I guess it is possible I may run into issues at higher track counts that I have not yet seen. However, when I was troubleshooting around the conflict I had with the Creative card in same PC, all of the posts I read sounded a lot like what I was experiencing even in easily-simulated test scenarios (for example I was able to make things go horribly sideways by adding a few instances of Massive or Diva for example). I've also loaded up some projects which were pretty heavy in terms of overall tracks/load and all seemed fine. Admittedly though that potentially be different with lots of hardware? Not sure..but if I ever run into problems my backup plan is to just drop a dedicated Firewire card in.

To keep on-subject, if not for but this one sentence; I think Novation has always been well-ahead of likes of M-Audio in this department going back to their VA Synths such as the X Station, which was not only a capable synth but an all-out audio interface and controller in one. No idea what the Novation Impulse line is like but am glad I went with the Remote SL 61MkII because Automap or not, for me and most of us its the feel of the keys and my top requirement of After Touch, as I find it an invaluable creative routing option for things a lot of people never think of like Breath Control.

Now, I wanted to tell Tweakhead that I do INDEED have what I deem a "pre-mixer" for my hardware synths that is an older Kawai Keyboard Mixer that not only has individual sends for my Lexicon MPX110 at either pre or post-fader AND this ahead of its time utilitarian mixer actually has one MIDI IN and THREE MIDI THRU ports, effectively serving as a midi merge device that's not connected to the audio input signal. Even though sending that mixer's output to AI, if I desire of course to do a sister midi track for some automation am aware this will be effortless to make those connections to do so.
The Focusrite Mix Control on their interfaces seems to be incredibly flexible. Yesterday, got an email that stated Automap has yet another update and supportive of WIN 8 and USB 3 ports. That's great info from Roland regarding benchmarks on WIN 8. I am not being "a stick in the mud" about WIN 7, however, there's MANY people that still utilize WIN XP for audio. Not to mention all those folks that have Clavia Nord Modular that Nord seemed to have dropped them off the train and left them for dead as far as any support post WIN XP or past MAC O.S.--anyone ever wonder why Nord dropped such an innovative hardware/software integration synth?

No clue. But the Nord Modular G2 isn't old enough to justify completely dropping support on the software side of it - and for this particular product, without the software the synthesizer is rendered almost useless besides the patches you have stored into its internal memory. This is what will probably happen to some of our software synthesizers of the old age. For example, just recently support was dropped on Albino 3 - which was still a very good VA software synthesizer on its own right, needing only unisson to stand up against anything in the market even today. It's a sad situation for such a lovely machines that have been used to oblivion in many modern tracks and are still mentioned a lot by many accomplished producers. But it is what it is... I guess, as far as the Modular is concerned, you can always set up a partition with an older version of windows or mac, or even a virtual machine just for being able to use the software to create new patches. But, by all means, Clavia should get a kick in the but for it. And so should Rob Papen being so greedy about his god damn presets - which btw no real producer cares for since they're mostly garbage compared to what you can do with that beast of a synthesizer programming it yourself...

When we buy a product we expect the company to keep up with the promise and at least keep supporting the stuff we paid for. There's also the powercore dsp that was able to run the virus synthesizer that is now dead, right Berni? We should gather all the music folks and kick some serious developers but if you ask me! :twisted:

Maybe just place a glass crystal dome over them all and all disgruntled musicians take a group fart in their general direction:D !!
You are not the first to have grievance toward that sound designer as there's people that own the Microwave 1 in which is dependent on large external memory card to place one's new sounds on or import new waves and sounds in that machine and will just say it's outright highway robbery what is charged for them with a damn disclaimer that they are his sounds and cannot be utilized in commercial realm nor sold in any way or form.
I say just make your own sounds because it's by very nature of trial and error and using one's ears, a person becomes a synthesis or better yet synthesis.
Do not mean to be 'snarky', but Tweakhead's words are very wise in making one's own trademark sound rather than continuing the 'cookie cutter' syndrome.

I'm aware of Albino support being dropped, but aside from that most of my soft synths that were purchased many years ago are still getting great support. Recent example includes e-mails I've received direct from Urs (Zebra developer) who is not too busy to care about supporting software I paid for back in 2007. Lennard, developer of Sylenth1 has also been helpful many years after the sale had long transpired.

Overall I would say software support in the soft-synth world is way better than one can expect from mainstream business software. The bottom line there is that software is not just a one-time purchase. It must exist in an ecosystem that is subject to constant change -- OS updates, driver updates, DAW/Host updates, etc will all have some impact on your software's ability to continue operating in the future. This is not a phenomenon specific to music software, but all software in general.

When a software company's revenue stream dissolves, there is simply nothing left to continue paying employees. It's not a matter of ripping off the consumer, it's a matter of survival. This is one reason the industry has gone more toward "software as a service", such that people pay a monthly or annual fee to use software on a per-user license level. This helps rid them of the false thinking that "okay I bought this software, it should work forever".

With all of that said, I think all my VST plug-ins have an amazing record of continuing to work, regardless of whether I update them. I think that says something about the relatively non-volatile nature of the VST specification; it is not something that tends to get affected by Windows or OSX updates for example.

Dedicated hardware that attaches to your computer is another matter, as there is usually some type of proprietary driver or software (i.e. Automap) involved. I'm not sure why the Powercore DSP was discontinued, but I suspect there was a point at which it was clear that sales growth would not sustain support costs (only a guess.... typically when something makes a lot of money it tends to not get discontinued).

I have worked at companies where I've witnessed absolute tragedy with regard to engineering staff cuts. By that, I mean that decisions were made by douchebag bean-counters and upper management know-nothings that resulted in the layoffs of key engineers that were required to keep the product line going. Yes, the layoffs were made without the realization by management and accounting types that they just cut off the lifeline to their own company by firing the only few guys that understood how things worked. The stupidity can be that rampant. So I have seen products be discontinued because of that sort of error in management, but it's not the only cause of course.

Overall, I think we should be thankful at the type of software and gear (or in many cases software INSTEAD of gear) that we can buy these days. When I first got into electronic music, you could easily spend $20k (which would probably be more like 3 or 4 times that in today's money) and still not have enough to produce a professional track. And in those days, a typical synthesizer cost several thousand dollars but was almost guaranteed to be discontinued a couple of years later. I think all products undergo this type of lifecycle.

