From punkdISCO Sent Tue, Apr 20th 2004, 10:45
>and a plastic overlay with a logical layout. "So... add a bank of switches to the Doepfer Drehbank and call it done?" "I think the lack of a good labelling system is the pitfall of a generic controller." Hi Mark Yeah, it frustrates me that a lot of the existing controllers do not make any provision for overlays, either by providing say recess' in the hardware or by actually providing electronic blank overlay templates. I recently sold my Control Freak and Pocket Control and got a Drehbank as this has 64 knobs and the MKS-80 has 63 editable parameters(!). I have spent what seems like a life-time creating a Drehbank program for my MKS-80 along with a overlay. I am still working on the overlay trying to make it sexy but because Doepfer did not design with an overlay in mind, this is a little tricky. I would take manufactures a matter of hours to create a well layed out blank Word document for their controller (for example) but instead this has to be done over and over again by users such as myself! I believe that with a good overlay, something like a Drehbank can easily compete with its dedicated counterparts (the MPG80 in my case). One criticism of using knobs only is that they feel a little fudgy when it comes to using them for on/off switches etc. I don't really find this to be a problem as I have the switching set at the knobs 12o'clock with a small movement to either side performing the switch. If the knob is switching for say 4 waveforms then this becomes even more intuitive and natural. Okay, clearly a 4 position switch is better but with a cool overlay showing the 4 values a knob can be almost as good. I will be posting this program and overlay probably over the weekend once it is looking good. I am really pleased with it and would strongly advise anyone looking for a MPG80 to wait a few days and look at this (ill post pictures). Next I need to do a MicroWave1 and FS1R although I probably wont get around to the FS1R one.. see you -- Paul London www.punkdisco.co.uk