Ableton should produce an Operator midi controller

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
basho
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Ableton should produce an Operator midi controller

Post by basho » Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:49 am

Operator is a beautiful synth. If Ableton released a 199.99 hardware controller for it I believe it would be successful. Seeing that the Operator controller is a success would lead them to build 199.99 controllers for other elements of the Live DAW.

You would then be able to sit down to a laptop and 3-4 dedicated controllers and get to work just like in a hardware studio.

Imagine a 5 effect Ableton midi controller. It would be a like a Serge module only in midi controller format. Everything laid out and labeled. You plug it in and go to work on the fun stuff (rather than map everything, label, or try and remember)

Contra
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Re: Ableton should produce an Operator midi controller

Post by Contra » Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:46 pm

basho wrote:Operator is a beautiful synth. If Ableton released a 199.99 hardware controller for it I believe it would be successful. Seeing that the Operator controller is a success would lead them to build 199.99 controllers for other elements of the Live DAW.

You would then be able to sit down to a laptop and 3-4 dedicated controllers and get to work just like in a hardware studio.

Imagine a 5 effect Ableton midi controller. It would be a like a Serge module only in midi controller format. Everything laid out and labeled. You plug it in and go to work on the fun stuff (rather than map everything, label, or try and remember)
man who in their right mind will shell out (id say about average) over 800 bucks for a controller for each ableton instrument? that's about the dumbest shit since George W Bush.

six_o_clock_crow
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Post by six_o_clock_crow » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:04 pm

Welcome to the forum Basho

I don't think this would be a good idea, either economically for Ableton or for users.

Not that I really use soft-synths, but one of the great things about software surely is that you can control lots of things from just the one MIDI controller. Less gear = less space taken up.

Get yourself a Behringer BCR2000 - lots of knobs for little money. You should be able to control lots of Operator parameters with a BCR.
HARDWARE:
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Meef Chaloin
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Post by Meef Chaloin » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:34 pm

I think Henke has commented on why they haven't made a controller after everyone wanted one of his homemade ones. I believe he said something along the lines of - because nearly every ableton user uses the program differently it would be next to impossible to make a design that would be universal enough. I think there's little need for it now with all the cheap (and pretty good) controllers out there, along with the ability to run them in Mackie Control emulation. Any controller can be very powerful these days.

Contra
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Post by Contra » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:08 pm

after reading six's post I wanna say, welcome Basho, and my bad for coming off like a douchebag.

pz
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ollyb303
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Post by ollyb303 » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:54 pm

Hi basho, welcome to the forum...

I don't think this a particularly good idea for similar reasons already mentioned.

You can control Operator with pretty much any midi controller.

And I'm not sure what currency your 199.99 is in, but I picked up my faderfoxes for £180 each and I can do everything I want with them.

Shit, did I spend £540 on midi controllers? Mental!
.:O:B:1:.
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SMonk
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Post by SMonk » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:29 pm

Generic midi controllers are nowhere near as fun to use as the front panel of any reasonably knobbly synth.

That being said, I don't think an operator controller would be profitable. I would probably buy one, though.

andrewbrewer
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Post by andrewbrewer » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:01 pm

i would buy one

Dr Dub
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Post by Dr Dub » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:26 pm

imho, it is no bad idea to have a dedicated midicontroller for a synth or fx.
Just instant fun to use.
Some audio software guys should get in touch with cheap manufacturers of gamepads
and joysticks - this could give some nice possibilities.
Having said this, dedicated controllers should be quite cheap to be attractive.

And to all the folks who think you can do everything with a universal controller - did
you never get lost in trying to map everything you want to control or in trying to remember which poti controls what?

my 2 cents.
Live Suite 9 - MBPR 15 - NI Komplete Audio 6 - Push - Brain - Hands - Melodica

condra
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Post by condra » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:51 pm

Anyone who has used a K-Station to control V-Station will know how brilliant and fun dedicated hardware control is.

The problem seems to be the big companys not being able to agree on any sort of "standard", so we have VST instruments, aswell as midi controllers in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. It pisses me off.

I'm sure I'm not the only forum user here who has never really been able to fully enjoy their VSTs (apart from V-Station) because of shitty midi control.

I think most Live/Operator users would love a deedicated Operator controller for under a hundred bucks, but it's probably not feasable.

sinistral
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Post by sinistral » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:21 pm

the vcm 600 looks like a great all around ableton controller, but a bit pricey

six_o_clock_crow
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Post by six_o_clock_crow » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:35 pm

Looking at the Operator interface though you'd either need a decent LCD screen to imitate the envelope display, or dedicated controls for each of the four oscillators.

I make that a total of 70+ knobs with the global controls too. Then you'd need quite a few buttons, plus some way of going through all the oscillator routing options.

I guess you could have 'oscillator select' buttons and use the same controls for each oscillator to cut down on the required physical controls, but that kind on gets away from the idea of dedicated knobs...

Don't know why I'm pondering this coz it aint ever gonna happen! :D

The solution must be to buy a Lemur, and then you can create your own control layouts for each instrument?
HARDWARE:
Vaio laptop / M-Audio Transit / Zoom H2 /
Alesis M1 Active 520's / Sennheiser EH2200's
Behringer BCR2000 / misc. instruments & toys

SOFTWARE:
Live 7 / Sound Forge Audio Studio

John Sweet
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Post by John Sweet » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:42 pm

Google Sketchup, Arduino, the Doepfer boards, and the midibox together make it easier than ever to customize hardware.

Meanwhile, the laws of economics make it seem foolish for the Abes to get in the hardware business.

Sure, most people can't agree about what hardware they want, but more of us use Operator than any of the other instruments. I started an Operator interface on the Lemur & even though I never completely finished it I feel like going through that process "cracked" Operator for me & helped understand it much better & (more importantly) find new sounds I wouldn't have gotten just by mousing around.

People get in on group buys all the time...what about a group build? Everyone could be sharing designs & we could keep templates & instructions on a wiki or something.

Just a thought. I've built 1 hardware controller before & it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Anybody wanna give it a shot?

John Sweet
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Post by John Sweet » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:48 pm

six_o_clock_crow, we were typing at the same time. Funny you talk about how many controls you'd need. I actually was near running out of memory on the Lemur from using too many things.

A modular approach to the design would be a good idea. People who didn't want to go too crazy could build one oscillator's worth of controls and rig a bank switch, then add a second module for all the global controls. Crazy fools who want full WYSIWYG control of everything on the synth could build 4 oscillator modules and the global module, then put them in a crazy modular synth-type housing.

Here is my 1st operator attempt:

Image

The new objects in the Lemur beta could clean this up a little, but it was already working pretty well.
Last edited by John Sweet on Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

John Sweet
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Post by John Sweet » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:52 pm

Talking about that modular synth-type housing for the supercontroller got me thinking about Simian Mobile Disco's stage rig:

Image

Who knows, maybe even Henke and Suckow would be interested in getting involved in the design a little.

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