At the end of the day though, with a software based environment, in theory if you are content with what you have, it's irrelevant that the software has been discontinued. Like namnibor said, some people still run XP!! If they plan to evolve they are kind of screwed because they are sitting on a ticking time bomb.... some software update will eventually come along that will make them regret that, unless they decide to lock down their system, no more updates or new software, and just consider that the last music making box they will need for the rest of their lives. In fact they could just image the hard drive and carry the environment forward to a new PC whenever their current hardware's life came to an end. I've heard of things much more absurd.... I know some people kept their original Atari ST sequencing environments going, as-is without modification or maintenance for something like 20 years! For all I know there may still be some out there doing all their production on them or Amigas.

For me I don't think I could ever just lock things down and fall outside the normal lifecycle of updates and deprecation of products. Trying new things is part of what keeps me inspired and interested in the hobby of synths. And none of my investment in softsynths has required any physical repair :) .... I've seen guys already having to replace keys in the keybed of their Virus Tis!!

I agree with what you just said. But on the other hand: if you consider such things as the Adobe's Creative Suite, how many people do you think have really explored the possibilities of the third version, let alone the latest? More often then not, we already have the tools we need at our disposal and marketing gets us excited about the latest advances. But we tend not to think it through, the really hard question, which is: do I really need this new features? So if there's someone out there still relying on their Amiga for Midi orchestration of instruments, that system is rock solid and stable for doing so.

I read an interview with Fat Boy Slim in some magazine (it's a few months old, might have been Future Music or something like that, can search for it if you guys want) where he stated that he was used to his good old Akai MPC and couldn't get his head around Ableton Live that he now owns. The simple change in the interface and the way of working made one of the most successful players on the EDM scene of the 90's feeling like he's got to catch the pace and start from 0. My opinion about that: if it works for you, keep it! Specially when it comes to hardware, there's no such thing as out of fashion. Who would imagine in the 90's that analogue would make such a return? Back then people were simply considering digital to be the obvious evolution, adding more polyphony, more complex waves and types of synthesis into the mix.

You're a software developer. So you can shed some light into this, I'm sure. I'm the kind of person who think that the system requirements for such things as an Office Suite are simply mad. It's been doing just the same thing for as long as I can remember and one of this days it will take a 4 year old top notch gaming computer to run the new version of Microsoft Word that I'm sure will be great but will still be focused on "word processing". I came to such conclusions after setting up a machine (a laptop) with a Linux operating system (mint 14 cinnamon) that comes packed with an Office Suite and tons of tools that work exactly like those we usually pay big bucks for. I'm not going for value for the money here, I'm going for performance and the feeling I get that companies push the limits in order for people to keep buying new hardware to run it - while having the exact approximate performance they had before, just with more fancy looks and color schemes.

In music software this isn't exactly true, because all it takes is to launch Diva and you get the feeling that evolution is actually happening here. But I'm sure there's much more love involved and honest hard work as well, compared to big greedy as hell companies such as Microsoft. Many times we're buying what we already have and worked just fine over and over and if there's a brand new processor that's like a million times faster then our first computer, the coders surely will find a way to make it slow again by using redundant code, by wasting system resources on needless stuff that sits next to the clock and stuff like that.

One of the advantages of music hardware to me is that it's out of this equation. 2 cents.

THAT is exactly why my dedicated DAW PC build is indeed *just* for efficiently doing audio and some video editing and with Reaper, I am guaranteed a few years at least in future of absolutely free upgrades and features that even to this day the so called industry standard, AVID Pro Tools users, still do not have the flexibility and even some cool features that an open source DAW in which the dedicated developers *actively and fervently* listen to their huge user base in order to implement or even improve/tweak things; at $60. for a non-commercial license, this pleases me because even on the Cockos Reaper Forum, you get support from people that do not have pretentious snarky attitudes. You would be surprised at how many Pro Tools users have switched and AVID being asses, they have gone out of their way to ensure that REWIRE is a mess if a Reaper user tries to integrate within AVID products to include the video editing products AVID owns.
I am not trying to "sell" Reaper to anyone but their philosophy is very much akin to how LINUX is to Microsoft/Apple, giving people freedom to say even remain working perfectly fine on a 3.0 version of Reaper while a 4.7 newest edition is out.
Consumerism and marketing irks the hell out of me and some people really are slaves to it to point on another forum someone was actually trying to tell me that I was a "dinosaur musician" for preferring hardware synths and I did not feed into the argument when they started down the path that the Virus is surpassed by software/vsti and how the Virus sounds "thin" and how effects are only way it sounds beyond thin!:confused: All I replied with is, "...and this is coming from someone that utilizes vsti's solely and has no issues oxymoronically stating/boasting about how they had plethora of vsti effects at their disposal for much better sound design than hardware?!!!":twisted:

As far as midi controllers go, Novation's announcement few days ago of new Automap upgrade ALSO added Automap to ALL their LEGACY controllers as well! That is very smart and progressive thinking. Am liking Novation/Focusrite more and more as I see a company that ALSO listens to their customers and has excellent customer support.
Early morning coffee rant over!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TweakHead (Post 303274) I agree with what you just said. But on the other hand: if you consider such things as the Adobe's Creative Suite, how many people do you think have really explored the possibilities of the third version, let alone the latest? More often then not, we already have the tools we need at our disposal and marketing gets us excited about the latest advances. But we tend not to think it through, the really hard question, which is: do I really need this new features? So if there's someone out there still relying on their Amiga for Midi orchestration of instruments, that system is rock solid and stable for doing so.

Adobe CS is one of those apps that I have to own, as a course of work, but it's really a side tool that's not essential to the primary type of work I do, soI tend to not always keep it upgraded to the latest and greatest and when I do upgrade, I just pass the cost along to clients.

But keep in mind Adobe CS is geared toward guys that develop graphics for web, desktop apps and mobile devices. That landscape is always changing (particularly mobile) and new features emerge to cover different scenarios. They may be features that don't matter to you or me if we are not professional graphics designers (I'm certainly not), but they might matter to alarge portion of the community.

The question then becomes, if you don't need professional-grade software, could you get by with something like Photoshop Elements or whatever their low-end offering is? Or maybe you could use something much less expensive altogether like Pixelmator for Mac, or the completely free-of-charge Paint.Net for Windows?

The scenario is just like the difference in buying a $300 home grade lawnmower versus a $3000 professional grade mower. Buy what you need and the maintenance costwill fall in line with your needs.

