Beginner Controllerism Setup

So it depends on how much of a geek you are — into taking the time to map all the controls to various parts of your software, which is where id begin. What software are you using. The software will determine probably 80% of your controller decisions.

And the software is detentions day what you what to do — play an analog or midi instrument live (MainStage), produce (Live, Logic), perform with structured loops (Live), mix tracks (Serato, Traktor).

Of course thisnisna rough description and all these sort of hybrid — you can play loops in MainStage which is the most sophisticated of the controller interfaces and yet not too loop production friendly but cheap and very good sound.

I’d start off with the software and control it with your mouse and keyboard (all keyboards are controllers!) and then that will put you on a situation where you have the need for a control that isn’t available and then you’ll have some purpose in your purchase. You may really want a jog wheel and use it to do something totally different. I have the Apogee GiO and use the expression pedal mapped to multiple controls — you can is that as a cross fader on your foot for example.

(i mentioned MainStage because no one else will. It’s more popular with live performers of guitars and keyboards, but for $30 you get all of Logic Pro X’s plugins, synths and loops. The arpegeator is deep, the synths great, the drum machine/sequencer nice. It’s basically a digital mixer with ‘unlimited’ buss routing and layering and instance recall of customizable presets and the best controller GUI that I’ve used and I had CuBase on the Atari ST in like 1985.

You get all the plugins from Logic Pro X in Mainstage??? All 40GB of them? Didn’t know that..

My copy of Mainstage (1!) came with my copy of Logic Pro 8 and it is one of the worst user interfaces I have ever used. DOn’t know about the latest version though.. I certainly have never even considered it as anything more than something to play around on and I nearly always end up using full on logic by the end of the session.. Can’t stand it..

To the OP:
(To add on what the previous person has said)

I would definitely choose your software first. The vast majority of controllers are designed to work with specific software (The Novation Launchpad with Ableton Live for example) and therefore what software you use will have a huge impact on the hardware that you buy.

You have listed a frankly huge list to here’s my brief opinion on them..

JB SYSTEM BPM 4USB – Never heard of it. From google it looks like a cheap DJ mixer. I wouldn’t buy – not sure you need a mixer anyway – and surely you would want one with a soundcard built in if you did?

Akiyama MCE 4 USB – Same as above.

Akiyama MCE 3 USB – Same as above – as well as me being even more skeptical as I have never seen a 3x Stereo channel mixer before.. odd.

Allen Heath XONE 22 – The first bit of pro-level equipment on this list. Decent, well known mixer. Only 2 channels though – you need to decide how many channels you want before you buy a mixer (if you even want one?)

Allen Heath XONE 10 – This looks like a controllerists’s dream. Completely midi mappable (but with jogs?). You would need to have the know-how to program your software to use this to it’s full potential. Allen and Heath gear is always good quality. (PS I think you mean the XONE 1D – Am I right? XONE 10 came up with nothing on google..)

Behringer CMD DV1 – Cheaper end of the scale but similar to the above controller. Looks like a mini effects control unit but with some extra buttons? I wouldn’t personally buy due to the Behringer badge (bad experiences) but possibly good as a controller.

Behringer CMD DC1 – Similar to above but with less rotaries and more pads. Basically just a lot of buttons for you to program – couldn’t your laptop’s keyboard do this for now?? I wouldn’t personally buy due to the Behringer badge (bad experiences) but possibly good as a controller.

Kontrol X1 – Native Instruments hardware. Dedicated Traktor control unit. MK1 or 2? Worth knowing. Basically an effects control unit for traktor with some transport controls included.

Kontrol Z1 – Native Instruments hardware. Dedicated Traktor control unit. Built in audio interface and software mixer controls. Filter/EQ controls as well. I wouldn’t buy this and a dedicated mixer – they do much the same thing.

Traktor F1 – Native Instruments hardware. Dedicated Traktor control unit. Remix deck/sampler controller. Nit much use for anything else – only buy if you use Traktor remix decks.

I would advise against buying any of the NI hardware if you don’t use Traktor. Just as I would advise against using any other manufacturer’s controller with Traktor..

That’s my summary. It is an odd and mismatched list that gives the impression that you need to go out and do some research into what you want from your software and, indeed, your hardware.

Decide on software first – whether you want to use Ableton Live, Traktor, Serato, Virtual DJ or Cross DJ. Download some software trials and decide. Then you might know what hardware you need and how you will set it all up.

bob6397