Your Ideal Controller – What features would it have ?

Here is what I would love to see built as a controller

1. Size should be about that of an S4. Any bigger and it starts to become a pain in the ass to move any smaller and it starts to become a bit cramp for those with bigger fingers.

2. Should be made of metal. I know with the advancements in technology plastics have come along way and are strong enough to do the job. But there is just something about having something made of metal that says it will last.

3. Should have connectivity for almost anything within reason. It should have at least 2 line inputs, phono inputs, mic inputs as well as actual midi ports and of course USB. Also it should have balanced outputs (preferably XLR), balanced booth outputs, RCA master & record…having an effects loop would be nice but not a necessity.

4. It should have a standalone mixer built in. I hate the idea of having all audio route through the computer. That’s just more stuff it has to process…and for what? Not to mention the potential for computer problems.

5. Power supply should be built in with a simple “D” plug to power it. That way if I should forget my power lead i can find one from almost anywhere. No USB powered controllers…just another thing to tax the computer with (or at the very least give me the option of how to power it…mains or USB)

6. It should have meters for every channel. I love how Vestax did it in the VCI-400 built into the fader…genius. As well as a separate master meter.

7. It should be plug and play and all transport and EFX controls should be mapped one to one to a particular software but should also remain a true Midi device so that it can be used with other software.

8. It should also have a centralized 4 x 4 bank of mappable buttons along with 4 additional knobs so that you can map additional commands if you want. (sort of a controller inside the controller)

9. It should have a strip search feature for searching through tracks quickly.

10. It should have two versions made. one that you need a computer for and one that has a computer built into it (most likely a windows machine) This computer will be configured specifically for running DVS software. The back of the unit will include VGA ports for a monitor and multiple USB ports. Also ontop of the unit will have a trackball for navigating the screen.

11. Price should be somewhere around $800 – 1200

That’s my take on what a controller should have.

I’m lost. What’s the benefit of an Innofader on a midi device?

Maybe I’m missing something, but unless there’s an analog sound coming through the fader, there doesn’t seem to be any reason for a high-end fader on a midi control. Just a slider that had a good feel.

1. FULLY customisable Midi messages.
By fully I mean things such as:
a. what midi message a button transmits (type: CC value/note/program change/stepped Midi CC parameter mode/custom message, maximum value, minimum value (for stepped too), ability to invert min-max, toggle or push-button behaviour)
b. what midi message a knob/fader transmits (type: CC value/note/program change/custom message, maximum value, minimum value, ability to invert min-max, ability to change sensitivity according to acceleration, ability to send pre-defined messages according to position). Also ability to change behaviour of led-rings (typical, inverted, pan, spread, 2 leds lit when value in middle of two leds)

2. FULLY update-able controls
If its a button, feature a led to show current status even when changing the related software parameter
If its a knob, led rings to show current status even when changing the related software parameter
If its a fader, motorised to show current status even when changing the related software parameter

3. Ability to have endless or typical knobs
Providing two sets of replaceable caps for knobs where one set’s caps will feature a “tooth” so that these caps provide typical knobs (with end points, and a litle “tick” in the middle position) and the other set of caps to provide endless rotary knobs (no tooth to stop at the end points)

4.Dedicated software for SETTING THE ABOVE
To edit all the options above – using the hardware device to set all these things is cumbersome, a dedicated software which connects with the hardware and presents all the above settings and options in a clean, intuitive “WYSIWYG” editor
– click button A on the dedicated editor, type Midi CC no and other options and voila, the button A on the hardware does what you set it to)

5. Presets of transmitting messages
To change on the fly, the above settings, thus multiplying the actual parameters you can control in your software. Ability to receive changed parameters of one preset even when another one is active so that when you return to that first preset, the controls are updated with the new parameters in the software. Mackie emulation mode would also be a plus.

6. Generic layout approach
Fed by todays leading DJing-live performance software not so much visually but more like the amount of controls available matching the amount of controls needed for a typical-advanced DJ-live performance set up.
example: I dont care if the faders are placed according to where they are in the software, Im more concerned if the amount of faders available on the hardware can cover all my decks/tracks needs in my software.

My “utopic” hardware layout
Main section
Top section: 8 motorised faders
middle section: 3 rows of 8 buttons
lowest section: 3 rows of 8 knobs with push-button

sideways section: a group of 4-8 buttons for general operations, two buttons to change presets of what the “main section” and sideways section group controls do
(presets being what you can set in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 via dedicated software of paragraph 4)

Generally speaking I’d prefer a more “studio mixer”-look-alike than a typical “DJ mixer”-look-alike controller.

7. Price
With the above features, no soundcard built-in Id buy it for 300 – 350 euros.

8. Build Quality

mr stifffy, post: 8710 wrote: I prefare a cross fader knob, but I dont scratch so knob works good for me, nice slow controlled blends 🙂

You can always map any knob to act as a crossfader. I don`t think controllers will change the crossfader slider for a knob. Since I don’t scratch either, maybe it would be a good idea for me to try the knob option as well (cuz I never did). 😀