New Ableton Controller 16 knobs dedicated with screen

[Shokol8]

I hope next move for ableton will be a dedicated 16 knob controller for devices with 16 knobs native group rack! I already got Push 1, so I don't really fancy to spend another 500 bucks yet! And a good thing I loved in apc40 was all these knobs! really easy to play with on the fly!
And that's what I would love the next ableton controller to be!
So you could get into deep synthesis with instrument , or subtle effects with effects racks, without having to look at your screen!
And that would be as useful for production as for live session!
16 knobs with a little screen each,2 toggle switch on/off (ex:for filter, lfo switch) 2 arrows to navigate between racks, 2 arrows to navigate between tracks, a device on/off button, a shift button for further option, undo & redo button
(optional1: pitch and mod wheel stripes, and a XY pad, 2 more knobs for send A/B)
(optional2: ribbon keyboard)
And they could work in partnership with vst company to make it compatible with their midi controller, so you will be able to control straight a vst/AU, when loaded!
That would be the perfect mix and match with ableton Push, and you could really feel Ableton as an entire instrument, with both these controllers!

Maybe some days my wish will be realised, and they could call it 'Ableton Tweak' the perfect companion for Push! ;D

(fast sketch of it https://www.dropbox.com/s/o633c9cm7t9o6 ... 4.png?dl=0 )

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Honestly, nope. Not because I think will do the job but 16 encoders to me is just not enough.

The market is missing a good controller for synths, first it has to have a familiar layout, led rings and other way to give feedback. Screens are great but they kind of mess up with the layout.

I know all synths have something different and that many stuff probably can't be covered, still all synths have: oscilators, filters, envelopes and modulation. SO a basic design with at elast 32 encoders would be possible.

For example, something like this:



Maybe not that many controls, but enough buttons to make it usable. Something along those lines is what I belive is really missing. I Don't think Ableton would do it, I think NI could be the one, or maybe novation.

[Shokol8]

I do agree that 32 will be better,if you dedicate let's say 4 knobs per row! I mean by row, section! like oscillator section, amp adsr, filter adsr, filter1 (cutoff , Res.)+ LFO1 (rate, amount), pitch section, amp section, FX section, modulation section.
But you still need to think,that this controller will apply to macros from audio/midi group rack too, not only to synth or VST!
And in a way, less, is more!
That's why I proposed 16 knobs, but with arrows to navigate through the parameter pages/sections (that's why you need the screens to know where you at), or to work straight with 16 macro parameters, that you would have configured!
It will be definitely more orientated for ableton, but will still be third part vst friendly!
Then Ableton will have to work, or explain to third part the architecture for them to integrate their VST function with the 'Tweak"

The prototype you show, is very nice tho, and be a good inspiration for the making of 'Tweak'
It made me forget that you would need a screen to let you know the name of the sub-group too, so you could also navigate up and down the chain subgroup, and maybe some hot button (a bit like hot cue) to recall which sub-group you want to control,and jump straight to them rather than to navigate, so you will be able to access the 16 macros of every subgroup independantly!
And maybe next to each other a select and on/off button , plus a knob to navigate between parameter, that are not using knobs, and off course a screen for the info with it! ( so you will be able to select waveform in ableton operator for example).
And all button could have a differents purpose while pressing shift, so maybe having 2 differents shifts (colored) buttons, will leave more room for the future features and updates!

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Personallypush currently handles pretty well everything for me except instruments, either live ones or third party plug ins. The main proble for me is that 8 just doesnt cut it, and I am not a fan of jumping through so many pages. Your controller for me will give me the same headache.

I firmly believe that the alyout of the controller is very important to give a good experience, something that resemble a synth would work far better.

[Shokol8]

I get what you mean, from my point I still think that jumping from 16 to 16 parameters will be still a fair deal!
If you then only want it for instrument, especially VST, that's where I think ableton should work with VST company (in the way they let them touch the script)and let the company map the most obvious parameter that you 'll need first! I mean even massive could not translate as an hardware, without patch cable and without being seriously expensive, so a controller that could gibe you the possibility to exploit the most obvious parameter first, and the less obvious ones with one or two jump, will still be great for sound design! It will give you the feel to touch the sound you are making, if latency isn't an issue!
But don't worry I am not trying to convert you, I got your point! ;D

[Syver]

Roland's System 1 makes a very good controller

[Shokol8]

yeah system system 1 will be my go for if i buy a new synth, you can upload vst within it, I dunno if they are all compatible or just the roland one, but the sounds are already so nice!

[Matt_Quinn]

I'd like to see Ableton do one of two things:

1) Make a Nocturn-like 8 knob/8 button controller that automatically maps to a rack's macros like the APC40 device controls. Bonus points if they could be daisy chained for signal + power, and racked. I'd love to have a rack full of Macro controllers that could be locked to various devices. If you could retail them for under $100, I bet lots of people would buy a couple. It's like the only part of the original APC that hasn't been split off into it's own controller, which is nuts.

2) Allow user designed rack macro controls instead of always having 8 knobs. Touchable is brilliant for this. You can just build a controller out of knobs, buttons, sliders, X/Y pads, etc. It would be really nice if you could represent whatever your personal controller of choice is on screen in Live instead of trying to match sliders and buttons etc to knobs.


Basically I just want what I see on screen to have a 1:1 relationship with my hardware whenever possible. If Abes is committed to 8 knob macros as the main method of controlling everything, they should make some native hardware designed to do that seamlessly.

[Shokol8]

I'd like to see Ableton do one of two things:

1) Make a Nocturn-like 8 knob/8 button controller that automatically maps to a rack's macros like the APC40 device controls. Bonus points if they could be daisy chained for signal + power, and racked. I'd love to have a rack full of Macro controllers that could be locked to various devices. If you could retail them for under $100, I bet lots of people would buy a couple. It's like the only part of the original APC that hasn't been split off into it's own controller, which is nuts.

2) Allow user designed rack macro controls instead of always having 8 knobs. Touchable is brilliant for this. You can just build a controller out of knobs, buttons, sliders, X/Y pads, etc. It would be really nice if you could represent whatever your personal controller of choice is on screen in Live instead of trying to match sliders and buttons etc to knobs.


Basically I just want what I see on screen to have a 1:1 relationship with my hardware whenever possible. If Abes is committed to 8 knob macros as the main method of controlling everything, they should make some native hardware designed to do that seamlessly.

Yeah touchable and lemur are quite good for that, but its such an hassle to setup, plus the you need to build your own template, I never went past the setup, the template s too much skills, knowledge and time consuming for me, I could not even succeed to install a user template to, at least, have a try. I guess, once you set up, it's must be a must, but I got no time for it right now unfortunately.
It might be simpler anyway in the near future to setup, and maybe some very good generic template will created, or the interface will be more intuitive, it's definitely part of the future, I mean tablets are gonna play a huge role in the near future as they will get more and more powerful.