MIDIbox LC mini / motorized pot controller? Opinions needed!

[mr_chombee]

Hi all,

great to see that this place is still alive! It's been quite a while now since I finished my MBSeq, it's still doing a great job! I always wanted to build another box, a mixer-like controller as many people use for Ableton Live, but I never made it beyond the layout stage as I always ended up thinking "Nope. I don't really need this thing".

However, one thing I could REALLY need in my studio is a small, versatile, automapping plug-in controller, primarily for EQs / channel strips. "Small, versatile & automapping" means: I need to use endless encoders, but I HATE encoders. Tweaking an ordinary pot is so much more intuitive, but not really an option either (due to parameter jumps etc). Looking at the Mackie Control (or respectively the Midibox LC emulation), I really love the 'flip' function which lets you control device parameters via the motorfaders. So what if I had a controller that uses 8 motorized pots instead of faders? Sounds like an ideal solution for me! A quick (incomplete?) sketch:

______________

  __________ 

|__________|    <-- 40x2 LCD to display plugin parameter names (upper row = pot 1-4 / lower row = pot 5-8)

  -  -  -  -

  O  O  O  O

  -  -  -  -      <-- 8 motorized pots with "select" buttons above them (to emulate the push encoder buttons on the MCU)

  O  O  O  O     

        -

      -  -  -          <-- channel navigation up / down (optional); plugin parameter bank left/right; "exit" button which exits

        -                    the plugin parameter page and returns to the device selection.

______________

So my questions are:

1. As you can see, the LC application in its entirety would be a bit over the top as I really don't need or want any of the extra MCU functionality (mute/solo/rec/transport/whatever), but I need to find a way to a) permanently stay in the MCU's "plug-in" mode and b) permantenly have the 'flip' function activated. Is this possible? If so, what's the programming effort like? I have a very tiny little experience in C programming (very, very basic stuff), but I'm afraid that won't help me much :-/

2. Does the LC app also send 10-bit messages in 'flip' mode?

3. Has anyone ever worked with motorized pots? I'm wondering if there's any major downside which would render the whole project pointless. I am planning to use these hi-speed ALPS pots (300°/1s):

http://cgi.ebay.de/ALPS-High-speed-Motor-Potentiometer-RK25T11M-10K-300-s_W0QQitemZ260157504209

35 EUR per pot is not really cheap, but I'm willing to spend that for a REALLY useful studio controller. Let me know if you have any doubts.

4. Anyone wants to join / help me with the project? MIOS skills are highly welcome (my MIOS programming experience is near zero ;)

Let me know what you think. Any help is highly appreciated!

Cheers,

Nico

[mr_chombee]

D'oh! These ALPS motorpots at Ebay are K-Type! Too bad...  :-\

[Jidis]

Nico,

Hope you get answers to some of this. I was hoping to do one myself in the future, but was thinking I'd have to go with an alternate means of displaying current parameter values (either a readout per encoder or a global value display). I did a control for an EQ last year that I never got around to building an app for, where I've got indicators to show which pots/faders aren't in sync value-wise while it's in "set" mode. That's for a mastering EQ though, where I wouldn't have to be constantly changing channels or presets on it. What I really want is one like you're talking about for channel EQs. Motorized pots would make it a heck of a lot nicer and allow for a more appropriate selection of knobs. I *thought* when I looked around at them, there were certain ones that were only a few dollars a piece, but I could have been looking at something totally incompatible.

Good luck on it!

George

[matrigs]

interesting i thought that only i had such an idea!

i actually did a very similar thing that look like this:

________________________

|                                    |

|            2x LCD              |

|______________________ |

  enc    enc    enc    enc

  enc    enc    enc    enc

the encoders have push buttons.

to answer your first question: you can do that with bome's midi translator. you just have to add 8 entries so that whenever you press a channel select button it also sends the "plugin edit" message so it will switch to the edit mode. this is not a very nice workaround but hey it works. i have this implemented in the above idea and it works quite well.

i cannot though answer your second and third question.

[mr_chombee]

well, it looks like the major problem is finding a suitable motor driven pot. I spent 2 days now to find an alternative, but there's seemingly absolutely no alternative to the ALPS RK25. Do we know for sure that the RK25 won't work? Anyone out there who tried it?

[Screaming_Rabbit]

Do we know for sure that the RK25 won't work? Anyone out there who tried it?

... no, I never heard of someone trying it. But I also never heard it won't work.- The regrets existing are, that it might be too quick for the MIOS MF-implementation, similar to the K-Type linear faders. - You have to buy one and test it.

2. Does the LC app also send 10-bit messages in 'flip' mode?

... I don't think so (but TK propably can tell you this for shure). I think the controller switches internally, so the host doesn't know, that the control elements are interchanged.

I *thought* when I looked around at them, there were certain ones that were only a few dollars a piece, but I could have been looking at something totally incompatible.

I know the ones you're talking about (I even have some of those... mine are 20k, but never tried them out). They are built like for HiFi Amps level control and such stuff and are way too slow for an application with SnapShots.

Greets, Roger

[mr_chombee]

Thanks Roger for the heads up. I think I'll take the plunge and give that a try. I'll keep you informed.

Best,

Nico