High quality MIDI controller knobs / rotaries – verses hardware

[dioxide]

Ok, this is a post which isn't going to be of interest to everyone, as it's pretty nit-picky. Basically I'm a Reason-only user that is trying to get a hardware-like level of control using various MIDI controllers. And I'm doing fairly well at this. I'm sharing this to make others that are trying to do the same thing, aware of problems I've encountered using various MIDI controllers.

One of the first and most obvious things I've noticed is that MIDI Rotaries can be a pain in the arse. With a normal knob on a hardware instrument, you might get 270 degrees of rotation, and within that the filter cutoff (for example) might go from 0-100% or 0-127 MIDI value. With some of the MIDI controller rotaries I have tested, you might need to rotate the thing 3 times or more (1080+ degrees) to get the filter to go from 0-100%. While that kind of level of control is great for some kind of fine tuning, it's not helpful for some other parameters. I always compare it to winding a clock, as the motion needed is waaay more than on a piece of hardware. Some controllers have high-resolution, correctly scaled rotaries (Eg Softube Console 1) but in my experience this is rare. Some other controllers use some kind of software scaling, and this results in your MIDI controller stepping from 0 to 3 to 6 or from 0 to 4 to 8. I'm fairly happy with 0-127 MIDI control for most parameters, but when you're then reducing that resolution by a factor of 3 or 4 then the quality isn't as good as I'd want.

Normal knob / potentiometers are often better, and feel more like using hardware, even though they aren't as versatile as rotaries and don't 'pick-up' so well from the software values like rotaries do. But I've recently noticed that a lot of MIDI pots also fall short. I have both a cheap (but well built) Alesis MIDI controller with knobs and a higher specced Doepfer Drehbank but both have a significant amount of travel before the MIDI CC output goes from a value of 0 to 1. There's probably about 20 degrees of rotation before the knob registers any movement at all. Surprisingly even my Roland System 1 fails this test. The only piece of hardware that I own that has passed this so far is a Native Instruments F1, which registers a 0 to 1 CC value change as soon as you move the knob.

While this isn't going to be a problem for a lot of people, for me this isn't good enough. If you have a control mapped to say a Send effect for instance, having the knob rotate 20 degrees before it makes any difference to the Send Level isn't really acceptable. It seems that spending more on a controller also isn't a guarantee that you will avoid this problem. I'm not sure what the problem is here, if it is just cheap components, or just that manufacturers are happy to put this stuff out this way as so far, hardly anyone has noticed this.

Anyway: buyer beware. I'm now aware that I need to test the output of MIDI controllers using a utility like MIDI Monitor BEFORE I buy. I'm honestly surprised that so many controllers have failed these tests, and also that the ones that don't (Softube, Native Instruments) aren't making people more aware that not all controllers are equal.

[dioxide]

You can test your own controllers yourself to see how well they hold up. Use a utility like MIDI Monitor to read the CC output from your controller and find the point where the value goes from 0 to 1. Then you can see how far you are able to turn the knob back to the left. In my case it was often about 20 degrees of motion that has no affect on the CC output at all.

[Sterioevo]

In agreement here. Even with options like Novations Automap where you can adjust the responsiveness the results have not been entirely satisfying.
The most responsive solution for my needs has always been a touchpad. I started with the Novation Remote SL mk2 and the Korg Kaoss Pad.
I now use Lemur on the iPad - with this solution I can jump to any value instantly. E.g. I have a remote map with 16 channels of 6 sends all draw able, plus the ability to reset each or all sends channels 1-6, to 0. It is pretty amazing for "playing" the SSL, all recordable to automation.

[dioxide]

My mistake. Even the Native Instruments F1 has dead spots. The Softube Console 1 (and other rotary controllers) at least pick up instantly, making them better suited for things like Send Levels, but the values are in increments of 3 in order to avoid the 'clock winding' that is a problem with other rotary controllers. I think this was also the case with my Korg Kontrol 49 when I had it.

[dioxide]

In agreement here. Even with options like Novations Automap where you can adjust the responsiveness the results have not been entirely satisfying.
The most responsive solution for my needs has always been a touchpad. I started with the Novation Remote SL mk2 and the Korg Kaoss Pad.
I now use Lemur on the iPad - with this solution I can jump to any value instantly. E.g. I have a remote map with 16 channels of 6 sends all draw able, plus the ability to reset each or all sends channels 1-6, to 0. It is pretty amazing for "playing" the SSL, all recordable to automation.

My current pet hate is Arturia's rotary acceleration. If I move a knob fast it will adjust the output to move at a higher rate than it would if I move it slowly. Honestly, what a load of shit, how can I switch this stuff off. I was recording some automation in a track the other day and it caused chaos before I realised what was going on.