OT - midi controller w/o keyboard, but with mod wheel?

[Sonare Coeli]

Hey everyone,
I was just wondering if anyone sells a decent midi controller with knobs, buttons, and two mod wheels? I'm finding a lot of stuff that is more application specific, and nothing with mod wheels. I have a nice keyboard already, it just didn't come with mod wheels or midi-assignable buttons on it, so I just need a little unit that adds those core features. I'd like to be able to actually use a real mod wheel with GPO and Massive instead of editing data by hand after the fact ~|, haha. Anything out there that might suit me? Thanks so much in advance.

Tyler

[reberclark]

I have an old 25 key Oxygen 8 by M-Audio that I use for this very purpose. My 88 key stage piano has no mod wheel or bend wheel but the Oxygen 8 does - plus it has 8 MIDI knobs (assignable) and a Data Entry slider. It has been invaluable to me.

[Reegs]

Novation makes something... the Zero Remote SL. A little pricey, but plenty of knobs and whistles without the keys.

[Sonare Coeli]

Thanks guys,

I think that Oxygen 8 looks like the best option for me. That Zero Remote deal looked pretty awesome, but I don't think I could even find enough parameters in the programs I use to get up to using even half of those knobs! ;)

Thanks again,
Tyler

[keithjfuller]

i have an axiom 25, and its big advantage is aftertouch. most controllers don't have it, and i don't know why.

[Sonare Coeli]

i have an axiom 25, and its big advantage is aftertouch. most controllers don't have it, and i don't know why.

This will perhaps bring an OT topic even further OT, haha, but could you perhaps explain aftertouch to me a little? I know that it is another trigger that you activate by pressing a key down further after you've already pressed it down to turn a note on, but does it have a range of motion, triggering different velocities, or does it simply just activate a switch, like an on/off button?

Also, how do you like the encoder knobs? I was reading reviews and one user stated that they knobs were inaccurate. I thought I'd ask you and get a second opinion, haha.

[efiebke]

This will perhaps bring an OT topic even further OT, haha, but could you perhaps explain aftertouch to me a little? I know that it is another trigger that you activate by pressing a key down further after you've already pressed it down to turn a note on, but does it have a range of motion, triggering different velocities, or does it simply just activate a switch, like an on/off button?

Hi -

Aftertouch has the usual midi-information range of 0 to 127. Probably, for many of the live-performing keyboards, aftertouch is set to "trigger" things like vibrato. Like many keyboards, its function can also be changed to things like "triggering" volume or expression control (CC# 7, CC# 11), etc.

I use M-Audio's Keystation Pro 88. Interestingly, although it has LOTS and LOTS assignable faders, turn knobs and buttons, it does NOT have aftertouch. I most certainly made sure that one of the faders was assigned the aftertouch control change number.

Hope this was helpful in answering your OT question. LOL! :)

Ted

[keithjfuller]

you just had aftertouch explained, so i won't go into it any further.

its just weird to me that so many controllers nowadays don't have it. i'm guessing that lots of samples don't make use of it anymore so they stopped adding it because of the extra work/cost that goes into adding it. i know that most of my samples respond to aftertouch so it was a must for me. i actually would have preferred something thinner and smaller over the axiom, but it was the only small controller to have it. even my old roland xp-30 has it (which i am selling by the way, so if anyone is interested send me a pm or email), and i was shocked that almost none of the new ones did. even the guys at guitar center were shocked. they all just assumed that most had it, and after we checked it was like none of them did - even the high end ones.

i'd hope that this trend changes, because it would really make the smaller/super portable ones much much more attractive.

[schneb]

Hey everyone,
I was just wondering if anyone sells a decent midi controller with knobs, buttons, and two mod wheels?

Here's the first place I usually look. (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=audiointerfacekb)