Midi Controller

Hey guys, I am going to buy myself and new midi controller as I lacking one right now.

To be quite frank I was thinking of getting myself a Korg Microkontrol that has enough keys but I would like one with some knobs on the top to use in Ableton.

Was looking at Edirol's but not sure where to go.

I have between £150-£200 to spend but really I want to go cheap unless you can convince me otherwise.

PS. I dont want any behringer crap lol, already have a mixer from them and its shite

i've wanted a novation remote series controller for ages

they actually look quite sexy I must admit

Yeah, I ended up buying an Edirol PCR-500 almost a year ago and it's pretty solidly built and haven't had it glitch out on me yet. I snapped some of the sliders on it though as it smashed onto the floor a few months ago but that was a real bad landing so I cant blame the build quality for the breakages.

So that's my own personal recommendation. PCR-500 is a nice

i'm a novation remote user. it's great. my only gripe is that the sliders don't really slide.

if the sliders dont slide then what are they? Switches? lol

will edirol be a-ok with Ableton? I mean i've read some people had problems with midi maps and stuff.

Novation looks nice so far, but im not sure yet, they are quite expensive compared to edirol etc... have to see how my moneys pans out

It works fine. Just stick on the midi learn button on Ableton, click on what you want to be altered by the device then move the slider/turn the dial/push the button/change the channel (or however that song goes) and it'll then be assigned. Piece of piss.

I've allready advised people here previously against the Korg Micro Kontrol...because its shit, the encoders are unpredictable, the sliders aren't at all solid, the sample pads are really stiff and the keys are far too small.

but recently i've been considering this

Nice and small for gigs, but i'm undecided as of yet

yeah looks like a nice knob twiddling unit, but I need keys on mine I am afraid, so I can compose at home.

Bearing that in mind though, that would be super useful for gigs

ye mon, anything other than the korg would be a good idea :stuart:

Remote SL 25 recommendation...

and i love the sliders in the remote...

I hate the xy pad tho, i have to press so hard it litterally moves the keyboard across the desk

Is it worth spending a little bit more for a remote sl?

or should i just buy an edirol?

Depends how much you like binding parameters to knobs.

If you don't like that a lot, then the novation remote is defiantly worth it.

the sliders on the remote25 have rubber grips which catch and stick. making it hard to do smooth fades.

in that case, i think I may go edirol.

Thanks for peoples help

as long as you don't smash it on the floor then you'll be fine !!

yeah honestly man, the pcr's are great for the money. I'd suggest picking up like a £10 foot pedal for it too (I think any make should be compatible) especially if you want to do some keyboard style tinkering on it.

yeah I already have two foot pedals around anyway for use with my beasty Roland FP-4, so just wanted a small controller for using with live on my laptop, should be sufficients for knob tweaking and small rhythms

thanks

what does everyone think of the CME controllers?

im tempted because i want more than a measly two octaves when i play live and theyre so compact, yet cheap.

also got a little joystick which i guess would be fun as an XY controller.

thing is, this sounds a but silly but obviously ide want the former of those two models because it has knobs too - yet it also has these functions:

" U-Key has a built in 64-polyphony high quality mobile phone sound module, and an internal high fidelity speaker with a digital amplifier. U-Key also includes many MIDI songs and accompaniments in different styles, including loop variation and chord change, which are elaborately made by professional musicians and can be triggered by U-Key's unique 'PadStyle'"

which makes me cringe painfully.

if it didnt have that shit then ide probably snap one up quicksharp - £100, fucking bosh.

but it would feel like too much of an affront to my musicianship to even have have the features dormant on something ide be using. like some fucker would be like 'hey, what does this button do?' and triggers mary had a little lamb and the keys all fucking light C major up for play-along funtime.

what are people's thoughts on custom made midi controllers too?

any good places for getting a board printed?

i dont really like the look of those

Personally I think it'd be retarded to not buy something because you might be embarrassed that someone knows about its features. If it does what you need it to do then tell them to fuck off.

the UF range are pretty sweet on the analog tip:

but at the end of the day theyre cheapish keyboards from a newish chinese(?) company, hence the decent prices.

gimmi 4 weighted octaves, 16+ knobs and im happy.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

Personally I think it'd be retarded to not buy something because you might be embarrassed that someone knows about its features. If it does what you need it to do then tell them to fuck off.

i know that - still, might go for the mkey anyway just cuz its thinner.

maybe gonna butcher my old EMU and make some sort of super fun knob helmet.

I got an Evolution UC-33. However I don't think they make them anymore as Evolution got bought by M-Audio. That said you can still get them from online stores.

I don't actually use it much now for sequencing with Ableton as I find it a bit of fag having to map nobs to different parameters and I mostly just play with vst synths settings until i get what i want with a mouse. Very handy for live manipulation though (excuse the pun).

Ironically I'd prolly recommend the Behringer nob box .. I haven't heard anything particular bad about it and if I was gonna get another knob box then that'd be it.

I got a Behringer mixer too and although I prolly would recommend it either Im still using it.

Now a keyboard that to me is essential.