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i know i can find them on google quite easily, but id like to know what you guys would reccomend for a midi box. basically i just want something that is usb and has a bunch of knobs (and sliders possibly as well). a keyboard is not necessary. something like looks quite tasty, but i just have no idea what brands are quality and such. |
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God I hate you. |
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...confused... |
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the uc-33 is probably the most popular one. along with this one i highly recommend the behringer one because it's a total bargain and it has everything that you want from a midi controler. the encoders are fun too when you have something like reason or ableton which sends feedback to them so they adjust the ledrings to the pc. if you need sliders you can also go for this never used it but has fine opinions too. motorized faders must rock. a much more prof thing is this one autechre used them on their sets lately. very solid but pricey. also check out the novation zero sl which rocks with it's automap function - you click any plugin on the screen and all the values are automatically signed to the knobs. |
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oh man, fuckin sexy. thanks. if noone gives a better recommendation it looks like ill be asking for that behringer for xmas :) |
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just quadruple check if you don't really need the faders - it's the only minus in the behriger and if you want to play live with it faders are just much better for volume control. besides that the behrigner has all you need and even more - just search the internet for tips and tricks made by the huge fanclub behind it. use google for it. then you'll find for example the trick to make "accelerating knobs" which is totally awesome - you turn a knob very slow and you need like 2 total turns to reach the highest level. but when you turn a knob quickly it just slams the full value in immediately. great for sends. |
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thats great that there are all sorts of tweakable settings. ive been using an m-audio o2 (8 knobs, 1 fader) and it just is not cutting it anymore. i dont think id need the faders. the only thing i really use it for is a cross-fader, and i can do that on a knob just fine. either that or i find i really need the one fader and can just hook my o2 up as well. tada! |
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depends on how much control you need. the bitstream3x has a tiny crossfader. or you might get a if you don't need more knobs. |
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that b control looks topa notcha. look at the price!!!!!! i want one now!! |
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how much control do you need sadist? Behringer things are shit! |
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in what way are they shit? |
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Behringer copy good midi controllers with shitty components. |
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Behringer mixers are shit, their midi stuff is fine. the b control is grand but its motorized fades are noisy and it feels a bit cheap...but on the other hand -it is cheap=] |
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is a keyboard, but it's got so much to it man. that b-control looks fucking useful though, i think im gettin that soon. |
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bad link |
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that things more expensive than the behringer and has fewer knobs.... for the moment im sticking with my original choice. |
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i need a hell of control live but i make my own controllers for few years now so i can have as much control as i want. oh and really - i wouldn't touch anything by behringer where sound is going through but all their midi related gear is top notch for the price. and i have never heard of a broken bcr2000. this new white version of the bcf is meant to make less noise. |
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Well, for starters, the rotaries are about as tight as a wizard's sleeve... |
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and what in the hell does that simile even mean? :P |
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wizard's sleeve n. Clown's pocket. A particularly capacious sausage wallet. As in, "I can't feel a bloody thing. You must have a fanny like a wizard's sleeve." |
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wow, that explained absolutely nothing. clown's pocket?? sausage wallet?? are you just pulling my chain or are you brits really just that weird? |
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all the breakcore kings use uc-33 |
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Go for the uc33. You could easily buy an equally priced graphing calculator that will give you about as much musical functionality as the behringer unit. |
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oh snap... if taxi says it... now im in conflict again. |
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so just to tally up, ive got three positive votes for the uc33, with 2 for and 1.5 (i still have no idea what ceri means) against the behringer... |
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On Behringer hardware, the knobs tend to have a great deal of free play in them; they are akin to a loose vagina. |
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i got it! loose vagina: finally an analogy i can understand. |
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hahah, so trying to use the behringer is like trying to make a woman with a loose vagina have an orgasm. futile. |
