UC-33 or Korg MicroKontrol?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 1:58 am

What Behringer now need to make is a 4 octave full size semi weighted keyboard controller - akin to the Remote Extreme but obviously @ 2/3rds less the current market price and then really let the cat among the pidgeons.
And if anyone from Korg is here a USB KaosPadII that shunted the signal out and back into the PC via USB for bounce down ,clip recording and you'd be laughing

........
PS: I downloade the Reason DEMO and I"m hooked.
Sounds way better than I thought it would .
Subtractor does digital thin in a really cool way far better than it does analog emulation (I mean this as a compliment) ...
Maelstrom rocks..
The drums thump if you tweek them right.
The CV/GATE - AUDIO and Splitters etc are amazing.
20 minutes till the dmo cuts out.
Well 40 minutes was enough to convince me I want it

....
Reason , Live ,Field Recordings ,Soundforge and some live bass mmmm sounds like it could be cookin' on the ole laptop

.

Buleriachk · Post by **Buleriachk** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 6:04 am

I said this in another thread, but the Prodikeys DM arrived today; although the keys transmit midi note data, the volume and pitch bend do not - why in hell Creative left that out is beyond me.

The mini-keys are about like the microKontrol, so I guess it is worth it for that, but I'll need to dedicate a knob on the UC-33e to control tempo.

Nuts.... other than that, build quality seems fine for what it is....

Rx · Post by Rx » Thu Feb 26, 2004 2:11 pm

Buleriachk wrote:although the keys transmit midi note data, the volume and pitch bend do not - why in hell Creative left that out is beyond me.

i wonder what makes a company come with a product with a useless function like that. reminds me of the PCR-30, whose original specs involved all knobs/sliders sending CC messages in increments of 3. exactly who did they think would buy it and be happy with that?

The Hulk · Post by **The Hulk** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 2:45 pm

I'm thinking of replacing my UC-33 and Edirol PCR-30 with the Micro Kontrol. What do you guys think? I know i'm sacrificing a bunch of knobs, but I get an extra octave on the keyboard, same amount of faders, cool lcd's, pads!!, enough knobs for panning. I only use the keyboard as a keyboard as a compositional tool so i don't think the small keys would bother me. i guess my effects send control will suffer, but i could always get that smaller evolution knob controller if i need it (although the whole point is to downsize/consolidate). Can anyone think of a reason why this might not be a good idea? I'm hoping the Micro Kontrol is as easy to use with Live as the UC-33 is (Edirol had some setup difficulty, but i got the fix on this forum).

Buleriachk · Post by **Buleriachk** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 5:14 am

BTW, it is very easy to map Ableton loops to the Prodikeys keyboard, and having the computer keyboard and the MIDI keyboard is really effective, especially in conjunction with the UC-33e as the second controller.

Rx · Post by Rx » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:50 am

The Hulk wrote:I'm thinking of replacing my UC-33 and Edirol PCR-30 with the Micro Kontrol. What do you guys think? I know i'm sacrificing a bunch of knobs, but I get an extra octave on the keyboard, same amount of faders, cool lcd's, pads!!, enough knobs for panning. I only use the keyboard as a keyboard as a compositional tool so i don't think the small keys would bother me. i guess my effects send control will suffer, but i could always get that smaller evolution knob controller if i need it (although the whole point is to downsize/consolidate). Can anyone think of a reason why this might not be a good idea? I'm hoping the Micro Kontrol is as easy to use with Live as the UC-33 is (Edirol had some setup difficulty, but i got the fix on this forum).

i just got a microKontrol, having gone through an Evolution pre-USB 2 octave controller, an Oxy 8 and a PCR-30/Doepfer Pocket Dial combo. i like the mK the best so far, and while i am interested in getting a Behringer BCR2000, i am not certain yet that i need it. i haven't played with the mK and Live that much yet, mainly because i have been making scenes (the korg name for 'presets') for my various vsti. still, i have no doubts that this would be a fine controller for Live. for someone who is not a piano player, the extra keys are a godsend. i have written a full review of the mK - you can check it out at http://www.em411.com/show.php?area=hardware&area_id=184

montrealbreaks · Post by **montrealbreaks** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 1:00 pm

Rx wrote: i just got a microKontrol, having gone through an Evolution pre-USB 2 octave controller, an Oxy 8 and a PCR-30/Doepfer Pocket Dial combo. i like the mK the best so far, and while i am interested in getting a Behringer BCR2000, i am not certain yet that i need it. i haven't played with the mK and Live that much yet, mainly because i have been making scenes (the korg name for 'presets') for my various vsti. still, i have no doubts that this would be a fine controller for Live. for someone who is not a piano player, the extra keys are a godsend. i have written a full review of the mK - you can check it out at http://www.em411.com/show.php?area=hardware&area_id=184

Nice review.