With software, the maintenance cost is not only to cover new features, but to cover the cost of the labor *just to keep what you have going*. Most of the time, software will not just continue working without maintenance attention, because of the evolving landscape of updates around it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TweakHead (Post 303274) I readan interview with Fat Boy Slim in some magazine (it's a few months old, mighthave been Future Music or something like that, can search for it if you guyswant) where he stated that he was used to his good old Akai MPC and couldn'tget his head around Ableton Live that he now owns. The simple change in theinterface and the way of working made one of the most successful players on theEDM scene of the 90's feeling like he's got to catch the pace and start from 0. My opinion about that: if it works for you, keep it! Specially when it comes tohardware, there's no such thing as out of fashion. Who would imagine in the90's that analogue would make such a return? Back then people were simplyconsidering digital to be the obvious evolution, adding more polyphony, morecomplex waves and types of synthesis into the mix.

The example with Fat Boy Slim presents an interesting dilemma in EDM and maybe music in general..... should a musician keep using the same methods to create music or should they let their musical style evolve with the times? Now consider that in EDM, the music tends tobe highly technology dependent and appeals to people excited about technology. Technology must remain innovative to remain exciting. Somefolks will respect an artist or band for not betraying their original musicalstyle if they decide to stay the course with their musical style. Some will chastize them for not moving past it. If they do move past it, a certain percentage of folks will say their old stuff is better, without realizing theold stuff was innovative and creative at the time but would not seem ascreative if it were released in modern times. It's just a dilemma every artist faces... But for many folks in EDM,which is so tech-based, we are partially driven by the love of music but alsofor the gadget geek inside us, and that geek side of us does better wheninspired or excited by technology. This is why sometimes adding a new soft-synth to my already oversized collection sometimes inspires me to make music. Just a different UI and a different typeof sound can inspire me to explore new sound possibilities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TweakHead (Post 303274) You're a software developer. So you can shedsome light into this, I'm sure. I'm the kind of person who think that the system requirements for such things as an Office Suite are simply mad. It'sbeen doing just the same thing for as long as I can remember and one of thisdays it will take a 4 year old top notch gaming computer to run the new versionof Microsoft Word that I'm sure will be great but will still be focused on"word processing". I came to such conclusions after setting up amachine (a laptop) with a Linux operating system (mint 14 cinnamon) that comes packed with an Office Suite and tons of tools that work exactly like those weusually pay big bucks for. I'm not going for value for the money here, I'mgoing for performance and the feeling I get that companies push the limits inorder for people to keep buying new hardware to run it - while having the approximate performance they had before, just with more fancy looks and colorschemes.

Well as I said, the dilemma with software is that when a single retail priceis charged for it, some buyers have this expectation that they have justpurchased the last word processor they will ever need. They believe they have purchased something like a tangible piece of furniture that should last a lifetime with little or no maintenance.

The truth is, software is much more like a car... it is an ongoing expenseno matter what. If you don't maintain it, it will eventually fails. Maintaining it costs money. Software is similar even though our minds seem to fail to accept it as requiring constant maintenance. Accepting maintenance cost for something tangible and hard like an automobile or home is somehow easier for the human brain to accept.

Microsoft Office needs to constantly maintained by a large team ofdevelopers. Developer labor is very expensive. If nobody upgrades or ever buys the new offered feature, the product must be discontinued. At some point it would just stop working,because the operating system it works on would always be evolving. Why does the OS need to evolve? Can't they just write Windows or OSX once,call it done, then that's the last operating system version anyone would ever need? After all, doesn't it do the samething it did 30 years ago?

Well first of all, you have very real security issues to deal with in OS development. Hackers, terrorists, and general miscreants are constantly trying to chip away at the OS, sometimes forcomplex motive and sometimes just to prove they can do it.

Without constant OS updates, some hacker will eventually be able to write a trojan horse that runs on your computer and mines bitcoins whenever your computer is powered up, depositing bitcoins into his account and making sure your computer is barely usable for music and that your electricity bill quadruples from its monthly average. If nobody is constantly safeguarding the OS against that sort of thing, you are eventually toast. Changes to the OS mean eventual changes to anyor all of the software that runs atop it. That's just the way software works.

You do have the option of just disconnecting yourself from the Internet, but that's a little like protecting yourself from the germs of the world by never leaving the house, IMO. I have heard some people say they disconnect their music computer from the Internet in orderto have a more stable environment for music production, but I'm not sure that'sany better than just keeping generally good security practices.

And, at the end of the day, if you really did disconnect from the Internet with all your computers and hardware, you would at some point be dealing with failing hardware that is no longer repairable because it's no longer supportedby the company that made it (they cannot afford to keep paying the support staff for years or decades if there is no income stream to pay their salary).

Quote:

Originally Posted by TweakHead (Post 303274) One of the advantages of music hardware to meis that it's out of this equation. 2 cents.

Sort of, but in some ways I see it as the same because hardware has a finite lifecycle, and without inbound revenue it must be discontinued and it will eventually fail and need repair, thus costing you money. What's worse, it could reach a point where itis not repairable to original spec or original parts are simply not available.

If you like the idea of all future upgrades for free, you might try FLStudio, it is "purchase once and all upgrades free for life". Their revenue model depends soley on new signups and sales of new plugins... sometimes their plugin offerings are pretty good and they may get some more of your money that way :) But it is nice to get the primary DAW, all new features for free etc.

About Linux, there is no comparison to Windows/OSX there, and that's one reason it has almost zero marketshare as a desktop OS, why developing for it is a fragmented clusterfuck, and why nobody goes with Linux as a audio production environment.

About software vs. hardware sound.... in the very few attempts at somewhat scientific tests I've seen, where all things are equal and in a blind test, most people cannot tell whether a given sound is coming from a soft-synth or hardware. That's not to say it is the final word, in fact I'm surprised there have not been more properly conducted scientific studies around this. But one that I have heard universal agreement on, even from the hardware vendors themselves, is that by the time the sound ends up on the final mix, nobody, even the engineers at Moog, can tell the difference between the sound of hard vs. software synths. Does anyone here really listen to EDM and believe they can correctly identify when they are hearing a HW board or soft synth? If so I could recommend a show I recently saw on TV where these self-proclaimed vampires were looking for blood donors on Craigslist... they swore that drinking human blood energized them... lol

If anyone has links to scientific tests that show hardware can be conclusively distinguishable from software in a final mix, I would be glad to read them with an open mind. Just haven't seen them to date.

Meant to come back and update this thread for future reference.