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i wasn't going to agree with this statement if my BCR didn't bail out during my last live set, next performance I'm going to bash it to bits with a bat |
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that thing looks impressive. |
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wtf ? explain |
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I think it would work best with hardware, as you can customize it, and assign it however you like... but all the software that it is compatible with, that automaps the functions... you can't customize it, which is really lame. For instance, in Logic, when I bring up Sculpture, logic's physical modeling synth, there are hundreds of parameters. You cant set it so your most frequently used settings are on the first page... its just a default mapping, so one setting could be on page 3 of the mackie's layout, and another could be on page 20, and you'll have to scroll back and forth. really lame. (this is how the older version on the mackie c4 worked... the one in the picture is the pro model that just came out, so it could be different, but I highly doubt it) so yeah, id only use it to control hardware. Its perfect for that (imo). Endless pages of MIDI assignments with updating displays that you can label. the knobs are also buttons, so you can push them in. |
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You make your own controllers? Pics please. |
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I'm going to play the devils advocate here and make two more suggestions. The bitstream 3x which I have used before. Its got some great features, pretty much anything you could want in a midi controller, and the body of the actual unit is very strong. The only downpoints I found were some of the buttons felt cheap. The unit itself is metal, and most of the knobs had a solid consistency. The arpegiator and lfo were a bit more complicated to set up than I liked tho. And there is the Remote zero SL with automapping led's that label what the knobs are. I heard its a bit complicated to set up, but is great to work with when you have it running proper. Out of all four choices, I would go with the bitstream. |
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the more im looking at it the more attractive the bitstream is looking. its got as many knobs and the other two i was looking at, plus the faders, and a cross fader, joystick touchpad, as well can what looks like some interesting automatable feature. unfortunately it seems possibly a bit out of my (read: parent's xmas fund) economic range. maybe ill check ebay and see how much they are there, or can anyone reccomend some good online shops? |
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oh its not a touch pad but a joystick. still awesome. |
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this is like my first self made midibox ever - you can see the rough edit because i made every hole in the front panel by myseld with a driller :> this is the second version with the frontplate designed in autocad and ordered to be laser cut in white plexy - glass. the buttons are lit which you can see in the next pic i don't have any more actual pics of version two because it is disassembled at right now because i am doing version 3 with it's parts. version 3 will be generally an upgrade to number 2 but the frontpanel has been redesigned as i came to several conclusions when live playing. i will have 10 channels now, still 3 lit buttons, 5 potentiometers per row and a slider. |
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i have to admit that i probably never used any midi controller not even a keyboard in my studio. i mean for making tracks envelopes and stuff are like totally sufficient and i get just annoyed by binding every knob to a function that i totally loose my workflow. this automap function of novation looks very sweet but i haven't seen anywhere if it's compatible with floops which still is the heart of my music making process. |
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love youre home made midi desks. , awesome.. that white one looks better than any ive seen beats my kenton freak.on looks .... how do they behave? are they quite accurate? :) |
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those midi controllers you made are ace... the pic of the second one lit up looks great. The design looks very professional. Be sure to post pics of the generation 3 controller once it's finished! |
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agreed, that second controller (and the first as well for all its 'see-the-guts' aesthetic) are both amazing looking. how long did it take you to design/complete them? how much experience with soldering did you have prior? and most importantly ^ ^, how much was their net cost? |
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wowzers the topic fell so deep during the day that i forgot about it. so the cost... well i spend until now maybe like 250 dollars or so which is already a uc-33 but you have to see it that way - i have like 3 times the amount of control the uc-33 has, most of the parts are used in the further editions and lots of money was spend on hardware like soldering irons and such which cannot be really counted as cost of the midibox itself. the assembly time of the first box was like one day - the second version a week but the second one was about half a year of planning, testing parts and different supliers of frontplates. now after two years i'm feeling much more comfortable with the system because it gets cheaper and faster to do it - i have all companies i need (prototype boards, frontplates, parts) and the whole building process is quite automated now. when i started making them the only electronical klowledge i had was on which side to hold the soldering iron to not burn yourself actually. the whole midification system is from www.ucapps.de - the most popular system i know - the forum and feedback is great and just check all the options. the design of the frontplate took me like an hour in autocad - i mean come on it's 8 channels with 7 pots one slider and three buttons :> version 3 will be more advanced |
