In the video below, controllerist Moldover explains, step-by-step, the evolution, design, and building of his custom Mojo MIDI controller:
How to Build A Custom MIDI Controller
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Category Archives: Controllerism
Super Fun Instrument Design With Moldover. Plus – Why MIDI Still Exists!
In the latest episode of the Sound Design Live Podcast, host Nathan Lively talks with controllerist Moldover:
In this episode of Sound Design Live Podcast I talk with electronic instrument designer, musician, and teacher Moldover about designing better human interfaces for music, his super cool circuit board CD, and why the hell MIDI still exists.
Resources:
Neyrink V Control Pro App For iPad
In this video, Russ from airusersblog does a quick demo of the recently updated Neyrink V Control Pro app for iPad.
V-Control Pro is an app that offers a full-featured, multi-touch control surface for Pro Tools, Logic 9, and Cubase/Nuendo. V-Control Pro uses WiFi to control transport, editing, and mixing functions.
V-Control Pro can also control sends, automation, groups, auditioning, plug-ins, jog/scrub/shuttle, I/O assignment and other controls.
‘Uniquely Sick’ Live Finger Drumming (NI Maschine)
This video features a ‘uniquely sick’ live performance by DJ Seap (aka Nigel Sifantus) on the MPC inspired Maschine by Native instruments.
There is no sequencing used. All sounds are created, edited and mapped by SEAP then played live “finger drum” style with no edits.
Equipment used: Ableton Live 8, Native Instruments Massive, the Mouth, and the Finger for sound design, Maschine for performance, and Izotpe ozone plugin for mixdown of the audio.
Music Computing Intros ControlTouch USB Touchscreen Control Keyboards
Music Computing has introduced a new line of touchscreen control keyboards, the ControlTouch 25 & 61.
The ControlTouch controllers combine a traditional keyboard MIDI controller with a touchscreen display.
“The ControlTOUCH was designed to allow the user to focus on a musical instrument instead of a laptop.” Said Victor Wong, CEO, Music Computing, “This is something I strongly believe is important to the creative process.”
- ControlTOUCH 61: The 61-key version provides the following controls and features: 8 velocity sensitive trigger pads, 2X Assignable Pedal Interfaces, 8X Assignable Faders (61-key only), Pitch Bend Wheel and Modulation wheel, 6 Buttons for MTC, Master Volume Fader (61-key only), 8 double Function button with shift, providing 15 functions like (PROGRAM, CHANNEL, CURVE, OCTAVE, TRANSPOSE, BANK M, BANK L, DUAL, SPLIT, MUTE, AFTER TOUCH, CONTROL ASSIGN, etc), 10X numeric pad with +/- buttons, Built-in Memory, which can store/load 6 groups of user’s parameters, MIDI/OUT, and MIDI/IN.
- ControlTOUCH 25: The 25-key version provides the following controls and features: 8 velocity sensitive trigger pads, 2X Assignable Pedal Interfaces, Pitch Bend Wheel and Modulation wheel, 6 Buttons for MTC, 8 double Function button with shift, providing 15 functions like (PROGRAM, CHANNEL, CURVE, OCTAVE, TRANSPOSE, BANK M, BANK L, DUAL, SPLIT, MUTE, AFTER TOUCH, CONTROL ASSIGN, etc), 10X numeric pad with +/- buttons, Built-in Memory, which can store/load 6 groups of user’s parameters, MIDI/OUT, and MIDI/IN.
The ControlTOUCH, with a 10″ touchscreen and is $599 for the 25-key version and $699 for the 61-key version. Check out the details and let us know what you think of the ControlTouch USB Touchscreen controllers!
The ControlTouch is designed for use with Windows 7 or Mac OS X. Simply plug the USB cables into your laptop or desktop and the ControlTOUCH is ready to go for Windows 7. For Mac OS X, just install the included touchscreen driver.
Included with each ControlTOUCH is Music Computing’s SonicSource Producer, a virtual synth (VSTi / AU) containing over 3,000 sounds and equipped with three sample-playing layers, two multi-effect racks, and a library of multi-sampled instruments. The sample playing layers allow blending of waveforms and instruments into a wall of sound or alternatively, the use of the three multi-timbral layers as a workstation. These layers can then be further processed through SonicSource’s powerful multi-effect racks.
Over 8GB of modern and vintage sounds such as those produced by legendary electric keyboards including the Rhodes electric pianos, Hammond and Vox organs, Hohner clavinets, and Moog synthesizers are present as well as effects like tape based delay lines, rotating speaker cabinets, guitar distortion pedals, wah wah, phasing, and flanging are included.
QuNeo Controller Meets Ableton Live (Sneak Preview)
Remember our recent post on the Keith McMillen Instruments QuNeo?
A lot of readers were skeptical about the QuNeo because it’s being funded as a KickStarter (internet collaborative funding) project.
Since we posted on the QuNeo, though, the project has raised $117,000 of its $15,000 goal. So, its development is funded and, as this video demonstrates, the QuNeo promises to be a different type of controller.
All sliders, rotaries and switches are pressure sensitive allowing QuNeo to understand double taps, swipes and other gestures that standard hardware controllers cannot sense.
Or as McMillen puts it, “The 3rd Dimension is very useful.”
The QuNeo is priced at $200. You can find out more about the QuNeo at McMillen’s Kickstarter site.
New Grid Sequencer For Native Instruments Reaktor
IceBreaker Audio has introduced Grid – a new 8×8 matrix sequencer for Native Instruments Reaktor:
GRID is designed to be a sound sequencer, it is neither a drum machine nor a sequenced synthesizer, but some kind of hybrid of the two. GRID was designed to have no tabs and a single set of controls for the sound source.
GRID is a perfect addition for any style of music; it can be bent and twisted into a variety of sounds. It is open to be used in whatever context you wish to use it. From minimal techno, to ambient soundscapes; 8-bit chip tune to distorted glitches – GRID is what you make of it.
Features:
- 8 voice sound sequencer controlled from an animated 8×8 grid
- 42 presets with 4 patterns per preset (a total of 168 patterns)
- Per voice pattern length
- Analog and digital sound generation modes
- 2 modulation step sequencers and an LFO
- Filter and delay effects built in
- “Glitch” controls to add chaos and noise
- Automatic tempo-synchronization when used in a host
- Preconfigured TouchOSC templates for iPad and iPhone
Vestax VCI-400 DJ Controller (Sneak Preview)
DJ Tech Tools’ Ean Golden takes a look at the upcoming Vestax VCI-400 DJ controller.
It’s a pro quality 4-deck USB DJ MIDI controller, set for release later this year.
The Vestax VCI-400 DJ controller is expected to list at $999.
via djtechtools
Dude Plays Three MPCs – With His Face
DiViNCi (producer/MPCist of Solillaquists of Sound) uses 3 MPCs, a guitar sound derived from a snare sample, a homemade talk box, random gadgets and his face in this controllerist jam.
via Controllerism
Native Instruments Intros Maschine Mikro With A Mind-Melting Controllerism Jam
Native Instruments has introduced Maschine Mikro, an entry-level version of its Maschine groove production workstation.
Maschine Mikro is based on a portable controller that provides hands-on control of the central Maschine features, at two-thirds of the size and weight of the full-sized hardware. Utilizing a single display and a dynamically assigned encoder to enable its compact footprint, the bus-powered Mikro controller retains the full-sized 4×4 matrix of pressure-sensitive, dynamically backlit Maschine drum pads.
Above, Jeremy Ellis demonstrates Maschine Mikro with some mind-melting controllerism. Continue reading