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Hi all,

New to here but I've managed to get a couple of forwards and, given all the Black Friday reductions, I'm looking at my home production setup and deciding I can justify getting a couple more bits of equipment. I use Cubase and currently have a very minimal set up - full size Technics basic keyboard (an on/off switch and that's it!), monitors, Steinberg UR242 and headphones. I currently use faders in the box for automation and I'd really like something physical to push up and down rather than working with a mouse pointer so I can get better accuracy. I think more than one fader might be useful so I can create multiple automations (eg when working with strings).

Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks in advance!

A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGVi9HA681Y
You might want to skip to about 12m to get to the devices.
Hope that helps.

Thanks Graham, much appreciated

i have the nanokontrol. its a good choice at a great price point, but some folks find the faders are a little short for finer control.

the monogramcc. controllers are insanely expensive for what they are.

if you can spend that much you might as well go for this:
https://nakedboards.org/mc-8
i’ve seen many composers vouch for its quality.

i know someone who has one of these and they are quite happy with it
https://themidimaker.com/collections/4x ... ontrollers

of course, if you have the time, you can always learn some basic arduino coding/electronics concepts and build your own at a fraction of the cost.

I am considering the Presonus Faderport 16 myself - hoping it pops up somewhere on Black Friday.
Check this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6fD2EFpxdw

/Lars

The faderport is, no doubt, an excellent daw controller. But it’s overkill if you want to control midi cc (ie expression for strings).

It would be a waste of those motorized faders. Midi cc doesnt output midi like mixer automation does (without some finagling of the midi cc routing).

Outside of studio one, it uses the arguably dated mackie hui protocol. From what I remember, the implementation isnt really all that smooth. For example, you may have a vst gui open on screen but it is not necessarily sync’d with the knobs/faders until you navigate to it on the hardware. Personally, I dont find that efficient at all. If the vst gui is already open, ideally the controller is sync’d to control it automatically. Fortunately, Cubase, and most other DAW, has this feature to program your own controller this way.

But, of course, I acknowledge that everybody’s needs are different.

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone, much appreciated. I went for an Icon Platform M+ in the end. Used the faders for the first time earlier today and omg - how, HOW? have I been managing with just click and point until now?! Practically sobbing with gratitude

ochaim wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 19, 2022 12:36 pm

i have the nanokontrol. its a good choice at a great price point, but some folks find the faders are a little short for finer control.

the monogramcc. controllers are insanely expensive for what they are.

if you can spend that much you might as well go for this:
https://nakedboards.org/mc-8
i’ve seen many composers vouch for its quality.

i know someone who has one of these and they are quite happy with it
https://themidimaker.com/collections/4x ... ontrollers

of course, if you have the time, you can always learn some basic arduino coding/electronics concepts and build your own at a fraction of the cost.

Arduino all the way the problem is it took me time to learn, and understand, plus now I need to build it
but yeah definitely worth it

edmondredd wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:35 pm

Arduino all the way the problem is it took me time to learn, and understand, plus now I need to build it
but yeah definitely worth it

I have one of these and it's one of the most useful thing I have bought

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1nB8z3 ... DomSigalas

edmondredd wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:35 pm

Arduino all the way the problem is it took me time to learn, and understand, plus now I need to build it
but yeah definitely worth it

You got to admit, though. Once you "get it", it's pretty easy to implement unless you're adding some menu system to customize the midi messages or something. Even then, it's not too difficult, just a bit more planning.

I built my first prototype using lego. It was a simple encoder to control mouse drag up/down as an alternative to Cubase's AI knob, which was discontinued and not an assignable function at the time. It worked quite well. I also added capacitive touch to it so touching the knob would enable/disable the mouseclick. Really fun to imagine something and make it come to life.

As for other easy ways to build it, ie with enclosure. Aside from getting a box enclosure and drilling holes etc to your controls, you could hijack existing sliders/knob on an old mixer for its form and reconfigure its function. I did this recently with an old Gravis gamepad I found for a few bucks at a thrift store. It had the old DB25 connector so there was little I could do with it from there. Instead, I opened it up and soldered the connections of the buttons to the pins of a Pro Micro and added an encoder to the joystick so it could be used as a controller for old console games like Heavy Barrel and Ikari Warriors where you need a knob to rotate the direction you're shooting.

Sorry, not related to music at all, but it opened my eyes to the possibility of repurposing an old mixer into a midi controller by connecting the fader/knob/button pins to an Arduino and programming them send midi cc. There is a YT video of someone who repurposed a large mixing desk this way. You'd need a bunch of multiplexers to cover all the pins but it's definitely doable and especially attractive if you don't want to or don't have the time/resources to build the enclosure from scratch.