Hello fellow forum members, glad to be here. I'm currently in the market for a Daw controller, I'm working in Ableton and Reaper at the moment but it's subject to change as I gain more experience.
I recently took the Hans Zimmer masterclass and was captivated by the (likely very expensive) set of faders positioned on his left, often used to modulate note velocity and other effects. I set off to Long and Mcquade to see if I could dig up a similar device on a budget, I discovered the following options, priced low to high:
Korg NanoKONTROL2 - Desktop Usb Controller - Black - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Behringer Ultra Compact Universal USB Controller - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Novation 16 Knob/8 Pad Controller - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Akai High-Performance Portable Mixer/DAW Controller - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
PreSonus Faderport - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
https://www.long-mcquade.com/67761/...nanoKONTROL_Studio_Mobile_MIDI_Controller.htm
https://www.long-mcquade.com/65297/...rs/Novation/Launch-Control-XL-for-Ableton.htm
I particularly like the idea of having at least 1 good quality fader, in the sense that it would provide enough "dpi" to get a smooth fade in and out of notes. The fader doesn't have to be overly rugged nor does it need to be a long throw, accuracy is more important. Of course I do prefer quality though so I'd be willing to consider something like the Novation knob only controller if it's of higher quality than the fader based options. All of these options might lack the accuracy required for all I know, so take my "budget" with a grain of salt. I want something that will adequately do the job and I want to pay as little as possible to get it, but I have the means to buy whatever I might need. The Presonus certainly seems like the obvious option if all I wanted was a high quality fader, but It'd be nice to have at least a few more knobs. Unfortunately my options seem to either be 1 fader or 8 faders, I don't see any middle ground options.
The reason I am looking into a daw controller is because my Casio Ctk 3200 doesn't support mapping many of the face buttons to control a daw, only the pitch bend can be remapped and doesn't work very well to control velocity. I am also considering the option o swapping out the Casio for a dedicated midi controller, alleviating the need for a separate controller. Perhaps something like the Alesis V61, it seems to check all the boxes and I do like the wider keys.
I recently took the Hans Zimmer masterclass and was captivated by the (likely very expensive) set of faders positioned on his left, often used to modulate note velocity and other effects. I set off to Long and Mcquade to see if I could dig up a similar device on a budget, I discovered the following options, priced low to high:
Korg NanoKONTROL2 - Desktop Usb Controller - Black - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Behringer Ultra Compact Universal USB Controller - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Novation 16 Knob/8 Pad Controller - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Akai High-Performance Portable Mixer/DAW Controller - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
PreSonus Faderport - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
https://www.long-mcquade.com/67761/...nanoKONTROL_Studio_Mobile_MIDI_Controller.htm
https://www.long-mcquade.com/65297/...rs/Novation/Launch-Control-XL-for-Ableton.htm
I particularly like the idea of having at least 1 good quality fader, in the sense that it would provide enough "dpi" to get a smooth fade in and out of notes. The fader doesn't have to be overly rugged nor does it need to be a long throw, accuracy is more important. Of course I do prefer quality though so I'd be willing to consider something like the Novation knob only controller if it's of higher quality than the fader based options. All of these options might lack the accuracy required for all I know, so take my "budget" with a grain of salt. I want something that will adequately do the job and I want to pay as little as possible to get it, but I have the means to buy whatever I might need. The Presonus certainly seems like the obvious option if all I wanted was a high quality fader, but It'd be nice to have at least a few more knobs. Unfortunately my options seem to either be 1 fader or 8 faders, I don't see any middle ground options.
The reason I am looking into a daw controller is because my Casio Ctk 3200 doesn't support mapping many of the face buttons to control a daw, only the pitch bend can be remapped and doesn't work very well to control velocity. I am also considering the option o swapping out the Casio for a dedicated midi controller, alleviating the need for a separate controller. Perhaps something like the Alesis V61, it seems to check all the boxes and I do like the wider keys.
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