The problem I ran into with Automap not working was not a Cubase issue, but the fact that I was running Cubase as an administrator (not even sure why I did that but I set the desktop icon to run as admin, and because Automap was not running as admin it could not communicate... this is why it was working in other DAWs that I don't use as much).

I also ran into a few recent freezes/audio hiccups, and I remembered a recent discussion here about Focusrite Firewire interfaces (and pretty much every other high-bandwidth Firewire devices) requiring the TI chipset on the 1394 port. So, just to eliminate possibilities I plonked a dedicated Firewire card into the PC today and disabled the built-in VIA 1394 chipset on the mobo. Only time will tell if it solves the occasional freeze, as I have not had much chance to experiment since the upgrade. If you have a strong interest in knowing if it made a difference or not, check back with me in a couple of months for some reflective thoughts on the upgrade and so forth :)

Yes, avidly interested. However, my brand new Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 arrived today (USB equiv. to Sapphire Pro 40) and now when my health crap is not interrupting, am furiously putting my new ergonomic set-up back together once my new 9'x13' one inch thick red wool area rug arrives June 5. (Was time for something kinder to my neuropathic feet as I tend to stand a good part of time in my now "U-shaped" hardware configuration that seamlessly integrates to my computer DAW desk at angle in corner with hardware synth racks handily to my right for knob tweaking when indeed setting at large screen with Reaper and easy/fast to stand up and go to various synths with keys integrated) Am using the Virus KB currently as an excellent controller for my Q Rack and XT Rack and the Virus KC is of course to be used as she is intended to.

I went with high speed USB interface because Focusrite has a real handle on using full bandwidth for high track counts and active monitoring with no audible latency rather than replacing the VIA 6308 1694 Firewire Card and then having to more than likely go back into the AMD BIOS and re-configure everything/optimized for audio as it is perfect right now and will be honest, although have all the books and discs for performing all those tweaks, it is not MY strong point in knowledge, yet!:rolleyes:

Let us know how you like the Scarlett.

I didn't have to do too much BIOS tweaking when I got the Saffire running on the new firewire card other than the fact that I just disabled the onboard 1394 port in order to prevent potential confusion between the two in software.

I mostly went a firewire model (A) because I wanted to keep my dedicated USB 3 card clear for potential Virus TI maybe in the future and based on my past experience with TI I figured it might make diagnosing things easier in the future.... i.e. if I run into a problem with audio streaming, latency etc. at least I wouldn't be left to wonder if its a conflict with another USB port or device (B) I can use as a Thunderbolt interface just by using an adapter if I need to in the future. Really would have liked to get an Apollo, but could not justify that much money on the audio interface alone for my needs.

I also have a dedicated USB 3 card with two of those connections for potential future use. Will not be running *anything* on any other USB 2 ports other than a wired keyboard and mouse. It was recommended to ditch the USB wireless mouse and keyboard due to something like that is ALWAYS seeking a connection and to me, eliminating a potential headache was worth the really inexpensive replacement. That recommendation came from Sweetwater Support and although not an absolute, why have a potential need to reboot whilst in middle of creativity because of a stupid wireless mouse and keyboard? My rather large area rug arrives Tuesday and Waldorf Pulse Plus arrives Wednesday:grin:. So, I have a bit of chance to take the vacuum in places admittedly does not so much normally go while making some 'mental candy changes' in large living room, where my synth set-up and DAW work area resides at far end, maximizing space. Will certainly give feedback on the Scarlett in a week or so and definitely post some music contributions as well much later in year.

On Topic: Have you looked into any of the Keith McMillian Instruments or LIVID Controllers? At least *someone* is looking way outside the box!!!

Haven't really looked into any new controllers since getting the MKII... it meets my needs pretty well. When I browse the product lines of those two, I think "hmm... more buttons and knobs... nice... but not sure what I'd use them for".

I have thought seriously about picking up one of these, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm-U4...ature=youtu.be

VERY cool and funny, was just conversing with guy in Netherlands from DSI Forum on alternate controllers and I mentioned to him I read that Steffan Trippler, when doing some sound design for the DSI MEK, he routed Breath Control very often to one of the two expression pedal inputs for really interesting sounds:D

Interesting stuff! Look at this one! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtvIHMW9EjY

Very cool! Had seen these in some issue a few years back Keyboard Magazene or on their website when you subscribe for $12. for a whole year of hard copy mag's you get access to ALOT more stuff and there's a great forum there as well--FYI However, I had no idea this company was in Atlanta, GA, USA and will be ordering one after I ask a few questions via email support to them.

On their website, http://vmeter.net/pages/Instructions-Download , they state Cockos Reaper is ENTIRELY supported.....:D

It looks like if you are just working with software instruments, it's a pretty easy integration whereas with say our Virus or most hardware synths, would need the suggested Kenton Midi Bridge to interface with actual synth then of course since audio output will reflect how you have set it up on their set-up utility, would then be recording whatever you do with the VMeter.

Conversely, since Reaper is entirely supported and Reaper allows audio and midi to be all in same track with both fully editable, this controller should be able to used while recording any hardware synth in Reaper...theoretically.

I am not understanding the need to download something called "Max" and will freely admit still learning and will be forever, but always kind of thought that was just an Ableton Live thing....eduMaCate me...anyone?!!

Very Cool! (BTW, have new 9'x13'x1"thick RED wool area rug down in newly configured work area. Spent yesterday doing a lot and today resting sore back/body, now finally wiring everything up so studio finally finished by mid-next week...health crap can often get in way)

On Topic: I will be picking your brains on some things with Novation Remote SL61MKii Controller, since I think at least Tweakhead has a version of it too, on things maybe not clear or not easily found on Novation Forum firstly. I know there's some support for Reaper and not using vsti's, hardware synths rather, and like Tweakhead, I find this touchpad unfortunately dreadfully unresponsive for my taste and wonder if this VMeter could be configured to work in its stead somehow? Even if it meant not using AutoMap as not really sure I like it for my needs and of course my hardware synths have tons of knobs so will not be assigning those to the Remote, just using it as a pretty good feeling midi controller.

About the Remote SL MKII, I did finally get all aspects of Automap working properly for me in Cubase and did learn a few tricks along the way thru painfully slow-tech support, but at least everything works the way it's supposed to now.

It looks like Reaper is partially supported for the MKII + Automap but its hard to tell from the Novation page exactly what the differences are or what parts aren't 100%. That's one thing that always irked me about FLStudio, even though most things worked fine with it, it seemed to always be a second class citizen with regard to getting listed as an officially supported host by most HW/SW companies.

