I’m researching getting another midi control surface that gives me more controls than I have now with my Korg nanokontrol2.
I see many control surfaces marketed for Ableton integration. I have no interest in Ableton. I just use keyboard controllers with Gig Performer and VSTs.
Should I avoid specific models that seem specifically designed for integration with Ableton? Or, can any surface be used effectively without Ableton and that integration is always optional?
Thanks.
In most of those things, it just means they have predefined messages for the sliders and buttons that are already defined in Ableton.
Really depends on the controller you’re looking at.
The Ableton Push 3 is really designed around Live. There are elements of it that will work with anything, but because most of its expensive capabilities won’t work out of the box with GP it wouldn’t be a good use of your money.
A lot of other controllers have a Mackie MCU emulation mode, and most DAWs (including Live) have built in programming to work with the MCU protocol.
Many of those MCU-compatible controllers will also work outside of MCU-mode, in which case they are configured such that a specific knob sends a specific CC message, a button sends a note-on/note-off message, etc. For most you can program what you want those to be.
If you have a specific control surface or list of them in mind I suspect a few people here have probably used it or tried it with GP and can tell you some pros/cons.
I’m looking for a control surface that has all the controls of the Korg nanoKONTROL2 plus 16 assignable pads. I use the pads to select a calculated rackspace in Gig Performer via widgets and scripting. I currently use two instances of Gig Performer and each gig has similar scripting for performing independent rackspace selection:
First pad hit selects a “bank” and second pad hit selects a “patch” within the bank. Scripting calculates the rackspace selection number.
I’m hoping to use a single control surface that can control the rackspace selection for both GP instances. That means the control surface needs a “device selection” where it will send to the proper MIDI channel or GP instance.
Also important: adopting a central control surface will also make it easier for me to use Rig Manager when I use backline gear that is different from my regular two-tier keyboard controllers.
It’s turned out to be hard finding a control surface with my required number of knobs, faders, buttons, and pads. The following models seem to be the best candidates:
Behringer X-Touch Compact Universal Control Surface
I swore I’d never buy any Behringer products again. My experience with their mixing consoles is they are poorly made and break easily.
Novation Launch Control XL Controller
States “for Ableton Live”
Doesn’t look like it has individual mute and solo buttons unlike the Korg nanoKONTROL2.
Akai has a few different models:
Akai Professional APC40 MKII Pad Controller
Perhaps too many controls for what I need
Akai Professional APC Mini Mk2 Performance Controller
States “for Ableton Live”
Definitely enough pads but no knobs or buttons for individual faders
Akai Professional MPD232|MIDI Drum Pad Controller
Looks good: 16 pads, 8 knobs, 8 faders, 8 buttons but appears to be not available - very strange.
Other models I’ve found don’t have faders or pads.
I have plenty of pads, knobs, buttons, and sliders on my Arturia Mkll-88. They can all be assigned to another bank and reached by a simple button push.
I am not looking for a keyboard. I have a controller with similar functionality: Novation SL mkiii.
The idea here is to use a control surface where there is backline gear supplied without the necessary controls to map through Rig Manager.
What do you want to avoid?
I use an iPad connected to Gig Performer over OSC !
A venue has two backline Yamaha MODX keyboards and it would be easier for me to use them as controllers for minimal setup and load-in.
The trouble is the MODX keyboards have a limited set of controls that can be mapped: Only 4 faders and no pads. I’ll need to spend time determining what other controls can be mapped via Rig Manager. The lack of pads prevents specific rackspace selection. I think I need to purchase another control surface to integrate the MODX controllers with my gig setup.
Complicating matters are that there are 2 MODX controllers. I need to do rackspace selection from each controller for their respective GP instances. I was hoping one control surface could be used instead of purchasing two units. Just have a device selection control and the CC messages would be sent to the appropriate GP instance.
I don’t use Apple products but I’m open to investigating the integration with an iPad over OSC. I’ll read up on this…
Android tablets also support OSC
If something has a web browser, it can also work as a remote control tool.
Link: Control your guitar or keyboard effects from a Web browser
Wow - this is fascinating. I’ve used GP scripting but had never used OSC before. OSC looks like it will provide more cost effective and flexible configurations. Thanks.
Offhand a bit wary of using Chrome as a web browser since it tends to consume memory and cpu. Going to do more reading on OSC.
Why Chrome?
You can use whstever browser you want.
Midori, Brave, Opera …
Check out this post by someone who created a really awesome OSC template for Gig Performer using the TouchOSC application on a tablet (should work on iPad or Android)
Doesn’t have to be Chrome. Wonder which browser has the lowest cpu and memory consumption
If you use Open Stage Control (which I assume you are doing if you’re running through a web browser) then you can use its built-in browser, which I suspect is lighter than any of the full-featured browser options.