High resolution physical control surface
Hello,
I've been trawling the internet for a new control surface for my visual software, and have drawn a bit of a blank, so wondered if anybody here could advise.
I currently use a Livid Block, which has served me well for the last few years. It has a reasonable number and type of controls for my purposes, and it seems reliable. However, whilst the resolution of the faders and pots are good for many purposes, when dealing with some parameters in my patches they're just not fine enough, being limited to 128 steps by the MIDI protocol.
What I would like is a similar surface which uses a higher resolution protocol for messages, such as OSC. The lemur or iPad-based solutions (like TouchOSC) don't suit the application as I need physical feedback as I'm not usually looking at the control surface when adjusting controls.
Does anybody know of anything that might be suitable? Or something that may be in the works that would be worth waiting for? The only things that have come up so far are very specifically audio control surfaces built around a channel-strip layout, which doesn't really suit.
Thanks for any help
Tom
I have been thinking about this for a long time as well. I would like a much more expressive controller that I could use with Max. One option would be a Madrona Sound Plane http://madronalabs.com/soundplane, but at 1800.00 it is an expensive option.
I don't know of too many other affordable options that give you that control. I am open to suggestions!
The monome arc is pretty high resolution, and has the added bonus of LED feedback.
I recently queried the Livid folks about this, and they said they are considering building a high resolution controller sometime in the future.
For now the Behringer BCF-2000 is the best option I've found. You can configure it for high-resolution (14bit) operation, in which case it sends two CC messages per configured fader or knob. You have to reassemble this via MSB/LSB addition in Max, but it works and the result is a very sensitive controller. The unit is cheap and also offers motorized faders... definitely worth a look.
Thanks for all the ideas. The Sound Plane looks lovely, but doesn't seem appropriate for my needs, and the Monome Arc also looks like a great piece of kit, but would need to be used in conjunction with other controllers and would lead to a complicated physical setup. A high-resolution fader on a Livid would be perfect, so I'll get in touch and add support to the idea of that as a future product.
Stupidly, I had no idea that the BCF2000 has a high-resolution mode. I already own one of these so I'll dig it out and have a play. Perhaps the solution was under my nose the whole time!
Thanks
Tom
"The lemur or iPad-based solutions (like TouchOSC) don’t suit the application as I need physical feedback as I’m not usually looking at the control surface when adjusting controls."
Much truth there mate!
I think for any rotary control the endless versions are better, as they can be programmed into any resolution you like and their sensitivity (speed of change) can also be adjusted by your Max patch. Depending on how many controls of that high resolution you need, you could simply add to your existing controller set something like a Pocket Dial from Doepfer (out of production though) or a small dj controller like the DJ2GO from Numark. I have both and use them for example to navigate through recorded sound or adjust pitches precisely (typically applications you will never be satisfied with a MIDI resolution of 128 or even 16384 (14-bit)).
For blind controls a course/fine combination of two controllers could also be a solution (especially for pitch. In MIDI usually implemented with a keyboard and a pitch wheel which gives you a resolution of 1441792 for 88 keys...;-)
Some useful ideas there, and it highlights a point: most of the physical control surfaces available are still aimed primarily at audio, and as such it's logical enough to design them to work within a MIDI environment. I'm using Max/MSP and jitter for visuals, where (even high-resolution) MIDI interfaces are not the most logical method of control: assigning controller channels to colours, notes to keyframes, and pitch bend to camera movements all seems a bit nonsensical.
Maybe there's just not enough demand, but something just like the Livid block and Ohm, where no specific audio or visual application is implied by layout or labelling seems like a good starting point, but is a bit hamstrung by being based around MIDI. The same physical approach, but using high-resolution encoders that output OSC or other flexible messages (which could be converted to MIDI messages in software if needed) would suit my needs and those of others with equally unusual demands. If I was an electronic engineer, there'd be a project in there somewhere, but I can't solder (or rely on my own home-made contraptions for live performance!)
Here's hoping Livid have got something in the works...