Looking For A Console Style Control Surface

J

jordonrenn

New member
Hey guy I am looking for an affordable midi control surface that acts similar to a console (but just controls your DAW, and doesn't deal with any audio..) Is there anything out there with 32 faders? I found a few with 16 and a ton with 8.. anyone have any recommendations?

I don't need anything too fancy, I just wanna be able to use faders instead of a mouse.

Thanks!
 
The Behringer X32 might be the best bang for buck. I don't know of any other dedicated control surfaces that have that many faders.

There is also the QU series from Allen and Heath but they are more expensive. You could always pick up a used 01V96 for about $1k if you can do with 16 faders.

Cheers :)
 
I don't know of any control surfaces with 32 discrete faders until you get up to six figure gear like Audient or Avid ICON stuff. Even at 24 channels this sort of thing is in the $25-50,000 range.

If you really must have 32 faders then the first suggestion of the Behringer x32 may be the best for you but it seems a shame to have a very capable sound mxer and just use it as a control surface.

With ANY control surface, make sure it'll work with your choice of DAW before spending money. Not every surface works with ever DAW.
 
Well, for $2800 at Sweetwater, you really can't go wrong either way. Why not have the flexibility of a console/interface/control surface? It might revolutionize his whole workflow. Plus you can choose to mix on the console itself or just use it as a controller. It's a clear winner for me.

Cheers :)
 
The Berhinger x32 looks cool but not exactly what I am looking for.. I found a DIY midi kit last night (but I can't seem to find it again today :[ ) which has 64 MIDI channels so I could set it up with 32 faders and 32 pan pots. This will keep it real simple, just like I want. I'll post a link when I find it again and maybe another update when I decide to actually build it.

I think it would cost me about $100-200 to build a nice looking one and even thought about maybe selling them? I feel something simple and affordable like this would be great for a home mixing studios (like mine lol) but really would be worthless for recording.. unless there is hardware out there that just has mic inputs and connect USB.

But anyways thanks for the tips guys!
 
I think you might be underestimating the cost--just getting 32 position-detecting faders would likely be in the $300-$450 range if not more. If you wanted them motorised to reflect automation (and I would) this figure goes up substantially.

By the time you factor in metalwork, power supply, other components and your time to build, you soon get to a cost where it would be tempting to say "well, I might as well have an x32" and get a mixer as well.

As a personal project it could be fun but I'm not sure about how many people would want one at the cost you'd have to charge to make the effort worthwhile.

My 2 cents worth anyhow.
 
Yeah, sounds like too much work and money to me. And I agree with Bobbsy, you're grossly overestimating the cost of building a 32-fader control surface. I would be my bottom dollar it will not be int eh $200 to $300 range.

In any case, the X32 may not have 32 physical faders, but it works in layers so you actually have has many faders as you need for your project, whether it's 6 or 60.

Cheers :)
 
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