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It gives a person with little-to-no electromechanical knowledge, such as myself, great hope to learn that someone who began as a novice created something so well-built. You say you've got all the companies you need now; was it an arduous process finding retailers/wholesalers who could hook you up with all the parts you need? Once again, nice work and remember to post pics of your next creation! |
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TOP TIP Make sure it's knobs you actually want and not pads/triggers/toggles. I have a korg padkontrol and it's great because it has two knobs, 16 pads (assignable as pads or as switches) and a kaoss-type x-y pad for BROCKING OUT! it could do with maybe 2 more knobs but................ |
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the front panel of version 3 will be home tuesday so i hope i can make a small tutorial of the building here aswell :> damn now when my picture posting abilities died... i don't want to kill your enthusiasm but i highly recommend to go for it slowly and read alot on the ucapps site and not panic around if actually nothing works. the thing is - that these are electronics and the idea of "what you see is what you get" just doesn't work. i mean - trouble shooting can be a bitch at times - probably costed most of the time on the box. you just solder something bad and you might loose a week on finding the solution. at least - what's very good - there is lots of room for mistakes with this project so even when you fuck something up soldering it shouldn't do any harm to your gear and everything can be redone. another bitchy thing is searching for parts. you see not even electronical parts because they are easy to get but mechanical. for example pots... my god i have tested like 15 different and still haven't found the perfect ones. you know what i always admired in professional stuff is - that you go to one knob and you feel the resistance of it on your fingers. you go to the second one and it's nearly identical. you go to the same gear of your friend and it's still the same. i have probably no pot that works like another. the thing is - nobody in a company can tell you if they are suited for oyur needs or don't. you have to test it - buy a few, use them than decide. if you're lucky, you'll find the perfect match fast if not you loose a lot of time jealous about other people's uc-33's. |
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also buttons - those backlit buttons look nice but they are far from perfect. first they are plastic so they don't really feel comfortable. second they are rather used as on/off switches in printers so they aren't very durable. but they were THE ONLY lit switches i could find in poland at this size. yep. forget about rubber buttons and such. so again - not that i want to kill anyones dreams but just be aware that such a box costs time, money and a lot of sweat and the effect might not be what you wanted. as i said - now after a few years i'm in the comfortable position that i know everything around that box - okay i'm maybe not yet able to do programming stuff with it (for example the lcd can show you a lot of different things), just add buttons, pots and so on but i can asseble them fast and accurate. i hope that when the parts will be here i will shake this baby in like 2 days max. i hope. |
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Thanks for the in-depth reply, I appreciate it. I wasn't so much planning on following in your foot-steps exactly, but had been considering taking on a circuit-bending project on some old casiotone keyboards I've got lying around. I actually saw an auction on ebay for various wires, dip-switches and pots that would surely have been useful, and have been kicking myself in the arse for not bidding. Tinkering with the circuits of an already-built item seemed like a good place for the uninitiated, like myself, to start. :) |
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searching for retailers isn't that difficult - the question is about the price. with the frontpanel company i was lucky as hell - i found a company that makes advertising signs out of plastic and they gave me a very good price. the front panel for version 2 cost me like 20 bucks or so and was very acurate shaped (the laser they have has like 0.1 mm accuracy.) - the material is great too. it's shinny, antistatic and let's light through so i hope i will find a few bright leds for v3 to install it beyond the surface. that will be a hammer :> i also was lucky to find someone who made the prototype boards (boards that you solder on all the resistors, capacitors, chips and so on) - most of the companies wanted me to order like 100 pieces so it would be affordable for them and suddenlt i stumbled accross a company in my hometown who make even 1 piece and like for no money at all and very accurate. the company that i get my parts was very easy to find but they are quite pricey. but they have some nice parts there like those buttons or those black potentiometer-caps. arturia uses the same for their hardware gear and they have the diameter of normal mixer-caps. |
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yes and no - circuit bending is like so much fun but it's all about trial and error. you never really actually now what you have just done. you pick a potentiometer, solder some cables - wow it makes breakcore now but why? making things that actually "work" from scratch requires much more thinging. as well as the troubleshooting i mentioned above. something doesn't work - what now ? |
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