Best controller for OT for live?

Pretty expensive and without options.

IconnectMidi2+ is cheaper with 2ins/2outs, iPad/Pc connections (Audio Pass Thru), up to 7 USB with a midi hub, merge, midi processing (map / filter)…

Are you interested in any specific details of the behavior? :slight_smile:

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Electra One looks really promising and I’ll probaply get one myself at some point.

With midi controllers, there’s always this potentiometers vs. endless rotary encoders thing.
I actually prefer potentiometers basically, because I always know where 0 and 127 is.
So when I want to pull the delay send up or close a filter I can just flick the pot without looking.
Even encoders that feel really good and provide some feedback in form of led rings or displays don’t really give a similar tactile ‘assurance’, but for a device like the OT potentiometers wouldn’t work for me at all.

It seems the Electra One has a pretty good way of visualizing controller values and other relevant stuff… :upside_down_face:

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I’m considering this over the FaderFox and have 3.5mm to DIN MIDI adaptor.

But they are incredibly complicated to setup with a terrible software interface for doing so. iConnect’s customer service and documentation / manuals are quite abysmal too. I’d stay far away from iConnect. I learned the hard way.

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Huh, I had everything set up in five minutes on my Mio4 when I bought it^^ :slight_smile:
No problems with the software editor either (IIRC there are actually two different software editors, one pretty much is the easy setup version while the other gives you all editing options in detail. Never used the easy setup software, though.)
Manual is also good imho. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for saying that. I’d been thinking much the same but was still being drawn to the idea of shelling out on something to just “improve” the workflow. What you say makes a lot of sense though. I think I’ll save my money.
I note in a subsequen / alternative lecture surgeon explains that he not so keen on the octatrack and doesn’t use it as much beyond streaming stems.

I’d only use controller with endless rotary encoders (ok, also motor faders maybe^^) and midi parameter feedback with the OT.
Still often I’m faster and work with the controls on the OT.

Sometimes it’s nice to tweak parameters on several tracks at once without using scenes, though, especially with Neighbour Machines.

I used to have my BCR2000 next to my AK so I could play better on the AK and control some OT parameters, access mutes etc.
That really helped a lot.

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Akai Midimix. But you need a usb to midi hub.

They’re not complicated, you just need to understand that everything is seen from the interface’s perspective, not from your perspective, which makes sense. Once you get that (what is a input port and what is a output port) it’s pretty straightforward. But there are so my ports and so many routing/merging/splitting and filitering options, that it’s quite easy to get lost once you start using all that. But that would be the same for any other interface with that many possibilities. I do agree however with the very poor customer service. You’re basically on your own, with some help from fellow users. They were not very honest: for one year there was almost no progress made for the new Auracle config software, the “current” one (iConfig) being left unsupported, on the forums we were told “it’s coming , it’s coming” but it never came and the iCM4+ was finally abandoned a couple of weeks ago. Basically, when I bought mine last year, new, boxed from the store, full price, it was already obsolete but they didn’t admit it. As a customer, I was left with a unconfortable feeling, and I don’t hesitate to be vocal about that because that’s not how business should work.

But well, it was the only option in that pricerange and with that feature set, and I put quite an amount of work in it (I use each and every port and filtering/remapping is heavily used) so it’ll remain part of my rig until it fails. I know it inside out by now, and have reached the point (in all my endeavours) to say “stop” to new heavy learning curves.

But to be fair, I need to mention: one thing I can say “kudos to iConnectivity” for is that they made the iConfig software code open source. Who knows, maybe one day some brave coder might take up the challenge and streamline iConfig a bit…

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I also have the iconnect midi4+, scratched my head a few times when I got it … but when it’s setup like you want (a bit trial and error in the beginning in my case) it does not fail. Trusty workhorse.

I don’t use the iconnect with my OT though. Volume and mutes is the only thing I actually would fancy a midi controller for sometimes. I guess I will setup my currently unemployed beatstep pro for this task when the OT is back home.

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Having had a NanoKontrol Studio, I’m afraid of having the same experience with most controllers: that being I’ll tweak the OT (or whatever) and then when I go to the next track and I mess with any encoders then values in the track jump all over the place as they readjust to the current state of the encoders. Will I need motorized faders for this not to happen? Something with MIDI feedback so that all dials, knobs, encoders, etc are reset to the defaults of the newly loaded project / track? How would this work exactly? It appears in the video that Surgeon is working off of one project. So he doesn’t seem to be dealing with this issue. Am I missing something? Advice please! Thanks.

Yeah, I’m also interested… What happens when I change a part or a bank… how would that work with a midi controller with the OT

OT can send midi CCs dialing its knobs.
There is also a Send All CCs function when OT receives CC61.

CC61 (Send request) 0 = all audio CC

UC44

Data feedback for encoders and faders avoid value jumps
UC44%20top%20view%20black

UC4

9 faders with 30mm length and programmable snap function
Programmable value ranges** with min/max values
Data feedback for encoders and faders avoid value jumps

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Thanks for clarifying! I’m now heavily leaning on one of these 2 FaderFox units. I also use a Digitone and Digitakt so not sure if it makes sense to get the UC44 for all 3 or just get the UC4 for the OT. :-/

3 UC4? :smile:

A Digitone (215mm) + an UC4 (105mm) would be nice above my OT (340mm), solving my size/format OCD (and black only). :loopy:

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Yeah, I got a uc33e and ended up using it as a vst controller. the one thing I’d really like that would be useful would be a row of buttons for quick arming one shot rec trigs cause that’s how I do pretty much all my sampling in OT. That’s why I’d suggest launch control XL. What I’d really want is that with din midi but the product doesn’t seem to exist. You’ve got the uc4 but no buttons. If someone released something appropriate I’d think about it but honestly everything’s a page away on OT. Oktakontrol comes close but hideous octopus graphic plus no quick mute buttons. Sometimes I wonder what it would take to just make my own

My first controller! Cheap, standalone editing and very capable! I sold it for a BS3X, more capable, but software editing without updates…
I find UC33 uglier than the OktaControl! :smile:

8 Buttons with LED for switchable parameters

Should work, no?

If the controller has endless encoders and/or motor faders + midi parameter feedback (which a controller with encoders usually has), then turning a knob on the OT will make the parameter also change on the controller.
Also works for buttons ofc.

When you change to a new part on the OT, the controller doesn’t know which parameters changed on the OT, you could send a parameter request (CC61) from the controller so both are ‘syncronized’ again.
Just program a button on the controller to send CC61.

Quickly turning all changed parameters on the OT would ofc also work (midi parameter feedback), but not an elegant solution.

When you change to a new preset on your controller, same thing, paramameters on the controller might have different values. Some controllers (i.e. Behringer BCR2000) can be set to automatically transmit CC61 when a new preset is loaded.

When the controller allows to send a snapshot of all values (seems the Faderfox controller can), it also works the other way around. You can make the OT jump to values you have set on the controller.

Keep in mind though; If a controllers has faders, that aren’t motorized (don’t think the Faderfox controllers have such), those faders can’t adapt to parameter changes via midi feedback.

That’s why I said I’d only use controllers with endless rotary encoders (and parameter feedback over midi) with the OT.

Hope that helps.

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