Best controller for OT for live?

Should be possible with a button press…
Theoretically on any audio track midi channel (1-8).
ALL requested CC values are sent on channel 1 by default, if the midi channel is not shared with a midi track channel.

Having only 4 characters is ok to me, but it would be very helpful to be able to name the setups and groups as well, or did I just miss something?

Sorrily the push buttons are not that flexible that you could assign a completely different CC to it.

So, yes, you either need to dedicate a single encoder to the “Send CC61” command or you sent it from somewhere else.

In my case I kept the system I was already used to, namely sending the CC61 from a foot switch.


And, yes, I prefer the EC4, because I hate moving around controls until they snap to the correct active value. That’s simply too annoying for me.

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Ah, ok, fair enough!

But the CC61 has to come from the outside world? Or would it be possible to trigger it from within the machine?

So they can send a specific value of the CC selected on the same knob, that’s it ?

Yes. Sorrily there is no internal way in the OT to trigger it. Would be nice if part changes could automatically send all the parameters (if wanted), but it needs to be requested via CC61 from outside.

Sorrily not even that (unless it is min/max).

See page 8 in the manual.

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This is my dream as well, first company to make a very compact highly programmable motorized fader controller with many scenes and some buttons will absolutely get my money.

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Maybe I can manage to make the Midihub triggering that in an elegant way…

Right now trying to solve a not existing problem, as the OT in not yet in my hands :upside_down_face:

Apparently you can send a midi note pushing an EC4 knob, so if you have such a midi processor, you should be able to map that note to CC61 :

yeah, the EC4 had a much nicer display, but the UC4 is perfect for the Octatrack.

They brought back their step sequencer recently, too.

http://faderfox.de/sc4.html

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The thing that gets complicated is if you use other hardware besides the Faderfox controller and Octatrack - at that point you would at minimum need to either have MIDI thru on all your other gear so you could daisy chain it back in to the Faderfox, or better a splitter of some kind.

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Yes, but you also need to configure the encoder functionality to send the same note (you can’t configure a note value just for the push functionality).

So you gain nothing by sending a note + translate it elsewhere in comparison to sending the CC61 directly.

That’s quite a matter of taste/preferences/workflow.

Controls which needs to snap to it’s real value first after syncing annoys the hell out of me. For me that’s almost as bad as jumping controls. So no faders or pods (unless they are motorized).

The display on the EC4 is a nice bonus, especially when you are using the controller with a bunch of different devices and/or many pages.

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Hmm. You can use that knob to control an OT parameter, lets say CC16 for pitch, and map the corresponding note to CC61 no? That way you can use the knob for pitch control and CC61 request.

I know that note setting is for all setups unfortunately…

This push fonction is limited, as stated loopop in its review, it is a con.

If the OT needs to get the CC61 trigger ‘from the outside,’ what about using an unused OT midi channel and loopback to autochannel via a hub? So the OT sends itself the CC61 command at the start of a new pattern, then sends updates to external midi controllers?

I’d imagine somehow plocking cc61 on the first step of every pattern, or at least the first step of the first pattern after switching banks / parts…or perhaps i’m not understanding CCs well enough

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Good idea on paper, but not simple. I think I tried something similar. Midi loopback would suffice, using Thru to send midi to other gear. No need for hub.

With auto channel, this require to stay in audio mode to work.
Edit : TESTED : It works.

With a specific channel, the audio track sharing the same channel as the midi track (sending CC61) don’t send its parameters (audio tracks don’t send midi if the midi channel is shared with a midi track).

Other problem. A CC with same value is sent only once consecutively. You have to vary that value.

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Are you sure? On the UC4 you can program the turn and push functions for the encoders completely independently, I’d be surprised if the EC4 was different.

Definitely a matter of taste which one is better. I agree that not having immediate feedback is a bit of a hassle, I meant it’s perfect for the Octatrack in terms of physical layout, should have been more specific. For me personally, though, that’s still preferable to having a grid of arbitrary encoders, but I also realyl dislike grid controllers like the Push and the Monome, too (unless they’re controlling something that was designed specifically for that kind of interface, but as general purpose controllers I really don’t like the “grid of identical interface elements” paradigm at all). Also I just generally prefer faders for most things.

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Yep, EC4 has revolutionised the OT for me all over again. I have various mixer groups, groups dedicated to each track, an auto-channel group for flicking between tracks for general tweaking when value-jumps aren’t an issue, and CC61 (single button press works if you set press to min/max) works a treat if you then want to avoid jumps after using the auto channel. In any case, any tweaking on the OT is reflected in the EC4 if the midi is routed back in.

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What I really wish the Faderfox (and all other MIDI controllers) had was a MERGE mode for control pickup, where if the current parameter value doesn’t match the physical control position, when you move the control it starts from the current parameter value and moves that toward the current control position until they meet. It can be a little counterintuitive at first, but once you adjust it’s usually nicer than pick-up and almost always better than instantly jumping to the current control position. It would still need MIDI feedback to work in a standalone controller but it would be a big improvement for anything with non-motorized faders IMO.

The UC4 is awesome and works seamlessly with the Octatrack. I use it primarily as a way to have a “master mix” page. The faders feel nice and smooth, although the throw is short, and the best part is not having to incorporate a computer or midi interface. It just works, and is built like a tank.

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Okay. Let’s explain the problem with your example.

You configure the encoder for CC16 on channel 1 and its range to, let’s say, 10 to 120. This range is in effect for the normal encoder functionality and the push functionality.

So when the global config parameter for push is set to note then this encoder will send notes in the range from 10 to 120 on channel 1 when pushed.

And to make thing worse: since there is only a single global parameter to select the push functionality. So when you want this push-sends-notes all encoders will perform this note sending when pushed. That’s clearly not something I want (imagine pushing an encoder accidentally).

If it’s still not clear try the online editor. You will see that you cannot configure anything separately regarding the push functionality of an encoder.

Sorrily it’s not the same. Yes, the UC4 let you configure them completely independently, but the EC4 does not. What the push functionality does is set by a single global config parameter. No special configs per encoder.

I’m not sure why faderfox has limited the controller this way, but as it is now the push functionality is quite restricted.

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