Which Midi Controller Do You Think Will Be A Classic in 5yrs

[glitchrock-buddha]

Like others have said as well, midi controllers will never be classic. They don't make sound. Being that they are just controllers there will always be better ones around the corner, or at least better ways of controlling sound in a computer or sound module. That being said, the doepfer drehbank seems like a bit of a classic, only because nothing else has come out to have a reasonably compact 4 X 16 knob matrix. And it's really a very useful layout.

[channelite]

Are today's made in China midi controllers designed to last that long?

[condra]

[8O]

Seconded.

[thefinger]

zendrums.

totally.

[Cool Character]

There will almost definitely be classic MIDI controllers in 5/10/20 years.

Here's what I think the criteria will be like:
--Which controllers currently have great build quality VS cost.
--Which will be easy to drop in better computers to (better functions / more accurate than 0/127).
--Which are likely to drop in quality VS cost being manufactured in the future.
--Which are being made now that might not have any equivalent made in the future.

There's definitely gonna be something that manufacturers will slack on in the future, and something that's being made today will be sought after for it. And for the people saying controllers can't be classic because they don't make sound, consider guitars. How well a guitar plays doesn't depend on sound alone, but how it FEELS when you play it. For us, the feel of an instrument depends on the controller.

[adventurepants_]

There will almost definitely be classic MIDI controllers in 5/10/20 years.

Here's what I think the criteria will be like:
--Which controllers currently have great build quality VS cost.
--Which will be easy to drop in better computers to (better functions / more accurate than 0/127).
--Which are likely to drop in quality VS cost being manufactured in the future.
--Which are being made now that might not have any equivalent made in the future.

There's definitely gonna be something that manufacturers will slack on in the future, and something that's being made today will be sought after for it. And for the people saying controllers can't be classic because they don't make sound, consider guitars. How well a guitar plays doesn't depend on sound alone, but how it FEELS when you play it. For us, the feel of an instrument depends on the controller.

The analogy doesnt hold for me. I wouldnt own a guitar that feels wonderful, but sounds awful. Plus you cant compare a dumb controller, and an instrument.

A guitars primary function is to provide sweet sound, not to feel nice.

99% of controllers have less feedback, feel and resolution than a standard mechanical piano keyboard. We are still going backwards in terms of providing control over sound electronically. You could press a button on a 909/MPC and produce a kick sound 30 years ago. You can do that today on any midi controller. How have we moved forward exactly?

The only progress has really been software based, ie automap, monome apps etc.

[Cool Character]

There will almost definitely be classic MIDI controllers in 5/10/20 years.

Here's what I think the criteria will be like:
--Which controllers currently have great build quality VS cost.
--Which will be easy to drop in better computers to (better functions / more accurate than 0/127).
--Which are likely to drop in quality VS cost being manufactured in the future.
--Which are being made now that might not have any equivalent made in the future.

There's definitely gonna be something that manufacturers will slack on in the future, and something that's being made today will be sought after for it. And for the people saying controllers can't be classic because they don't make sound, consider guitars. How well a guitar plays doesn't depend on sound alone, but how it FEELS when you play it. For us, the feel of an instrument depends on the controller.

The analogy doesnt hold for me. I wouldnt own a guitar that feels wonderful, but sounds awful. Plus you cant compare a dumb controller, and an instrument.

A guitars primary function is to provide sweet sound, not to feel nice.

99% of controllers have less feedback, feel and resolution than a standard mechanical piano keyboard. We are still going backwards in terms of providing control over sound electronically. You could press a button on a 909/MPC and produce a kick sound 30 years ago. You can do that today on any midi controller. How have we moved forward exactly?

The only progress has really been software based, ie automap, monome apps etc.

The thing with a guitar, though, is that the question "how does the neck feel?" is a VERY important one. Maybe more important than how it sounds when it comes to electric guitars, where swapping pickups can make the difference between sounding like trash and a million bucks.

Controllers still have less feedback and accuracy than a standard keyboard, for sure. And a lot of the older ones feel better than most stuff you can get today, especially dollar for dollar. It makes those keyboards sought after, much like something made well now could be sought after in 10 years.

I do think we're moving forward, even if some older stuff is better, though. You can press a button on a drum machine to produce a sound 30 years ago, but those sounds were limited to 3 velocities on a very dynamic drum machine by those days' standards. Nowadays, the norm is at least 128 values. Definite step forward.

The monome itself, or rather a grid-based controller is pretty awesome progress in itself. Other examples are those Axis harmonic table controllers, turntable mimicking controllers, touchscreens, microtonal instruments... but I'm kinda straying from my argument now.

What I think will make classic midi controllers in the future (and I think we have classics among us already, like how certain people are wild for the pitch stick on a Nord), is gonna depend very much on how they feel. Computers are getting cheaper by the day, and stuffing a new brain into an old controller that feels nice is gonna be so cheap, there's no way it's not gonna happen all the time.