Mackie Control C4 Pro?

[thetwlo]

Looks like this would be excellent with Numerology, especially at the blowout price of $499: (http://www.jrrshop.com/mackie-control-p-8337.html)
there are 10% off coupons (http://www.retailmenot.com/view/jrrshop.com)as well

Anyway, looks great... but hard to ask to support a device that seems to be at the end of it's production.
direct info from Mackie (http://www.mackie.com/products/c4pro/)

[m5tevens]

Anybody actually using one of these? At $399, it's quite tempting. I've been experimenting with using my Nord G2 as a controller, and this looks like a bigger version of everything I like about that. I'm curious about whether it'll work with the "reflected controller mappings" thing ... if I does, I can definitely see lightening my wallet by $399. Perhaps I'll try and scare up the manual online and see what I think.

The G2 works pretty well as a controller. There's only one row of knobs/buttons, but the paging implementation is pretty nice. Also, the reflected controller mappings work well with the "automate" midi module. Unfortunately, Clavia dropped the ball on some fairly simple stuff that would have made it an absolutely fantastic control surface, so there's a level of frustration while you're trying to figure out some work-around or another and thinking, "dammit, why didn't they just do X ..."

[ignatius]

i bought one new from overstock.com for $300 and they sell NEW on ebay for $300-350

i ended up selling it because as much as i liked it for editing my fs1r i find that i'm a mouse type of guy.. you could give me the best controller in the world and i'd still use the mouse.

check ebay for them.. there is a buy who has a bunch of them and sells them in the $350 range and less. I sold mine for $275 and it was practically new.

[m5tevens]

I read one comment online that the knobs on the c4 aren't capable of reflecting changes on the host, and that the resolution of the knobs is such that it takes five full turns to get 0 ~ 127. The Behringer equivalent seems to actually be a better controller, although it doesn't have the lcd displays and only has switches on the top row of knobs.

I'm traditionally a mouse / trackball person as well, trying to get outside my comfort zone with Numerology and do more of a real-time thing.

[Sjoerd]

The Behringer BCR-2000 does quadruple up on those top rotary pushbuttons (so you have 32 separate functions for them in 4 groups of 8), and also has 2 rows of 8 plus 4 more at the right bottom. You can even hack different functions into the remaining 8 buttons...

And, for that kind of money, I would guess an iPad is (or will soon become, depending on available software) way more suitable to provide really detailed parameter feedback, and -- even better -- completely different interface setups depending on context (e.g. have your sliders vertical when they are routed to volume, horizontal when they affect panning/balance, have X-Y pads when using surround, etc.). But missing dedicated MIDI I/O and such of course...

@ignatius: a little question/tip: did you ever try a tablet/pen (or 'digitizer' - whatever they call them, you probably know what I mean...) ? I like them way better for pointer-related tasks. It greatly enhances my 'clicking speed', is much more precise, expressive, and (perhaps most importantly) comfortable, especially during long periods of intensive usage. I still consider my Wacom Intuos3 as one of my best computer/music related investments ever.

[m5tevens]

I thought about the iPad, and may try one out at some point, but I grew up with knobs and like the physicality of them. I'm going to pick up a Launchpad, since that seems to be the Official Numerology Controller, and see how well that works for me. I thought it was just a bunch of buttons and didn't see what the big deal was until I read Jim's docs ... whoa.

[Sjoerd]

I thought about the iPad, and may try one out at some point, but I grew up with knobs and like the physicality of them. I'm going to pick up a Launchpad, since that seems to be the Official Numerology Controller, and see how well that works for me. I thought it was just a bunch of buttons and didn't see what the big deal was until I read Jim's docs ... whoa.

Yeah, that Official Numerology Controller is on my shopping list as well, solely thanks to Jim's efforts, for use with Numerology. Unfortunately (UK based) Novation are pulling some $US / EUR conversion 'numerology' that I don't much appreciate. :( So I'm still keeping an eye out for a good deal, probably gonna buy a used one or hold off until I happen to visit the US.