Recommend Controller for VSTs w/ lots of adjstbl. parameters

[ihavezippers1]

I checked the forum and amazingly couldn't find another post on this. I would like to get a midi (keyboard preferably) controller that will work interchangably well with various VST publishers/programs. The VSTs I have in mind using have lots of adjustable parameters (e.g., Arturia's Jupiter 8 vst, Waldorf's PPG vst, etc), and it would be nice to adjust these via hardware on the fly as opposed to using a mouse to make every adjustment .

I have started to shop keyboard controllers, and don't see anything very appealing in the 2 largest manufacturers I am aware of, M-Audio and Edirol. These keyboards are lacking in the knob department. Arturia's Analog Experience is a little more like it, but not enough keys---plus, I'm not 100% confident Arturia would make their keyboard function equally as well with other VST publishers. Does anyone have experience using the Korg Legacy Collection MS-20 copy for this?

If there are no keyboards you would recommend, are there other options I can use in conjunction w/ a controller keyboard (And if so, how would I do this?). It seems something like the Akai APC 20 may work, although still not really what I want---I'd like to have as many assignable knobs as possible.

Please make recommendations. I know I could probably use dedicated MIDI synths for this, and the analog emulation synths would probably work well considering they are covered in knobs, but I was hoping to keep in the realm of pure MIDI controllers to keep costs down.

[organsymphony]

there are loads of options for knob laden midi controllers.

If you want all the work done for you then you're looking at novations automap stuff.. but I have no idea how well it works with your stuff, you could read up on specific compatibility.



They're also available in 49 and 61 key versions.

Then there's the Behringer BCR2000.



This would require a fair bit of mapping from you, but there is an extensive yahoo community for it so I'm pretty sure you would be able to find ready done templates for the major soft synths and whatnot.

Is that kinda what you're looking for?

[ihavezippers1]

Yes, thanks for the information. The Behringer looks good, but the automapping is more appealing considering I am a noob at this stuff.

[astroidmist]

you might like to have some faders instead of knobs. there are some movements/things you can do with faders that you can't really do with knobs. so dont let it turn you off if it has a mixture of knobs and faders. it's all the same to a VST(i) or DAW/host with a MIDI LEARN function.

[Ashe37]

The original Remote Zero (the one pictured above is the MK II) is currently on sale at Novamusik for $168

[dirtykeys]

novation REmote
...

[krzeppa]

there are loads of options for knob laden midi controllers.

If you want all the work done for you then you're looking at novations automap stuff.. but I have no idea how well it works with your stuff, you could read up on specific compatibility.

+1...These also come in 49 and 61 key versions as well. I believe they all have same about of knobs and sliders though...I would seriously look into these because I think the automapping could make things really easy for you.