What would you like to see in a controller for DP?

[Killahurts]

Title says it all. Many of us would love to see a dedicated controller for DP.. but can we even decide amongst ourselves what that controller should do? Does it have an audio interface? How many faders do do think it should have? How does it handle plugins? (gotta be real about this)

I'll start. I want it to have a full console center section, with source selection, full featured IFB/talkback. Ways to access FX from DP or internally, in realtime (the vocalist wants some reverb).

I would like to have (1-4) dual mono/stereo channel inputs with pre or line in, phantom power, for latency-free recording, through the Cuemix FX, limiter, EQ, etc., but DIRECTLY accessed by DP. i.e. we don't have to run cue mix as a separate app.

I want to be able to permanently assign individual faders to tracks in a project. I want to be able to bypass tracks or folders that are disabled in the track list, from the fader/channel set.

I would love to see a somewhat large pad of buttons that can collectively do/be assigned to EVERYTHING in the commands window.

I'd like to have 17 faders.. that's enough for me. They could be physical or touchscreen, but not iPads, preferably.

A scribble script that doubles as a pan slider when you touch it.

A touchpad or 10 key pad, for those of us who use "dot, measure number, enter", to get around in DP. If it's a touchscreen, it can be selectable between that and the traditional transport buttons.

Note: this thread is not about MOTU as a company, and what they should or should not do. If you post that, I'll ask James to remove it. The thread is ONLY about what DP power users want to see in a control surface.

[James Steele]

Note: this thread is not about MOTU as a company, and what they should or should not do. If you post that, I'll ask James to remove it. The thread is ONLY about what DP power users want to see in a control surface.

Thanks! We have another topic where we can do this. It will be nice to keep this one on a more positive track.

[stubbsonic]

I could imagine a rig that has a mixer section with faders & knobs (for task needing that kind of hardware), a label strip display would show track names for whatever is on those faders at a given time.

The transport section would cover all the basics: a big counter, transport buttons (easily seen in low lighting), good tempo controls (+/- tap), a jog wheel that works like dragging the play wiper, and programmable buttons for nudging by whole bars or whole beats.

Though a touchscreen is essential, I think some kind of iPad dock is probably a smarter way to go. The upside is that the iPad doc could handle the processing & streamline the software evolution. The downside is that folks who would use the iPad for other music-making tasks would probably need a second one for this.

On the touchscreen, users could create and use "widgets" for all kinds of functions. Of course, it would be simple enough to create pre-fab widget packages for different categories of users: composer pack, live performance pack, recording pack, mix pack, etc. But hard-to-categorize users could mix & match and create new widgets to perform their specific functions as needs arise.

As for drum pads, keys, other MIDI controllers, I'd say have MIDI i/o and a USB hub and let users pick & choose what hardware they might want to add in that arena.

[mikehalloran]

What I want my JL Cooper CS-32 to work after OS 10.4. I was able to kludge it to work in 10.5 and 10.6 with Rosetta.

It's a little smaller than an iPad with 32 mechanical faders and pots you could assign to any channel, use then assign to another etc. plus transport controls and a scrub wheel. Mine was the usb version.

The downside is that folks who would use the iPad for other music-making tasks would probably need a second one for this.

Yes but used iPad 2s capable of running iOS 7 are heading towards the $200 mark. Actually, a direct plugin dock isn't such a great idea since there are so many with the 30 pin connector. The ideal would be able to accept any version of the iPad (he says, having a perfectly good iPad 1 around plus an iPad Air).

[stubbsonic]

Yea, I shouldn't have said "dock". I think really just having a platform to set the ipad upon, and whatever connectivity to address the different versions appropriately.

[waterstrum]

I've been using V-Control Pro for a while.
$49.99 and it requires an iPad.
I like the fact that they actually support DP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAVZUpg5qfU

Not a perfect solution, but pretty cool when you dig in to it.

[bayswater]

I'd like to see changes to DP itself in how it responds to MC/HUI emulation controllers. Currently, changing fader banks on the controller changes track selection in the DP Mixer window so only the tracks active in the controller are displayed in the window. I'd like to be able to set the Mixer window track selection, and have it stay as set.

[BKK-OZ]

I want to see more of this sort of thing with either Touch Osc or the new Lemur software: http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 26&t=57421

[Killahurts]

I want to see more of this sort of thing with either Touch Osc or the new Lemur software: http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 26&t=57421

I have both those apps on the iPad.. I wish I had the time and the slightest idea how to program these for DP.. I also have V-Control which works really well, but unfortunately, it uses MCU like my console. The two have worked together in the past here, but also caused strange problems.

