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Check out this Killer midi controller


Frank
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Never would have thought to use pots on an LCD screen. I found some info regarding knobs on an LCD screen here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/jul/15/anlcdscreenwithknobson

The touchscreen would be great for Ableton, with the ability to slide objects around the touch screen, Star Trek TNG style.

Wait a minute, I just remembered Lemur! Is that a Lemur in the youtube video?

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Never would have thought to use pots on an LCD screen. I found some info regarding knobs on an LCD screen here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/jul/15/anlcdscreenwithknobson

Now that is cool!. compared to that, the encoders on the Dragon Controller (does the left thing also belong the controller?) are kinda lame ;D

Wait a minute, I just remembered Lemur! Is that a Lemur in the youtube video?

don't think so. The Lemur's rim is much broader.

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Its just a standard touchscreen panel with a synthmaker or MAX/MSP app right ?

The encoders over the screen is a new idea i guess but to be honest i personally wouldnt even say it was a good idea

Would make more sense to run the encoders round the outside of the monitor giving yourself more screen real estate or allowing a smaller screen for the dummy plugins

The apps and dummy plugins could be done in no time at all in SM see below for a similar project

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Flexi

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Hi,

I'm impressed first of all because its all diy, software & hardware. Secondly i love his implementation of the plugin controller. As an old school guy who mixes only for a living i've been looking for a way to look less at the screen and listen more to the sound when i'm mixing. For me i find the visuals on the screen distracts me from the actual listening. I've tried all the available controllers except the SmartAV Tango and they all get me half way there in regards to plugin control. The problem is they all have a generic display/encoder interface for different manufacturers plugin visual interface and its confusing & slow cos it doesnt relate at all to the onscreen plugin visuals. I love the way his implementation can morph the lcd sreen display to very close to the hardware or plugin visuals (for example the UAD 1176 with meter & UAD Plate 140 with meters and hidden parameters). For me this method feels like how i used to work with hardware; turn back to the equipment rack, adjust the pots on my 1176, while listening to the sound change, only now i can sit at the sweetspot all the time, no need to walk over to the patchbay to patch in the 1176 and total recall. Visually i dont find it too distracting, cos i would just look at it to see what the parameter control knobs are, and then stare straight into the open space between the speakers while listening to cahnges in the sound. This works for me very well. Yes the Soundcraft has it, but the limited screen real estate wouldnt be able to represent well all the plugin interfaces on the market.

I wish he had a diy web page like Ucapps  ;).

Regards

Frank

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Well listen

If you want to build something similar to this i am more than willing to help you get the dummy plugins built in Synthmaker no problem ;)

The encoders could be done witha  very simple MB64e or something so if you want to go for it give me a yell and ill give you the help

It is an interesting project indeed but personally doesnt fit me

Bt i am more than willing to help you achieve it ;)

Now if i could find a letterbox size VGA touchscreen LCD and build that into a case with a bunch of encoders below that would really float my boat but that is because i lack space in my studio ;)

Anyway if you really wanna make this happen let me know

Flexi

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There are quite a few companies selling add on touch panels for normal LCD's. The ones for smaller LCD's are quite realistically priced, (around £115 for a 17 inch panel and interface circuit). The interface is either USB or, on the older units, serial. Some of the older Point of Sale, (POS), terminals have a touch screen that emulates a serial mouse. These do turn up on ebay, often as part of a till system. For ease of use, stick to the 5-wire type of touch panel. It can see this type of app benig a good hack for an obsolete laptop, there are lots of those around, going very cheap, and the case could be hacked about to improve cooling. For most units, it's the death of the battery pack that writes them off. I'm trying to find a decent PCMCIA SCSI adapter, then I can make a dedicated panel type controller for 'Millenium' on my old Akai 3200 sampler

Going back years, once I was doing work with light pens on the BBC micro. I managed to do a rotary control using a rotating 'mask' and two photodiodes, using a bright patch, programmed  on the screen, as the light source. In those days, I had trouble keeping the interference from the scan coils out of the photodiode electronics, but the idea was that the controllers could be placed anywhere on the screen as the software required. It was aimed at special needs kids in a local school.

Light pens are a pain to program for, and are now pretty well obsolete, though somewhere I still have an app that allowed me to make up patterns for a 'light grid' display, It was all light pen driven: you touched to toggle a light on or off, and there were pads to do things like mirror imaging/replicating, and to invert the whole pattern etc, there was even a 'save frame' pad. This meant that a whole pattern sequence could be designed that way, but I did find it gave me arm ache after a while.

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I'm impressed first of all because its all diy, software & hardware.

... absolutely!

Yes the Soundcraft has it, but the limited screen real estate wouldnt be able to represent well all the plugin interfaces on the market.

... I have no problem with controlling plugs by mouse on the project screen. If one is mixing for a living, he normally uses a decent mixer. If I work with a Studer Vista console, I really won't use plugs on EQs and dynamics while mixing, and that's where channel alignment and controls-layout familiarity is exactly what I need.

The encoders over the screen is a new idea i guess but to be honest i personally wouldnt even say it was a good idea

Would make more sense to run the encoders round the outside of the monitor giving yourself more screen real estate or allowing a smaller screen for the dummy plugins

... always depends what your app needs

Greets, Roger

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Hi Screaming Rabbit,

If one is mixing for a living, he normally uses a decent mixer

Well the music industry is different nowadays, if the record company or client has the budget, we go to a SSL 4000G+ room, if not, than a Digidesign Icon room and for the no budget clients its my home setup with Nuendo (my choice over ProStools  :D) , keyboard & mouse & midibox LC.

With what my no budget clients are willing to pay, an SSL AWS 900 for my home setup is a no go but the SSL Matrix is within reach but its still using the mackie control protocol for plugin control.

So for my home setup i'm still searching for my dream controller.

Rgds

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Wow Flexinoodle, thanks so much , i might just take you up on your offer of help. The hardware side i should be able to handle by my self its just the lcd display and plugin interface design that i have no knowledge of.

Anyways the guy explains how he did it in this read here :- http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=242084

He most probably didnt know about Ucapps/Midibox thats why he had to hacked the Behringer BCR controller  :D.

Flexinoodle what do you think? Is it still doable easily?

Rgds

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