at the same time: The Launchpad for the sequencing and clip launching, and the X-Touch Mini for the mixer and muting / soloing tracks. And both with working LED feedback.
You can get overlays for the X-Touch-Mini here: https://taktility.com/
I got myself a bunch of blank ones that I can label myself for different applications (Drambo, MidiDreams, MetropleXT mini...).
Of all my midi controllers, I find the old Novation Zero SL MkII the most feature rich. There's a script that makes the settings editable. What you get in this one package, companies are now offering 3 different devices to achieve the same thing. Now, they think what can I not include in this controller which gets them to buy my other controller which includes the missing feature.
Supporting midi controllers seems like an impossible job to do. Btw the image I showed is not mine, but indeed I tend to simplify the use of my controllers. I was overcomplicating things in the past with multiple pages but my brain was exploding.
p.s. your controller looks like it could be a korg gadget ahah.
Yeah I've seen that website but forgot about it, thx for the reminder, I guess I'll do the same. The + is that you don't need to glue them because they fit perfectly.
This one looks like the real deal !!
I am very interested in the LEDs and want to understand what you mean by "midi feedback." If I open a preset on a synth app on my iPad, will the LEDs reflect the preset values for the mapped parameters?
Generally, no.
Most synths don't provide midi feedback. A few hosts, such as Drambo and Loopy Pro (not AUM) can provide midi feedback when the midi is mapped to host or AUv3 parameters.
Thanks for confirming. That's what I thought. I know that MIDI 2.0 supports this type of parameter sharing, but it doesn't seem to be getting much traction.
I feel like this notion has been done.... kind of by faderfox years ago..... but that said WOW! Sale price on the EN16 push knob endless encoders for $118.30 is CRAZY!!!! May just have to instantly buy
Neuzeit Drop!
It works perfect with the iPad. No configuration software needed. Solid build quality. Not the cheapest one, but worth every penny. And it looks and feels great. NRPN is also supported.
MIDI controllers are the original dongle.
buenos aires
Dont know about encoder situation.
Modern encoder wise, I guess I only like the faderfox ec4 because of its compact size or not sure if theres better encoder controllers now.
My other ebay controller I should buy soon is the same size format but will just be 4 knobs, 4 faders, 4 arcade buttons.
Should be good to midi map a 4 deck dj software. 4 x Filter, 4 x line fader, 4 x start trigger ( then have the ec4 next to controller for fx etc )
The launchpad x gives me keys. I think its perhaps easier to keep hand rested, while patch programming rather than a lightweight normal key ( dunno ) not sure if you cant just rest hand on normal keys.
But the launchpad has given me a loopy audio clip trigger, for every Drambo clip.
That means.
An 8 min track but without having to repeat any clip.
That means im stuck on 16 bars though ( for 8 min song at 84 bpm )
Or repeating 8 bar clips to be more than a 4 min song.
Controllers aint so bad.