Avid's Pro Tools is even worse in that respect as you say FLstudio is, but that's because Avid seems to be a bit like Apple is in that if it's not "officially tested by Avid it is usually not supported by Avid", which is play of words that if Avid cannot make crap-load of money off of something, it more than likely will not be supported by them and if you try to ask Avid for support regarding something like that they simply will not.
That's why I thought it was really kind of great how Izotope Iris did things when first released in that they firstly made it so it can be used as a stand alone and secondly listed it fully supported by Reaper, but at least last year, RTAS format was not supported (that could have changed by now).

I know these companies are in business to make money and reason I remember back a few years ago was starting to learn Pro Tools MP9 remember reading OFTEN on Avid Forums all kinds of hate towards Reaper AND Reaper Users there and one person whom had been one of the forum's many moderators and was a working studio musician had "defected to Reaper" and when his last post on forum stated all the haters on here have only just a big case of terminal sour grapes because of fact there's other DAW's out there that are not as old that have many features pro Tools users still did not have or just recently partially had. He had also enough of the superiority complex that abounded in talking down to users of FLstudio and the like as if those DAW's were only "toys". He was then BANISHED from the forum!!
All this kind of stuff as well as like you said with Novation stating there may be partial Automap support but do not include in download notes or on their website exactly WHAT IS supported and not, a tad confusing and very reason I will read about something from various sources to find the consistency amongst all the salt.;)
It also does not exactly help when the likes of Novation seem to keep releasing a brand new controller as if they were yearly subscriptions to magazines and perhaps add Automap features that for instance work best on their now Impulse rather than on the Remote Series. It's maddening all the consumerism and marketing at the expense of just making something really excellent and keep supporting it instead of reinventing the same round wheel each year!!!
Rant over...they should make tranquilizers the shape to fit in PEZ Dispensers!!!!:cool: :lol:

Just curious, which features work best on the Impulse series? I looked at those briefly but saw some direct comparison with the remote and I don't think the key bed is the same quality (plus of course the MKII has the stick I wanted, particularly since mod action can be switched to snap back or not).

I would have still been happy with the MKII as a controller even if I never got Automap fully working, but now it's particularly nice because I can just press the mixer button to control tracks with the faders and mute them with the button underneath (very handy).

FLStudio actually did start as kind of a "hobbyist" DAW, a program with a stupid name called Fruity Loops. Of course it's come a long way and is now pretty much as full featured (if not more so) than Cubase/Ableton et al, and used by lots of professionals, but the stigma always seems to remain. I think part of that is because the developers were game developers in a previous life, so they try to make the DAW entertaining through use of silly animations and such. Its really kind of a remarkable piece of software, but the bulk of it is maintained by one guy and I'm not sure that he could accommodate compatibility with every software add-on or hardware controller out there even if he tried. Their policy of "buy once, upgrade free forever" is a great value but also comes with some tradeoffs in terms of features and so forth.

In the plethora of midi controller keyboards out there, I know I made the right choice with the SL61MKII and I am rather picky about key-action and after touch in that I do not want to feel like I may snap a key using after touch. Also, the fact it has TWO midi outs is a real plus because I recall a lot of still more advanced Roland Controllers from 90's (?) that actually had 4 midi outs.

I was referring to Novation's Automap update notes where there's caveats (on Impulse only), rather than anything "huge". Have never placed hands on an Impulse.

:confused: I do wonder with the SL's two physical midi out ports, would it be proper to connect one to say midi in on audio interface and other midi out to one of my hardware synth rack's midi in and then if not daisy chaining another synth rack, take the midi out from synth rack to the physical midi in on Remote SL MKII, while USB would be for Automap? Newbie question and humble myself to your advice as I feel like a minority in that I have hardware synth racks rather than most of Novation's instructions touching on midi over USB out#1/out#2.:rolleyes: I completely understand my audio outputs of said synth rack will go to input on audio interface and I indeed want to record audio primarily and in Reaper audio and midi can live on same track.:confused:

Thanks in advance.

Maybe someone more hardware oriented can chime in, (my advice here will be as humble as your request since I'm primarily a software setup guy) but I believe you would only have actual MIDI cables between your audio interface and the hardware synths -- all MIDI data between the MKII and the your interface just travels across USB (its still MIDI data even though not on a MIDI cable, and the only reason you need those at all is for the hardware that doesn't support USB).

So the physical MIDI ports on the MKII are more for flexibility I guess when USB, and software like a DAW is not available. For example if I still had some of my (now vintage) modules like Korg M3R, TX81Z, how could I control them with the MKII in a live setup since they were before USB's time, especially if I wasn't using a PC? The physical MIDI ports would be the only option.

Someone please stop me if I'm missing something.

Makes total sense. Would just have to set-up the routing in Scarlett Mix Control, which seems incredibly flexible! The Novation SL MKII is also pretty versatile...just hate the response of the X/Y Pad but will need to look and see if adjusting sensitivity can make it work better.
Thanks!

I would never use the x/y pad anyway. If you want something that's better (debatably) to work with your left hand and not very expensive, use an xbox controller to do the x/y motion. Doesn't seem as sexy but a lot more effective than even "real" touch surfaces (tablets) for controlling modulation, and you can control the speed of response to the stick movement.

The touch pad is really no big deal because I have an older Korg Kontrol 49 that was originally made to control Korg's Wavestation Legacy Program, which has a vector joystick, touch sensitive encoders and sliders, AND 16 velocity sens. pads, has two midi outs, and seeing how this controller pre-dates the Ableton Controllers called "Launchpads", and Korg still keeps updating the driver for this, even though discontinued, it sure looks like some other companies blatantly copied the design from Korg.:rolleyes:

The reason I picked it up dirt cheap is on the Korg forum they highly recommended it to use with Korg Wavestation SR (rack) as it is only rack unit that does not have a vector control joystick, but comes loaded with ALL the WS samples and performance data Korg ever made. Also, the exact same template of many loaded for Wavestation Legacy works flawlessly with original Wavestation:D .

The only thing that sucks on this, like *most* Korg's keys, it has no after touch:( . Korg is never consistent about the after touch thing. They omitted it on the King Korg, but their past legacy stuff they placed it on there like pretty sure Prophecy, Wavestation Keyboard, and only higher end priced newer things. Radias would be more fun with it.

Am still undecided about whether really like the modulation "stick" on the Remote SL...it's one oddly designed thing and am simply not used to it and feels cheaply made.

