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Looper's Delight
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Hi folks I've got my brand-new Faderfox LV3 (http://faderfox.de) now and would like to share my first impressions - and unfortunately mixed feelings I had as a non-Ableton user so far. So, first of all, the hardware is really great. Basically, it works just plug&play via USB. No midi cable, no power supply. It's wonderful. 8 faders, 3x8 buttons, 5 push-encoders, 2 joysticks and more... This is an excellent form-factor. And it just fits perfectly on top of my Motu Ultralite. The new rubber encoders work perfectly fine, though I personally prefer hard plastic. If I remember right, the rubber feet are also new and they provide excellent grip. Now, let's get to the software... The whole thing is optimized for Ableton Live and I'm sure it works great with it (haven't tried it yet). There is also a mapping configuration that you can just copy&paste, so it should work with Ableton out of the box. The scene encoder & the feedback LEDs (clip status for 8 tracks) are also convenient, I guess. However, I want to use this with Mainstage+Mobius and was hoping for a system setting that would provide me a "plain vanilla midi CC mode". Boy, I was disappointed... Theoretically, the buttons are "programmable". In reality, however - at least as far as I've figured out so far - they are extremely limited: - The 8x black button row is hard-coded. They are intended for track select. They send a CC with "127" on press (no release message) for ca. 1 second. - The other buttons are "programmable". The only thing you can assign, however, are 8 Ableton functions. Out of these 8 functions, only "Clip Launch" provides a proper midi CC with press=127/release=0. The other ones either work like the black keys (send "127" only) or toggle between 0/127/0/... with each alternating press (no release message). This means, I was only able to assign proper CC messages for Mainstage on 8 buttons with "clip launch". I wasn't able to work with the rest of the 2x8 buttons (and another 3x8 with Shift key). After spending a whole day fiddling, I was kind of able to more or less work-around with the mighty MidiPipe (Mac OSX). But this is clearly not how it should be... I was so busy with the buttons, that I haven't found a solution for the encoders yet: They either send 0/1 or toggle between 0-6 and 122-127. Wasn't able to use them so far. The volume faders worked just the way they should: Midi CC 0-127. Perfect. To sum it up: This is a beautiful, portable, solid plug&play controller. Yet, at least in this very first release, it seems that all the love & attention has been put into the hardware (and to be fair: Ableton useability). For pure midi CC control, I was't yet really satisfied. For a 250 Euro premium product, I'd expect more: - Proper documentation (not just 4 page leaflet), at least online documentation, wiki or forum. - A true simple "midi CC mode": All buttons work press=127/release=0. Encoders send CC 0 through 127. - Even better: an editor/configuration tool like Korg nano series. - Configure (or simply turn off) LEDs. - More flexible functions, i.e. program change with the scene encoder... I haven't contacted Mathias Fuchs (developer) yet. Let's just hope some improvement is on the way. So my suggestion: If you love the form factor and are an Ableton user, give it a try. Non-Ableton users: Don't expect comfortable tweaking like the Korg Nano series software. I can respect that the initial focus is on Ableton Live useability. In the long run, however, imho a "programmable" midi controller for 250 EUR should be able to provide more for the non-Ableton user. Let's hope for the best. I'd really love to love this controller... :-) In the meantime: If anyone else here knows how to work some Faderfox-magic with Mainstage/MidiPipe, help is GREATLY appreciated! best regards Buzap -- Empfehlen Sie GMX DSL Ihren Freunden und Bekannten und wir belohnen Sie mit bis zu 50,- Euro! https://freundschaftswerbung.gmx.de