I was recently looking at the SoundForce SFC-OB midi hardware controller for the Arturia OP-Xa V and I thought a similar type of custom midi hardware controller for Pigments would be excellent to have. I know I can map some of Pigments controls via my MINILab 3 or my Faderfox, however a custom midi controller for Pigments with all controls mapped would turn Pigments into a hardware synthesiser.
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Interesting idea. Though many of us use many different types of synths. Each has their own strengths. A controller for each of them would be nice but super expensive, plus I wouldn’t have the space for them.
So what tends too be the better solution for many of us is a single flexible controller that can be adapted for each synth. There is a problem doing things that way too, as you know.
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WOW, never heard of this company, I just visited their site, and these controllers are great!!!
However,
I totally agree. And for some time now I’ve been in the process of trying to come up with a setup on my Keylab MK2 (and a Novation SL MK3) for having as many controls as possible. I went for the idea of having “state” buttons transforming my knobs/faders to different vst parameters (I’m using Cubase). The highest I could go was having 80 parameters under my control, in one surface (having multiple pages as well for the other parameters). However, this lead to me to have an extra monitor in order to see what I was actually controlling. Not ideal, not bad either. I wish for a controller that would have small displays for each control. The SL Mk3 does have displays, however it doesn’t have that many knobs as I wished it did.
Here’s for example a video using my SL MK3 for parameters:
And here’s how I setup my Keylab MK2 with its 80 parameters banks:
You can see a draft for Pigments.
Anyway, I just wished there was a controller with many many knobs/faders/displays. It would fit many VSTis out there 
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I was thinking that since most synths share the following characteristics:
Oscillators
Filters
Envelopes
LFOs
Delay
Reverb
Cutoff
Resonance
Drive
Arp
MIDI channel selector
Macro controls
It should be possible to create relatively generic virtual synth controller, possibly tailored to Pigments, but with the capability of being switched via the midi channel control, to connect to other synths too. This is something Arturia could create if there was a big enough market. It could be modelled on the BeatStep Pro but with a focus of synth control - SynthControl Pro
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Yeah, I was thinking of an approach like this myself.
You could even potentially use the same set of controls across multiple Oscillators, Filters, Envelopes, LFOs, etc. You just need to have buttons that will allow you. to select which module. Osc 1, 2, 3, Filt 1, 2, 3 as an example.
Then there’s the Macros for anything else that is specific for a particular synth, such as WaveTable Select for example, or you could just them as regular Macros.
I think there is a lot of merit for an open synth controller design like this. Somebody just has to make one.
Console One is another controller that can use some competition. I’ve already spend thousands of dollars on plugins, I don’t want to have to dump them all just so I can only use SoftTube and UAD plugins. If only another dev like Arturia or maybe Waves would introduce a product like this into the game.
Actually it would make sense for Waves with their StudioRack with VST3 support and their own console strips.
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For now I just use a Faderfox EC4 but I’m waiting for that SynthControl Pro, as I call it, to arrive.
hey friend! have you checked out the MP midi controller? It’s got a touch screen and 32 knobs with several banks possible, so around 100 knobs.
I’ve been making a touchOSC layout but really this MP controller looks so sweet for having pigments right in front on the touch screen. then you can map all the different engine params to different banks.
Check it out!
https://mpmidi.com/
Thanks HunterWiley, that was a good suggestion. I had briefly viewed it before, but I went back to look again based on your message. I looked a few reviews but unfortunately it’s overly pricey. Nearly twice what I had in mind as a budget for a synth midi controller. I could buy a pretty good synth for that price (like a Hydrasynth desktop).
Yeah Ive seen that before. I personally don’t like the arrangement of the controls. I would be looking for more of an intuitively laid out control surface as opposed to a touch screen surrounded by controllers.
Just not a fan of that particular type of ergonomics. There’s no efficiency of movement if you have to access controls either side or top and bottom of display. The way most synth control panels are laid out or even Console One, is a much better approach in that regard.
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I would fall hard for a Pigments controller or hardware synth that carried its fantastic, colorful interface into physical form. Heck, I’d probably never turn it off, just let it play some sound just for the light show!
1,000%! Hopefully Arturia’s product design team looks into this. Having a physical device made for pigments layout would be so effective. Even though there is the built-in control surface MIDI setup (in Pigment settings) where you can have mapping profiles for various controllers you might be using, it would be quite possibly change the game in electronic music production/performance to have such a powerful hardware synth neatly mapped out. I like using the playlist function to jump to different patches, but this isn’t as performative as it is a functional tool.
Dont know of any MIDI Controller with as many knobs as shown in your photo alas. Novation’s LaunchControl XL has 24 encoders.
Ableton Push 1/2/3 I believe can do 8 banks of 8 Encoders. Can’t the Keylab also do Banks of Encoders as well?
In the screenshot we have 5 banks for the 8 knobs + 8 faders (the real ones) of the Keylab MK2.
One bank is handled by operating the knobs/faders on their own, while the other four banks are activated by holding one of the four pads of the bottom row on the Keylab.
The reason for this is to have quicker access from an ordinary banking system with next/previous bank handlers and the window presented in the screenshot, is simply there so that we can easily see what is there to alter, just too many parameters to memorize.
By the way, I do have this classical method as well with no real limit of banks number, it’s a setting in my midi remote script for Cubase.
Maximizing Existing Arturia Hardware Controllers
I have a Minilab 3 and I’m working on this multi-knob-bank idea (multiplying the 8 knobs + 4 faders). But instead of using Minilab User Profiles (configured with different CCs via MCC), I’ll be using MIDI channels because I hate cycling through the different profiles (with SHIFT-Pad3). With MIDI channel switching, you can simply choose a knob bank via SHIFT-C to SHIFT-G# (MIDI ch. 1-16). Using MIDI channel switching also brings the benefit of multiplying the numbers of usable CCs (128 x 16, I think).
I want to work solely with Pigments Standalone (for simplifying and maximizing MIDI assignments) but this idea would work for any of the Arturia software synth in Standalone mode. The challenge will be to have logical groupings (as mentioned here: OSC, LFO…) that make knob assignment easy to remember.
To Arturia
Having the ability to use Pads with the left hand quickly (one touch only) to switch between user banks (knob banks) and MIDI channels would be a nice feature. I’ve looked at Novation Launchkey MK4. They have something similar but being able to switch w/o needing to hit multiple keys (SHIFT+note or SHIFT+pad on Minilab, MIDI button + pad on KL3) would be a nice improvement. Just a thought.
The other improvement idea would be to have pre-mapped granular controls between your Keylab hardware controls (9 knobs + 9 faders x 12 Pads) to your flagship software synths like Pigments. I know it’s a challenge but it’d better that part of the solution would be handled at the product level, IMHO.
Related
One thing I noticed that may be important here is that Pigments has distinct software controls when switching Engine types (Analog, Wavetable…). On the other hand, MiniFreak-V seems to always have the same software controls/knobs across different engines. This means that assigning physical knobs to software knobs is much easier with MiniFreak-V than with Pigments.
To Arturia
I wish Arturia didn’t make it so difficult for us by having better Software Dev standards (between teams/instruments) by simplifying “MIDI map-ability”. In other words, when clicking “Add Controls” in the MIDI UI of a Standalone Software Instrument, there should be like 1-2 pages of controls (like MiniFreak-V) instead of dozens (like Pigments).
Having said that, IMO, Pigments would be a bad candidate for a building a hardware controller unless the Pigments software’s “MIDI controllability” would be improved. So for now, I’ll switch my own Minilab-based solution to use a different software synth (maybe OP-xa or Minifreak?).