# A Couple More Things...

- Site: Analog Industries
- Author: Chris Randall
- Date: 2012-01-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/a-couple-more-things/

1\. Bigseq2 has been updated to 64-bit on all platforms, and there are a bunch of minor bug fixes. v1.1.0 is now in the [AD Store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) for download. Free update, and recommended for all users.

2\. Steinberg has released current all-platform 32/64 versions of Neon and Karlette; info [here](http://www.steinberg.net/en/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/archive/2012/01/09/article/neon-and-karlette-plug-ins-revived-1829.html). Neon is one of a handful of synths that can lay claim to the title of "first commercial soft-synth." It kind of sucks, of course, but in its own special way. Karlette is a "tape-style" delay with a ludicrous user interface and an almost unusable sound; pretty good fun. Both are free as in your mom.

3\. Starting to gear up for NAMM. I have nothing to add to that except to say that there will be knobs.

## Comments (27)

**chaircrusher** (2012-01-09):

Knobs you will turn, or booth rats that are complete knobs? Both I suppose! I love that full on convention roar. It's a lot like some experimental noise music going around now, or a busy casino. It's a sound designed to rob the human mind of reason.

**synthetic** (2012-01-09):

I'm looking for knobs. Just a small box (not huge like the Mackie knob thing) with a bunch of knobs that send MIDI controllers. Something the size of a cocktail napkin with a bunch of knobs, MIDI out, done. Looks like the Doepfer Pocket Control would have been perfect, but they're gone.

Maybe linear faders if they're good quality. Not a Korg Nanokontrol, 100mm faders that send *MIDI controllers*. The closest I've been able to find are JL Cooper boxes, which cost $1000 for some reason.

So yeah, post your knob discoveries.

**bleen** (2012-01-09):

Jeff, what about this?

http://lividinstruments.com/hardware_cntrlr.php

**Chris Randall** (2012-01-09):

Easy to make one with the Highly Liquid MIDI boards, too.

-CR

**inteliko** (2012-01-10):

I owned that Lil Doepfer ... what bitch to change presets... flipped it for double on the bay. I was thinking that also lately though.. All the new boxes are built for DJ's looking to rule the world.

**inteliko** (2012-01-10):

I still wanna go Drehbank / Bomes route...

Warning with Bomes, you might as well shoot yourself in the foot if you plan on making music. You'd probably make music faster shooting yourself. Cause as close as Bomes gets... something... be it in your host, VST, hardware, will not talk to Bomes, destroying your idea of a custom controller you will rule the world with.

**myrnaloy** (2012-01-10):

Hey,

thanks for all the updates.

Top rankin' ongoing product support.

**Duke Fame** (2012-01-10):

I'm with knobs.

**Duke Fame** (2012-01-10):

Seriously though, I'm in the same boat as synthetic as I wanted a small pocketable knob box for my Nord Micro and there is no current commercially available option. Thanks CR, that Highly Liquid board looks like the way to go.

**Chris Randall** (2012-01-10):

I have two of them I keep meaning to do Something Interesting with. But then I get distracted by Something Shiny.

-CR

**mitchell** (2012-01-10):

re Livid... hope their hardware's better than their software. I foolishly forked over cash for their Cell software (to run live video) and oh boy... what a buggy mess. Neat idea, horrible execution.

**krell** (2012-01-10):

Thanks for the BigSeq2 update!

**lazenbleep** (2012-01-10):

re knobs, I made a knobby box with the doepfer pocket electronic kit, as seen here;

http://haha-fresh.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-stole-it-no-one-was-looking-i-did-it.html

:#

**mad ep** (2012-01-11):

Wow.... Karlette..

That brings me back... I used that all over a bunch of my tracks like 10 years ago. Downloading!

**synthetic** (2012-01-11):

That Livid box looks kinda cheap, too big, faders too small to be useful. Who is mixing on these 1.5" faders?? Bump one a millimeter and it jumps like 3dB? Why bother? I want something compact though. I'm always fighting for desk space. About the size of a pop tart would be perfect.

Akai has a box with knobs and faders which might be interesting, if you can remap them. I have the Korg Nano but I don't think you can remap it to MIDI, it shows up like a HUI or something. Same with the Steinberg little controllers, they're hard mapped.

I'll also be looking for a weighted 88-key controller that's built well, wooden keys, poly aftertouch. And I'll surely go home disappointed as usual.

**Chris Randall** (2012-01-11):

I've been telling you to buy one of the old Kurzweils for years, but you never listen. Want me to get that DX1 for you? The dude only wants 9K.

-CR

**synthetic** (2012-01-11):

Kurzweil Midiboard? I hear mixed reviews of that. DX1, sure if I can hack off the back and fit it in my desk.

**Chris Randall** (2012-01-11):

Shit. I can get you mixed reviews of everything ever made by human hands. Find one. Play it.

-CR

**DGillespie** (2012-01-12):

Kurzweil Midiboard is the business. I've wanted one forever but I move every couple of years and that's not going to happen.

**studio nebula** (2012-01-12):

Every time I'm testing the MIDI stuff in one of our products, I find myself wishing for a box about the size of an Altoids tin with some knobs on it that send MIDI CCs, and a USB jack to plug it into my PC. This is mostly because my desk typically doesn't have room for anything larger than an Altoids tin. A few buttons that send MIDI notes would be nice, too. Maybe one of these years I'll build such a thing.

--Adam

**synthetic** (2012-01-13):

CR, let me know if you ever see a Kurzweil up for sale. I might drive to the desert to grab it.

Adam, yes exactly.

There's the Kenton Killamix Mini but it's a little pricey ($379) and overkill for what I want. But it has nine knobs, and a joystick. But also LED rings around each knob, which is why it's so expensive.

Details. Apparently Underworld use it live. http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/midicontrol/kmix-mini.shtml

**obscurerobot** (2012-01-13):

@studio nebula: The Mutable Instruments MIDIpal will do that. Except for the USB part. And it's also a sequencer and a MIDI LFO generator, and...

http://mutable-instruments.net/midipal

**mitchell** (2012-01-13):

@synthetic: When you said "hack off the back", I initially thought you were referring to essentially the two DX7's that comprise the sound generation of a DX1 (i.e. so you'd be left with just the keyboard). Which would be an awesomely dismissive and funny way of referring to DX FM synthesis :)

**studio nebula** (2012-01-13):

@obscurerobot: so, in other words it doesn't do what I need, but it does a bunch of stuff that I don't need? :-)

--Adam

**seancostello** (2012-01-13):

@Adam: build some micro slider controllers into an Altoids box, and I'm sure you will have people lining up to buy it.

I have a vague memory of JL Cooper making something about this size, that I saw about a decade ago. I think it was a few years old at the time, so there wouldn't have been USB on board.

**synthetic** (2012-01-13):

The problem with JL Cooper is that they don't know anything about manufacturing, so their stuff is crazy expensive and clunky. I looked at their Fadermaster 4/100 (?), which is four non-moving 100mm faders in a box with MIDI out. $1000.

I hope that Kenton is at NAMM somewhere, I want to see how solid the thing is. If anyone has tried it, how solid are the knobs on a scale from Behringer to SSL G series?

**obscurerobot** (2012-01-13):

@studio nebula - is it really a dealbreaker to need a MIDI->USB cable? The MIDIpal is a Creative Commons design, so it would be a great starting point for your particular Altoids box.

If Pure Data can recognize multiple mice, you could probably patch something up that would treat mousewheels as CC sources. Bonus points for hacking up a bunch of nasty Craigslist mice so that they are just a pile of wheels racked up in an Altoids tin.