If Korg makes a full size version with two octaves and the same pads / sliders / knobs, I will sell my Remote 25 and Akai MPD-16 in a second. I would pay a mint for something like that.

Ya, I know that earlier in this thread I said I wouldn't get an MPD-16. I was wrong, I was too weak willed with too much credit.

L8er
Montrealbreaks

Rx · Post by Rx » Fri Apr 30, 2004 4:04 pm

how are the pads on the MPD-16? enquiring minds want to know.

montrealbreaks · Post by **montrealbreaks** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 5:37 pm

Rx wrote:how are the pads on the MPD-16? enquiring minds want to know.

Responsive and immediate. Which is good. Because they don't travel as far as keys go, I find them FAR superior for percussion.

That is to say, if I were to use the black n whites on my ReMote 25 for percussion, I would have to press the key down about three eigths of an inch before a trigger was sent. This makes percussion a pain, and I found it hard to get good timing. The MPD-16's pads has solved this problem quite well, eliminating the latency caused by key travel time.

They're a little hard for my taste, I expected them to be "rubberyer", but then again, I got used to 'em fairly soon. I didn't know how rubbery is normal, and it's hard to judge by pictures. I bought mine online, so I didn't play with it before hand.

The pads could have been a little bigger, but they are big enough to do the job. The pictures on the internet make this thing look big, like an MPC-1000 or something - it isn't, this is a TINY unit.

You can set it so the pads transmit actual velocity from 1-127, or in 16 steps from 1-127 (good for percussion, I use this) or full bore velocity, in that 127 is transmitted no matter how hard or soft you hit the pads. This would is useful for things like a kick drum in a house track, or for triggering phrases. My rule of thumb is use the incremental 16 step mode for individual drum hits, and the full on mode for triggering loops.

What lacks is the ability to mix n' match the velocity modes across different pads. If you can do this, then I don't know how. Also, I would have liked to be able to set a velocity range (min and or max velocity transmitted), and have different velocity curves (logarithmic, exponential, linear, S, etc). I would LOVE these features. I hardly ever want to transmit a low velocity like from 1 - 25 or so, and to set a minimum 26 would have been useful. I guess I am just spoiled by the ReMote, where it has a LOT of these programming options.

Again, if these options available, I don't know how to get 'em...

L8er
Montrealbreaks

Rx · Post by Rx » Fri Apr 30, 2004 5:52 pm

nice commentary - i'll be sure to pass the info on to a friend who is very keen on acquiring an MPD-16.

gel-sol · Post by **gel-sol** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 9:32 pm

I have a remote 25 and its worked like a charm so far.

I use just about every fader and knob on the thing. The XY pad is great too. well worth the money.

Yer Pal,
Gel-Sol
www.gel-sol.com

six_wax · Post by **six_wax** » Sat May 01, 2004 9:01 pm

another endorsement of the ReMote25. Just wish I could find a carrying case...

rajcoont · Post by **rajcoont** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:09 pm

how do you remote owners get the x-y trackpad working in live? i cant get it to work worth a damn for automating live fx, it always resets the to be assigned 'y' to 'x'

six_wax · Post by **six_wax** » Sun May 02, 2004 4:24 pm

you can either assign 2 other knobs to the same ccs that the trackpad uses for assignment (hint: you could even put these on a seperate template), or with a steady hand, you can move along the edge of the trackpad for assigning either axis...

aside:

template switching on the ReMote is something I've just recently discovered...

e.g. create a master template & copy to the next 4 template locations, then change *only the slider assignments* such that the sliders on template 1 control track volume for 8 tracks, the sliders on template2 control send1 on the same 8 tracks, sliders on template3 control send2, etc. You can even title the templates such that the LCD display tells you which one you're on... then just template-select up or down to whichever you want at the moment... put the sliders in 'pickup' mode to prevent the values from jumping when you grab them...

stupid-cool degree of flexibility in the ReMote... I hear you can do some neat tricks with the Korg, too...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 02, 2004 7:01 pm

six_wax wrote:another endorsement of the ReMote25. Just wish I could find a carrying case...

Gator makes a mini keyboard bag that fits the microkontrol. It should fit a ReMote 25 too, but check just in case.

http://www.gatorcases.com

L8er
Montrealbreaks

UC-33 or Korg MicroKontrol?

go with the Remote 25