A few months ago we announced our design your own controller contest, and we are very excited to share the results. It may sound a bit cliche to say “every entry was great” but really, it was. We received a lot of great designs and concepts, and we’ll share the best of them right here. I really wish we didn’t have to pick just one because more then one deserves the win, but we did say one winner, so here goes.

First Place : Anson Cheung’s Sandbox

Modular controller have been around for a little while now, notably the Mawzer, but Anson’s Sandbox really takes it to the next level by giving it a sleek enclosure and thoughtful layouts. The Sandbox also does a good job of utilizing all of the Brains capabilities. It is worth noting Emanuele Ponzio’s (aka APE) awesome BYOB SKULL entry. Ape’s entry does win for best name however! It was a close call between these two.

Second Place : Luke Andrew’s WhySynth Controller

Luke’s controller is a bit of a departure from the button, knob, and  slider combination, but its spirit is 100% in line with our philosophies here at Livid. Synth specific controllers and it is refreshing to see a controller that is so focused on one task.

Third Place : Mike Stacey’s Cocytus

We really like the originality in the design and layout of this controller. A lot of people come to us with their ideal layout, but quite frankly it’s usually too specific for the general public. This entry illustrates exactly why we created the contest in the first place, to show how our Builder series can be used to create a controller that you, its user, wants to play.

Here are some of the other notable mentions for the contest, it was great to see all these different concepts and designs over the past two months. I hope to see some of these brought to life!

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Our very own product specialist Mike Abb shot a video recently of DJ/Producer Elliot Lipp explaining how he uses his Ohm64. Elliot’s live performance is centered around his Ohm64 and in this video he lets us in on some of his performance secrets using Ableton Live. After the tutorial there is a section of his live performance from a recent show in Austin, Texas that was filmed at Aces Lounge. What I particularly like about the performance video is how he uses the launchpad as a mouse of sorts for his live set.

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After spending last weekend at the Maker Faire showing our controllers and Builder series, I talked to a LOT of people from a lot of different backgrounds. One guy wanted was looking deep into our Brain, mulling the possibility of converting the signals from the LED control to control mechanical actuators. A few other people liked the BYOB boards as a way to prototype things for projects that had nothing to do with using our Brain or MIDI or music. But I also talked to a lot of musicians who had feedback and general ideas about controllers, with thoughts about how those could be incorporated into our block and Ohm64. (There’s something about having all the circuits spread out on a table that makes people want to talk about what’s inside the box!) One of the more common questions we get about our controllers is “what about encoders?”*
There are definitely advantages to encoders in today’s software driven world. Encoders’ values can be updated and changed on the fly, adapting instantly to whatever software context you are in. It’s like getting a motorized fader, but without the large, fussy, expensive mechanism that a motorized fader requires. Plus, they have all those LEDs that make it seem more high tech!
But this flexibility comes at the cost of losing the feel of a pot’s definite position. For example, if you want to drop the low eq of a track for bar, it’s really helpful to have the tangible stop at the bottom – that wall gives your hand something to relate to and “get inside the mix.” It’s a subtle distinction, but it’s important.
When it comes down to it, it’s all about your experience with control. We design our controllers to give you the best feeling when controlling, and this is one reason we have rotary pots. However, the value of encoders is definitely not lost on us. Since I didn’t get to see all of you at Maker Faire, I’d love to hear your thoughts? What do you like best? How do you deal with the compromises that you have to make?

*Rotary pots output “absolute” values, and have a distinct physical start and end point. If you turn the knob to the center from the endpoint 90 degrees, the value will always be “42″. Encoders output “relative” values, and have no physical start and stop points – they are often referred to as “endless.” The value that comes from an encoder can be updated with a message to the controller, so if an encoder is turned 90 degrees, stopping at value “42,” a message could be sent that makes the encoder’s value “25″ so the next time you turn it to the right, it starts increasing from “25″ rather than “42″. For more information, visit the Wikipedia article.

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After much study and consideration, I’ve made a MIDI Mapping for Native Instruments Traktor DJ software. Comprehensive control over all four decks. All the tweaky goodness that Traktor offers is now at your fingertips. Here’s a complete tutorial on getting it working and how to use it:
http://www.vimeo.com/11284954
This is a “beta” release, so if there’s anything that doesn’t work right or there is an essential control I missed, drop me a line (comment here or in forum) and I’ll either tell you how to change it or roll it into the official release.
Download the files here for Mac and PC.

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As a build up to something we are announcing next week, we’re going to be revisiting a bunch of our custom controller work that we’ve done over the years. Since we have close contact with our customers, we very often get into conversations about “what would be cool,” and sometimes we’ll get people asking us to do finishes or layouts that we never would release on our own.
Case in point: the “Poison” controller that we did for Poison’s 08 tour for their lighting and video guy. He wanted to put the poison logo and toxic green color on the Ohm Classic and call it “his.” Since the inspiration for our wood bodies is the electric guitar, it only made sense that a classic metal band would be one of the first customers to jump on making his MIDI controller “more rocking.” We have been working for years trying to forge our own style, and it’s great when we find out that we are as appealing to long-time rockers as we are to the latest DJs!
Travis did a post-op article about the challenges and approach he took to this job, which involved making the logo durable for the road, and getting the shocking color just right.
Jay managed to score an interview with Mark “Fifi” Taylor, who shared his history as a VJ, lighting designer, and career rock and roll touring maniac.
Check out these articles and pictures to get some insight in what it takes to make our controllers!

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