Hmm... as far as design copying, I say if its really yours then patent it and defend it. If Korg did and didn't defend it, then shame on them. I look at Launchpads and I start to think about pad-based controllers that predate the Korg Kontrol 49 by quite some time, but maybe that's just me. I personally would rather see innovation, even if in incremental improvements and by different vendors, than one person saying "hey we invented the _____ therefore nobody else can make one" :)

Competition fuels technology... without it, the beancounters sit back and say "its not broke, no need to fix or improve" and nothing ever gets better.

hehe.... drifting again. Lots of good MIDI controller related stuff going on in this thread though. Meant to thank Tweakhead for the ribbon link, I want one of those puppies.

Yeah, that touch strip is sweet. I was talking more about how the Kontrol 49 has the touch knobs and sliders and behave exactly way the Novation Remote SL ones do and have user configurable little screens above each slider and knobs you can label them digitally to whatever template you want to create for your own, but will admit the Novation SL is much prettier with the blue screen.
The 16 pads were not so much what I meant as well know Akai has been at that much longer, it's just the design taken as whole, will just say the Launchpads kind of borrowed a bit from it or perhaps the Remote's touch sensitive knobs/sliders are just similar, that's all.

Something Korg does have a patent on and only reason I know this because one of Dave Smith Instrument's code programmers said the ONLY reason Sequential Circuit's Prophet VS had a true Vector Joystick as well as some Yamaha SY/TG units, is because Dave and before they parted ways permanently, Don Solaris, both had some collaboration with Korg before SCI finally went bankrupt, and Korg allowed Dave Smith to use their type of joystick that's patented by Korg for the Prophet VS because guess where the Wavetable Waves came from for the Prophet VS and subsequently the DSI Evolver? From the Korg DW8000, as they were allowed to take the waveforms that are drawn right all over the fascia, and also tweaked them, made 50% of the waves brand new original ones. Then they both worked for Yamaha then Korg when Yamaha turned down Dave's project for the Wavestation, not wanting to take an investment chance on something Yamaha did not think would be popular. So Korg and Dave Smith, and SCI crew designed the Prophecy, Wavestation Wave Sequencing, with Korg adding modulation sequencing.

So what am trying to say Korg HAS protected themselves when feasible with patents, and were told that reason new Prophet 12 does not have the Vector Joystick but two touch strips instead to interpolate any of the 12 Digital Waves with it's 4 Osc's and sub osc, before going into the rest of all analog signal chain/filters, is Korg now considers DSI a viable competitor in the synth market share, and thus, to avoid any legality issues, the Tempest's two touch/pressure pads were utilized as well as two mod wheels. Don Solaris, having a rather "boutique" synth, The Solaris, looking like an Oberhiem Expander on steroids at $6000. a pop, definitely got permission to use Korg's vector control. I rather like the joystick and personally would like that over modulation and pitch wheels but it's the reason you do not see it implemented much on synths. Mentioned this because wondering still why the good old ribbon controller like what's on Andromeda, Doefer Modular, is not built into synths these days?

The Remote is a very capable controller for hardware - and a perfect bridge between the two worlds. For example Rob, you can connect two racks you own (both ins and outs) to the Remote, then on Reaper - this is the part I don't know exactly how is done - even connecting the controller with USB, it should recognize that the SL has two Midi Channels available. This means you can write midi data on your daw and sent it to the units, and the SL will act as a proper Midi interface. You will also be able to play them with the keyboard itself of course and record directly, but... I'm sure anyone finds many uses for having the synthesizer play some notes we recorded before to get two hands, breath and pedals (eheh) going mad tweaking while we record.

This is one of the features I like best about the Remote. And of course you can use the Through as you would with any other Midi setup as well. If all is properly configured - which should be easy enough to do with the manuals ;) - you can pick the midi channel on your audio card and connect a third synthesizer in there.

Don't know if you've tried this: but you can record midi arp from hardware to a midi track and use that on anything else quite easily or even record it, automate it, etc.

The other thing I think gets overlooked a lot is the editor: if you pick something like the Blofeld's CC list, you can configure the SL to control eat just by mouse clicking, save a preset on the user menu and it's ready to tweak...

Plus there's a lot of options in there that the manual poorly covers, have you guys noticed that? like global channel options, groups, so forth and so on... It's quite extensive. You can also bump stuff through it, and it even displays a progress bar of sort - for updating the software of synthesizers and such...

The Korg Prophecy also has a ton of very uncommon controls in there and they're very responsive - and usable with other synthesizers. Some of the old underrated classics can be welcome additions just for using these, I think. If you think of the Karma, for example, it goes rather cheap. But even if you don't like it's sound, the arp engine alone on that thing makes it worth while to use with other hardware, plus it's got the joystick on it and a fantastic keyboard.

Yeah, the Remote is even capable of handling NRPN as well as Sysex/Midi and has a great keyboard. I understand aspects of midi but have a few really great books on it as read a lot but I have to agree, the pdf manual of the Remote is extremely vague on deeper stuff and reason it almost is as if they consider people with hardware synths kind of like an after thought and do noit go deep enough on some things for my liking and understanding. Their videos are even freaking worse! Have you ever watched any of the Novation Automap YouTube tutorials? At least this one guy on several of them speaks with rather strange pauses, looks like a wild animal caught in headlights and never blinks, and through the laborious videos on Automap, he says a lot of nothing. It's like they shoved someone whom knows nothing about Automap, let alone read the script for the PowerPoint presentation of Automap and is making it up as he goes.
Anyway, I get really annoyed at manuals when they often will only start to talk about what you are looking to learn, then the dreaded, "If you want to know more about______, please see Section_____OR, call customer support. You go to that section and it's rather nebulous at best:rolleyes:

Thanks for your advice. It's just that there's more need to learn as far as how the Remote wants connections to be as far as USB and then my midi. I know how to daisy chain hardware racks/synths, different channels, etc., it's just that the Remote manual places more emphasis on the USB than than the actual two midi out ports, let alone thru and in....grrrrr!

Yeah, same thing here. What I managed to do was to set it up like I told you before: I configured the Automap precisely like the App told me to and got it working fine with Logic. Afterwards, I could choose from within Logic (must be the same with Reaper) to send midi to each of the two channels on the Remote, and to receive also if you're interested in recording knob tweaks as automation... or this and that.

