It's hard to find a good all-around MIDI controller. I'm still searching. I have the portable Akai Pros, and the Line 6 KB37. So far I'm learning what I hate, and will avoid in the future.
I don't like knobs that have start and end points, I guess that goes for sliders too, but especially knobs. I've seen some devices that have what they call "endless" knobs. Basically they have a ring of LEDs around them to indicate the position, but you can turn them as far as you want. What the problem is, I'll move from one synth to another. On the previous one I'll have a cut-off filter all the way open, but he one I'm moving to will have it closed, and I'll want to start opening it. If they are both on the same knob, as soon as I touch it, the second filter jumps all the way to that position. With an endless encoder, when I switch to the second synth, the LEDs around the knob will change to indicate it's current position.
Motorized sliders would be cool (for the same reason as above), but they're so rare to find, I won't make it a requirement. I'll more than likely have the sliders mapped to mixer channel levels, and they're global, don't change from device to device.
For some reason, Akai, pretty much the inventor of the drum pad, has always felt that they really need to be struck with a lot of force. My fingers hurt after just a little playing around on any Akai. So I want pads, but I want them to be a bit more sensitive.
Also I don't want the pitch bend and modulation to be on the same control. The joystick thing is bad, I always end up adjusting one when I'm only trying to do the other. Two separate, please.
I think I've finally found the MIDI controller that will suit me, the
Novation Impulse 49, just need some space cash to pick one up.
