I can’t believe how long it’s been since I wrote something on the blog. It seems like social networking has taken all that content into its tornadic funnel.
I just wanted to note that I’ve been working on a YouTube playlist that helps you use a Behringer MOTÖR 49 or 61 MIDI keyboard controller effectively with Pro Tools.
So far I have a lot working on my Behringer MOTÖR:
- Basic controls such as the motorized faders for volume; encoders for panning; and pads for bank/track navigation, as well as current track solo/mute
- Transport controls are fully working, including play/stop, rewind/fast-forward, record mode on/off, loop playback and recording, skip to beginning/end, and even an undo
- Additional pad triggers for dropping a marker on the timeline, and arming the current track to record
- Tranformations for the pads to cycle their mode to control record arm, solo, mute, or selection for the 8 tracks in the current bank
- Navigation and control of MIDI capable plugins (which includes all the stock Pro Tools plugins, and many others!)
- Cycling through sends A-J and level controls
By the way, the information in these videos concerning Pro Tools’ MIDI usage for the M-Audio keyboard controller protocol (known for a while as HyperControl) may be useful for other controllers as well. I’ve heard that some people use it for the Korg Nanokontrol and the Nektar Panorama P4 and P6.
It seems that these keyboards are still available here and there, but stock has dried up for most vendors, including Amazon. I’m keeping my eye out for a possible backup unit, because for a while you could pick these up for $150 if you knew where to look.
Many people have complained about the Behringer implementations of the more extensive HUI protocol in the early- to mid-2010s, such as the XTouch Universal Controller. If you have one of these you can spare temporarily, I’d love to get my hands on one and see if I can do a good implementation. I have a lot of documentation on how it works and it could be a fun project.
In the meantime, I’ll go back to making music, happy that I’ve done at least one blog post so far this year. By the way, if you haven’t checked it out, you can find my latest track here on Bandcamp. Hopefully I can put all my new knowledge of this controller to work on the next one soon.