Ultimate Live controller

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 7:48 pm

agreed.

i like the fact that everything besides the bottom steel plate on the UC33 is made of plastic. it has a blanced weight to it, yet its not HEAVY. can't ask for more then that when travelling. I've been over stuffing my carry on bags for years and this is one of the few things i've carried on that has knobs that hasn't gotten bent or broken.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:19 pm

My god.. 14 bit values on the behringer controller products make for one hell of a smoove ride...blinking lights (no need to look at PC most of the time) pots that act as push buttons.. lots of other push buttons... some more LED's and a solid case.. USB and MIDI and acts as a midi interface... jeebus creepus

minimal · Post by **minimal** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:25 pm

sweetjesus wrote:My god.. 14 bit values on the behringer controller products make for one hell of a smoove ride...blinking lights (no need to look at PC most of the time) pots that act as push buttons.. lots of other push buttons... some more LED's and a solid case.. USB and MIDI and acts as a midi interface... jeebus creepus

so you would say behringer did something which can be trusted?
Not ironic here, just I only had bad experience with behringer gear so far (compressor, EQ and fx)

tylast · Post by **tylast** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:40 am

Check out the thread of the Faderfox LV1 here. I just posted a link to my review of it in that thread.

monarkeys · Post by **monarkeys** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 4:48 am

Why would the note ons necessarily create havoc on a midi track? Couldn't you just isolate the midi input on the drop down so it only accepts messages from the keyboard you're using for live playing. Then with the midi monitor switched off the Faderfox will only trigger midi clips on that track as opposed to triggering the plug in direct. Even if you forgot to switch the midi monitor off the worst that would happen is that the Faderfox would launch the recording of an empty midi clip. Or am I missing something? Next money I have is going on 2 X LV1s.....

I was thinking that all MIDI messages would be coming in on the same MIDI port - I would just plug the faderfox into my midi keyboard which is connected to the computer via USB.
In that case, there would be the problem that MIDI notes would need to go to the virtual instrument. If you assign notes to a clip, then those notes get filtered out and never reach the instrument. You could separate things by channel, but then you'd need two MIDI channels per Live channel.

I hadn't thought about the fact that you might be able to set up a separate MIDI input and use that for all the controller functions...

My idea was that what I'd really like to do is set things up so that one channel strip of live is all controlled by a single MIDI channel.
Hopefully I can set things up so that I can change one control that selects a MIDI channel, and that gives me control over a virtual instrument, with all of the track arming controls and clip start/stop for that instrument. I also want the knobs to control the effects for that instrument, and hopefully be able to send program changes to that instrument - so I can quickly switch from one instrument to another by changing the MIDI channel.

Upon further digging - it is in fact possible to do as you suggest - I can plug one MIDI device into the MIDI in on my USB keyboard and use that for control functions while using the USB keyboard to play the virtual instrument - cool!
I have all my MIDI devices listening to all inputs on any channel and it still works because you're only monitoring the one that's armed. I can use the montior and OVR button to control whether or not I record more stuff into the clip.

That helps a lot.

redrabbit · Post by **redrabbit** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 6:59 am

>
I've got my eye(s) on this one:

http://www.audiomidi.com/common/cfm/pro ... m?pid=2993

does sequencing too!

=RR=

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 7:23 am

minimal wrote:
sweetjesus wrote:My god.. 14 bit values on the behringer controller products make for one hell of a smoove ride...blinking lights (no need to look at PC most of the time) pots that act as push buttons.. lots of other push buttons... some more LED's and a solid case.. USB and MIDI and acts as a midi interface... jeebus creepus
so you would say behringer did something which can be trusted?
Not ironic here, just I only had bad experience with behringer gear so far (compressor, EQ and fx)

Yeah totally. . . mainly because the product doesnt touch the signal path in any way. The build quality and functionality are well thought out. I think Behringer knew they could capitalise on this market if they delivered and I think this one's a homerun...

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 7:46 am

you know this sounds wierd...
but anyone ever think of using the Behringer Eurolight Lighting DMX controller for Live?

my VJ friend told me it would do the job just fine, as it has midi. at least the faders would. and audiomidi.com has it listed in their midi surface controllers section. Only thing he was unsure about was using the buttons, as they are DMX flash buttons and would typically change all the fader values. he wasn't sure if that could be disabled and the buttons could just send a CC# message.

but i'm sure anything's possible. and its only $199.

Complete with BNC light jack for those dark dusty clubs.
http://audiomidi.com/common/cfm/product.cfm?pid=4244#

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 8:08 am

okay, just saw the midi implementation chart. With MidiOX for Windows (not sure about mac, but Plogue Bidule may do), you could definitely make this thing do what you want.

i went ahead and made a .jpg of the midi implementation chart for those who dont want to download the 4.5MB .pdf manual.

here it is:
http://www.djadamjay.com/files/4244_Midi.jpg

think i may grab one of these next month.

rensonic · Post by **rensonic** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 8:47 am

Have y'all seen this one?

Wave Idea's Bitstream 3x

Looks very LIVE friendly. They even sell it bundled with Live. It is currently out of stock, though...

I'd love to get my hands on that one. I currently have an M-Audio Radium 61 and an Oxygen8. I'm lacking KNOBS!!! Knobs is what i need.

Probably an X-session could be a good cost effective choice.

What do you guys say?

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 8:56 am

knobs?
maybe you'd be interested in...
http://www.doepfer.de/db_hr.htm

rensonic · Post by **rensonic** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 9:29 am

64 knobs! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Thanks AJ. See? You guys in Europe have the best stuff.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:34 pm

I'd personally like the Korg MicroKontroller, it has 8 faders, 8 pots, 12 pads, and even comes with a 'lite' version of Live 4. Get the Korg Legacy suite also and you'd have nice integration with some quality synths that lend themselves nicely to Live IMO. If I didn't already have 2 controller2, I'd definitely get one, since space is a huge factor for me, and mini-keys are fine for a lot of what I do.

ncw · Post by **ncw** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:38 pm

braj wrote:I'd personally like the Korg MicroKontroller, it has 8 faders, 8 pots, 12 pads, and even comes with a 'lite' version of Live 4. Get the Korg Legacy suite also and you'd have nice integration with some quality synths that lend themselves nicely to Live IMO. If I didn't already have 2 controller2, I'd definitely get one, since space is a huge factor for me, and mini-keys are fine for a lot of what I do.

It looks wicked. I almost bought one, but space was an issue. and then I found faderfox...

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 2:38 pm

I have a microkontrol, and it works great for my live sets, though the mini keys are starting to annoying as I use it more and more for writing tunes. I plan on selling it and getting the Bitstream 3x for live use, and M-Audio o2 for writing duties.

The Korg is definitely cool, very well built too. But it's too long to fit in my laptop backpack, and I need more controls now for the live set. I wish they made a version without the keybaord and with 2 more rows of knobs