So what I'm saying is: you should connect the Remote with usb regardless of your intentions to use automap or not just because of that. Afterwards, by simply connecting the hardware to the Remote like you would with any other equipment, you can orchestrate them using Reaper if you want to. I believe you need to press the automap button once, so that the lid of off, in order for this to work. That's what I do, good old fashion midi for hardware, automap for software, no brainer at all.

If you plan on using automap, take your time to make costumized templates for the ones you plan to use and just save them once and for all. After that you'll be able to use them like any hardware synthesizer. Easier for more analogue like interfaces then something like Zebra or FM8 of course, but still very cool.

I'll see if I dig more through it one of these days and will let you guys know how it goes. Some things about the Remote still puzzle me a bit, even though I got to use it as I want to: controlling the hardware synths on my setup, mainly as keyboard and used as a Midi interface bridge from software to hardware. It's pretty responsive.

If however the soundcard has world clock built into it, I'm pretty sure it's better to use that as Midi Bridge, 'cause it simply won't drift out of time as easily. Truth of the matter is: those drifts are only noticeable if you have it playing for long. If you're like me and record only some bars at a time, so you can tweak away while recording, then you'll be fine.

Let me know how all of that goes ;)

Also, search within the automap app for other options. I think it works with different stuff for different things: for example, there's a thing there called "automap hub" which is their own hay of handling midi info for software, through the automap app, then there's rather more conventional midi also. I think this last part is pretty much reserved for the user button and templates you build. They thought this out primarly for hardware's direct control, with the templates you can build with the editor, but not only that. I have the little nocturn and use it to control traktor, the dj software from Native Instruments sometimes at home, so that isn't really compatible with standard automap and I had to set a template for it that's saved in the user templates. By pressing user I can choose my traktor template any given time.

The extra convenience of using usb to connect it, like I said, is that you get to choose from controlling software or hardware by simply pressing the "automap" button on the controller, instead of having to plug in and out cabbles for each, which is a time saver and much more convenient.

But I think you'd be happy to, say, select two of your synthesizers to receive info from the computer, to play notes you have written there (either using Reaper's writting tools or recorded keyboard action of course) and record the audio outputs of those. If you use the "throughs" on this channels or the devices themselves, you can extend this functionality to all your collection of hardware. You'll probably get more lag the longer the chain goes, I think. But if you happen to have some "delay compensation" feature on Reaper, it can compare the notes timming and the audio and correct this automatically for you.

If however this becomes an issue, I think a simple and cheap midi bridge device with some clock inside it (the remote can send clock info, granted!! another useful thing for hardware people) would allow you to sync everything up. But don't take my word for it, my collection of hardware isn't anywhere as big as yours. I know for a fact that RME has very good clocks, but again, this is quite expensive stuff...

Thanks a lot! Actually, a Waldorf Q user created a custom template for the Waldorf Q (not Automap), and is supposed to be comprehensive and that's exciting.
New audio interface has word clock but it's only word clock out (but do not quote me on that as have not gone that far down rabbit hole), and know the Q has ability to send/rec'v midi clock/sync especially with it's poly sequencer and arp that's almost a sequencer, and the XT has a versatile arp and syncing.

I will be sure to ask for advice only after I have reached a point beyond a lot of reading, doing/failing, learning from it, do it again, et al!!! One thing for sure, could not be doing anything more mentally, emotionally healthier in my disabled military veteran state of being, now retired and doing what is incredibly enjoyable:D . (not to mention am still working on my first authored book)
So, to remain on-topic, I love to learn and am quite tenacious, no matter how daunting the task of learning deeper functions of the Remote SL61MKII. Someone on the Waldorf List has written a vst editor to go even deeper in the Microwave XT and I remember he mentioned he had made a template for the Remote for XT as well....he works for Google and he had seen my question posted to Waldorf List seeking where I could buy exact replacement red and three black knobs for my XT...he actually had brand new ones still in a bag and would not accept anything for them, mailing what I needed. The controllers for our instruments, whether soft synths or hardware are very individualized in how each individual views intuitiveness that just works for each. I am finding that there's some really cool people in the music community. (there's also for instance on the unofficial DSI forum, some rather CRAPtastic personalities akin to a prickly pear cactus)

Anyway, thanks for the tip on using the USB connection on the Remote regardless of using hardware. I just think Novation could do a better job and be more thorough in the manual and answer base. Groove3 has a tutorial ONLY on the Novation's newest controller, the Impulse:confused: Why do they feel the need to pump-out yet another controller series whilst still selling the newer Remote MKII? Do you find it odd having that totally unused second long blue screen on far right side of the Remote MKII? If I recall, the first version of the Remote actually utilized BOTH screens and it seems it sure would be handy in even showing the next or preceding mapped page there akin to the same way when setting up multi-mapped key-zones on keyboard that overlap each other as needed?!!!
Anyone know why that second screen is unused, let alone there? Then again, save from my DSI Mono Evolver Keyboards being an extremely cool and somewhat bright light show, the Remote SL61 MKII probably does not NEED anymore LEDs, but have to admit, I think those lit rings around knobs contribute to studio looking a bit like an alien spaceship cockpit...then you switch on the virus KC...man, I love that deep red:p Is the Indigo a really deep blue or bright and blue?

Since we're (finally) considering cockpit complementing looks as being an important feature for our gear - no matter how much we rationalize it, it's simply the ultimate truth - those of us who own the SL have to admit we got a little bit frustrated seeing that our X/Y pad could just as well be round shaped for holding a glass of wine (at least we'd use it for something) and that the mid range keyboard has better looks for alien exploration. I think they've clearly borrowed some ideas from their launchpad and went for a combo with this thing: the new pads are responsive even for people who don't hit them with hammers, they have light coding which is great for live usage of Live and two wheels illuminated - like the UltraNova synthesizer. Considering we don't really use the pads (unless for on/off like buttons on software stuff and Live), we don't use the x/y either even for placing a glass of wine (even though maybe there's some square shaped glasses that will fit in there. for more information on this subject search the novation's user forum)... If I was to buy one today, I'd probably go for that thing except, of course, for the midi functionality. The only aspect where the SL is still the king to be dethroned. This new one from them, LaunchKey (the name confirms that our alien travel aspirations have been heard by Novation, making Access probably the brand that reads this forum the less, probably, but we're getting somewhere here for sure...) kind of confirms their new tendency for dedicating their products to generic midi usage, specially controlling software, and nowadays, most specially Ableton Live - that's been gaining momentum for a while now and is probably the biggest growing market for dedicated controllers at the moment.