Then I tried DP Control, but it just nags me over and over again that it can't display more than 100 tracks, and then crashes.

[Killahurts]

Yea, I shouldn't have said "dock". I think really just having a platform to set the ipad upon, and whatever connectivity to address the different versions appropriately.

In the live world, wireless networking is all the rage. The other day I showed up to a small but high profile gig with my iPad, logged into my friend's console and mixed front of house while he worked the monitors on his iPad (same digital console backstage). It didn't matter that mine is an iPad 2 and his is an iPad 3, because it was on its own network..

I would love my "dream" DP controller to have that kind of capability.

[Killahurts]

I'd like to see changes to DP itself in how it responds to MC/HUI emulation controllers. Currently, changing fader banks on the controller changes track selection in the DP Mixer window so only the tracks active in the controller are displayed in the window. I'd like to be able to set the Mixer window track selection, and have it stay as set.

This! ^^^^^^^

And, in the TO, selecting a track with the mouse should cause the Bank/channel on the controller to jump to that selection. Also, there should be an option for fader-touch = selection.. I do believe Logic supports this, so I know it can be done.

[Killahurts]

I've changed my mind on how many faders I would want. I think I said 17, probably because that's what I have now.

I would love to have.. 0 faders. None.

Instead of faders, I want knobs.. yes that's it, I want a controller that is packed to the hilt with buttons and knobs!

Controlling volume with faders is only one aspect of the control I need, and it's a small one, really. I could, and often do, use the mouse or trackpad for that, even though I have very high quality faders on the SSL.

I've been watching the way I work lately, and have come to realize that most of the "standard" features in controllers are not as useful to my workflow as the features they leave out, or skimp on.

I guess my biggest reason for wanting MOTU to make a controller for DP, is to get away from the MCU protocol once and for all. It's just so damn limited, antiquated, and one-size-fits-all.

Have any of you ever used a large knob instead of a fader for automation, etc? Personally, I get more smooth and precise results from the knob.

I blame Mix magazine and their covers in the 70's, 80's, 90's, for making everybody think that the value of a mixing desk was determined by how many faders it had..

[stubbsonic]

This points to the big challenge with human interfaces, that we all have different needs/wants/priorities. I agree that knobs are very natural and intuitive to use. I'm also quite used to using a mouse on faders, but actual faders are great, too. I will say that knobs and faders are both better than rubbing a featureless plate of oleophobic glass.

If they made it the "ultimate" controller in a modular fashion, they could have options like banks of knobs, banks of faders, velocity-sensitive pads, an "area" for an iPad®, then us kidz could choose our favorite configuration, or even have more than one config for live, tracking, mixing, etc.

[Killahurts]

This points to the big challenge with human interfaces, that we all have different needs/wants/priorities. I agree that knobs are very natural and intuitive to use. I'm also quite used to using a mouse on faders, but actual faders are great, too. I will say that knobs and faders are both better than rubbing a featureless plate of oleophobic glass.

If they made it the "ultimate" controller in a modular fashion, they could have options like banks of knobs, banks of faders, velocity-sensitive pads, an "area" for an iPad®, then us kidz could choose our favorite configuration, or even have more than one config for live, tracking, mixing, etc.

Certainly this is the way it's going. The velocity sensitive pads will be part of any serious control surface.. the way I see it is that keyboard controllers and DAW controllers proper, will merge into one.. just like TV and the internet will.

When my Sony digital console died in 2011, I dreamed of this replacement desk that had a nice, fluffy armrest in front of the faders, that could be mechanically turned over to produce an 88 key controller. You create a piece, then you turn the keyboard controller over into an armrest to mix..

I would pay any amount of money I could afford.

[stubbsonic]

Here's another freebie iPad app for controlling DAWs. Haven't tried it yet, but it does look pretty simple to use.

https://itunes.apple.com/app/knob-lab-m ... 66234?mt=8#

EDIT: I just saw that it is related to a more complete app for $10 called Sonic Logic. I hadn't heard of it. But it does appear to be able to handle anything MIDI related in terms of switches, knobs, sliders, x/y, etc. I don't do much with this stuff, so I don't know how it compares with other stuff out there.