Hi folks - another one for the hive mind. I’m doing my dev for our team of homeworking voice artists using a Behringer XTouch Compact, but the a) the form factor is way overkill for what I really need and b) the motorised faders aren’t exactly subtle in the noise they make when they move. But it’s v good value…
Are there any BMT-friendly controllers that:-
Have at least one motorised fader that’s near-enough silent
Have at least three or so other buttons assignable by BMT to functions
Are well behaved with any static config needed to talk to BMT
Aren’t going to megabucks when I need to get a number of them for the team
I’m trying to avoid a whole bunch of trial-and-error purchasing; I can see the X-TOUCH ONE looks to fit the form factor, and I assume the connectivity, but my guess is that it’s the same components inside and as noisy? Anything else I should consider?
Unfortunately when you go with motorized faders, the price goes up and I have not seen one as inexpensive as the Behringer. Yes, all of their devices use the same technology, so the X-touch One will be pretty much the same.
Maybe instead of motorized faders, you can get something with Encoders that have LED feedback. The MIDI Fighter Twister works well for this and if you push the encoder it can be programmed to send note messages. I think there are 12 LED’s so the resolution may not be enough for your liking.
You didn’t say what application(s) you want to control so it is hard to recommend something without knowing that. There are a lot of small form factor controllers. I think Presonus has a one fader controller (FaderPort) that has 1 motorized fader but have no experience with how much noise the fader makes.
Since I don’t require motorized faders, I prefer the Korg NanoKontrol2. I use it to control Voicemeeter Potato running on my Windows PC. It has a pretty small form factor. You could also look into Korg NanoKontrol Studio which has a jog wheel and some other functions.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
Thanks for the quick reply. It’s for live audio description voiceover for TV - so I really need a fader for operational feel - as the talent will have their eyes on the screen. Typically we’ll only be using a 0db to -20db dip level, so granularity of fader isn’t likely a major issue.
The device being controlled is a custom unit - it takes a small range of Control Change messages to set current voiceover mix level and the max depth of the mix.
The talent often work in pairs in separate locations, so I was planning on using the networking capabilities of BMT / BomeNetwork etc to be able to mimic the end/release position of a fade from the current-live talent to their buddy.
The mics are gated at the custom unit end (using Comrex Gagl to get the audio to the broadcast control centre), but I don’t want stray fader rumbles breaking out if I can avoid it - or having to tell the talent to stick their faders beyond arm’s reach!