So, what do they have to say for people like Rob, here, that has invested in creating a huge collection of alien artifacts for dissecting the hidden frequencies from parallel dimensions? Not much, the midi functionality is (still) there in the SL, even though it's clearly not their main focus - and the manual bears witness to this promptly. If we think about it, the whole market seems to be with one foot on completely inside the box stuff, or weird controllers for software and on the other we have the analogue nostalgia with the new spring of analogue mono synthesizers hitting the market.

Ok... Not bad. But, why do I feel like there should be controllers made with synthesizer fanatics in mind: with great knobs (I do mean great), layouts that remind us of the best and most tweakable beasts and, perhaps, innovative performance features like those present in this little devices we talked about here. Plus, of course, great Midi connectivity with ease of use in mind - and the glass holder with the right shape the next time, please. If it works like that, it could be replaced by a toaster to, I mean, we need our cheese sandwiches while we're listening to those mad sounds we just did in loop, right? More so then we need to press this thing like we're killing an ant on the garden table (and would we need to press it this much for that? nope!). so... midi controllers need to get better, we enjoy the flashing lights, it makes our rooms look cool for sure, gives a new meaning to our electricity bills and all of that...

Not sure if I'm reading the above right (you might have meant something different), but if considering the Ultranova as a primary MIDI controller, I'd say it's not the best candidate, it does have aftertouch but its not a Fatar key bed like the Remote SL MKII (I don't think the Impulse or Launchkey lines are either for that matter). Feel underneath the keys of both and you'll see what I mean, the MKII has solid keys and boards like the Ultranova or even my old Remote SL are hollow underneath.

I wasn't being serious with my last post! But that's interesting: always thought Novation would use their best quality keyboard on the Nova, since it's their most expensive product in the market.

yeah, you are right, the keys on MKII are solid underside. It baffles my brain that manufacturers of either midi controllers or all out synths, with no consistency whatsoever, will at times cheap-out and slap CRAPtastic keys on an otherwise interesting and unique synth! *Almost* anything I have with keys have after touch, which also usually means one of the better/best FATAR keys are utilized! The Novation Remote SL61 MKII was my choice because of overall features, being able to even program own templates in midi/sysex/NRPN/Hex...and after touch was my main prerequisite and the fact it also has two hardware midi out ports AND USB, etc. made me easily forgive the incredibly CRAPtastic and useless X/Y touch pad.

The only thing that came even close and I had to thoroughly check it out before making decision on admittedly, expensive MKII 61 controller was another in same price bracket, the M-Audio Axiom Pro. It's very nice but because at the time, before AVID recently dumped M-Audio line to die where Akai, , and Alesis are now, is rather than Automap, it had Hypercontrol, which AVID saw fit to make that more or less proprietary to THEIR products and when it along with all else "pro-sumer products" were dumped from AVID, there's not really much support and so glad I did not make THAT choice because I already got stung by AVID with the first audio interface, Fast Track C600, which was not cheap, was still under warranty, made pop sounds erratically, and get this, to this day on AVID's website under downloads and support for that interface, they actually have it posted the pops and output problems are a KNOWN hardware issue that cannot be repaired via software update!!!! Yes, I tried to return it and get money back but AVID refused to give RMA for it and their email to me stated "We recommend you try one of our other interfaces instead....", and it really made me have a really bad taste in mouth for that incredibly sh***y lack of customer service to their "pro-sumer base"!!! It's not worth even taking legal action of any kind in the $399. that cost me and when you look at Better Business Bureau remarks and score, they had a lot of disgruntled complaints very similar to mine, yet still have an outstanding freaking score with them:confused:
Rant over....sorry, the word AVID is like the code word for a military German Shepherd Attack Dog to go all teethe on someone when I think of them!!! Ehh! FYI--there's quite a few ex-Pro Tools users in the Reaper Community and Forum.
Anyway, there's quite a few custom Templates people have made for the MKII Controller and are posted for download on Novation's support and downloads for it and my Waldorf Q rack synth is also listed so even though it has quite a few dedicated knobs on it, ALOT require you to hit the edit button in each section of signal flow to dive deeper and the Template allows one to do all that from the SL MKII. There's many others and lots of software synths as well and people constantly adding new submissions to Novation and that makes me happy.
I have read where their newer Impulse Line of controllers do NOT have as nice of keys as the SL MKII, it's just strange for a company to release a newer line while a former, more feature rich and still sold, more expensive controller is on market, to me at least. But then again, Focusrite has totally revamped their Scarlett line all except the 2i2.

I enjoyed Tweakhead's sardonic post very much!

With a synth like the UltraNova, product direction can go one of a only a couple of different ways:
....they could add in more features like 61-key Fatar keybed, multi-timbral support, maybe a second DSP, FM synthesis, and other items so that it competes head on with Virus, Nord etc, but at that point they have created something that would probably need to cost at least $1800-2200 on the street.
But at that price point they are kind of competing with the legendary Virus when folks go to choose a primary synth (okay some folks would say the "Nova" name is brandworthy enough to compete, but it would still be a risky move). In other words, for today's typical electronic musician, we tend to have a couple of HW synths that matter and do everything else with soft-synths. Most folks do not line their walls with 76-key keyboards the way we did not too long ago. We tend to look for one primary synth that can act as master controller that has enough keys and the control options we need, then everything else is mostly a rack module.
So, I think the product thinking was that the UltraNova is probably not going to replace everyone's primary controller, so its better to increase sales by keeping the price low. And, since probably nobody (or few) are going to use 37-keys as a primary controller, why put a lot of money into the keys?

I'm sure if they saw huge demand for a 61-key UltraNova they could accommodate, but the thing is that if you want to control the UltraNova with a 61 Fatar keys, you can just add the MKII to control the UN like a rack module and put the UN out of reach if you wanted.

Although, and this is on my list of experimentation items, I do not yet know if I can control the touch-knobs on the UltraNova in real-time using the touch-knobs on the MKII. I know it's fully possible hardware-wise, and it should be seamless, but I just don't know if Automap supports it. On the Ultranova touching a knob means "modulate in real-time", while on the MKII its more about just revealing the parameter that knob controls.

In my initial search for a MIDI controller and my initial motive for starting this thread, at first I felt a little gutted by the lack of feasible choices out there, everything kept bringing me back to Novation. However, I think the consolidation that's occurred in the industry is sometimes a good thing. Lots of people are using this board, which tends to lead to a longer product lifecycle, better community support, and lots of pioneering people out there that will find software or firmware bugs before I do :)