HepCat wrote:If we're talking live use, you need around 140 dials, 75 buttons, 50 sliders. This can be achieved for £300 max. (total), by buying cheap controllers brand new off eBay.
Thing is, you need control over many instruments simultaneously. Also, everybody's needs and setups differ, so there is no point in a dedicated Reason controller because it will never please even a tenth of users and will be way too expensive to meet my quoted requirements.
Make your own? For that qantity of controls, you face ruin.
Novation Automap? Maybe l'm missing something but it felt like a plague. I just used Remote Overrides. Guess you may need Automap to map scales perhaps?
No other way than several smaller controllers at a cheap retail price. Check out Akai's budget range.
If you don't want it for live performance, then you're justified in a dedicated Reason controller that can scroll banks and multifunction its controls and leap from instrument to instrument automapping itself correctly each time.
Hmm l think l need to rethink things (sadly, in hindsight, as l've already made my purchases grrrr)
Noplan wrote:you need around 140 dials, 75 buttons, 50 sliders
What are you doing? Seems a little bit too much for a live set.
Right, in hindsight l've decided:
- Probably better to buy a Nektar Panorama P1 - it was made for Reason. Not really sure why this site doesn't just run ads for the Nektar plus a few of the other controllers mentioned on this thread. The Nektar P1 was designed with Reason in mind, although Reason 9 isn't officially supported, and the Nektar don't even officially support the P1 anymore :-/
- Still, l don't see how you can control, say OctoRex at the same time as FX, or even 2 rival OctoRexes, simultaneously. Is it possible? Perhaps buy 2 x Nektar P1? Could actually also save a lot of money and space that way, if you have a lot of DAWs to control simultaneously.
- As for my remarks about Novation AutoMap, just cos l don't understand it doesn't make it useless. I suspect it can be used to make the LEDs light up when you press a button. Otherwise you just have a totally dark controller (unless it's a controller designed with Reason in mind).
ejanuska wrote:I had a Nektar P1, sold it. Didn't like it.
Buy a used MASCHINE MK 1 without a license for the same price as a Nektar P1, maybe less, spend a couple bucks on MaschineR software ($36) to use the Maschine as a MIDI controller. MaschineR does the mapping for between Maschine and Reason. The Maschine software and license is not needed for MIDI controller mode. I ended up with a fully licensed Maschine MK1 for $150 and its cool.
I also tried Livid Base II but you never know what fader is doing what without looking through a pile of maps.
- Ejanuska said he didn't like his Nektar P1, but it would be interesting to know why
- Would also be interesting to know how the Maschine worked in practice, with Reason
normen wrote:... how about us ReasonTalk users get together to design a Reason controller? There should be enough design, electronics and software knowledge around here to pull this off. And with 3d printing services like shapeways, inexpensive PCB manufacturing, hardware platforms like the Raspberry, Arduino etc. it SHOULD be possible to create this with a reasonable price.
- If you want to design your own controller, it would have to be fairly compact, and be able to control multiple devices within Reason, or individual devices in multiple DAWs, simultaneously.
- You would also need a solution for when a device has more controls than the actual hardware controls will allow. Or even, when controlling 2 devices simultaneously, requires more controls than the actual hardware controls will allow.
- Everything that can be mapped in Reason, must be mapped automatically (?) - or at least make the mapping process easy. That includes mapping things like change bank on Matrix with just one button press or dial twist, rather than a button for each bank.
- You'll need a 8x8 pad grid too, l'd say, or at least 4 rows x 8 columns, in order to accommodate Ableton and suchlike. It would also make simultaneous multiple Octorexes easier.
- Need to clearly display on a large LED screen (or better, on little displays next to the controls themselves) what the current controls are mapped to.
- Need some way to save and export the total mapping regardless of how many different DAWs are simultaneously in the map.
Sounds like an unenviable task.
* If you can do all these things in 1 unit, it would be worth £500-£600 in my opinion. May need to throw in a 4 or 5 octave keyboard too, with pitchbend and modulation controllers, velocity control etc.
* If you can do all these things but it would mean buying 2 units, it would be worth £250 max in my opinion. No keyboard.