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Fader16

Discussion in 'Custom Projects' started by Casey Edwards, Aug 31, 2017.

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  1. #1 Casey Edwards, Aug 31, 2017
    Fader16 is a creation born out of my own frustration of trying to find a fader board for inputing CC values that looks great and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Only 1 cable needed (usb - no midi in/out/thru) and 60mm high quality faders. 60mm to me is the perfect length for MIDI editing. 30mm is too short to be 100% accurate and 100mm feels more like audio territory to me when I move it. I want to be able to do slow rides with accuracy as well as big sFz moves without throwing my arm around too much. This is also ONLY faders. Omitting additional screens and buttons gives this a smaller footprint and helps maximize desk space. The unit is assigned via software. Currently the hardware and software prototypes work on both Windows and Mac OS's. Current goal is to design a custom enclosure and finalize a process to deliver these awesome things to composers.

    More info and some pics can be found below:



     
    George Streicher, Matthias Fluor, Matt Varone and 3 others like this.
  2. #2 Luke Johnson, Aug 31, 2017
    Looks amazing and I'm definitely interested in this!
     
  3. #3 Noam Levy, Aug 31, 2017
    Forgive my ignorance, it's possible to assign one of these to CC1 right? (or is that a DAW-side thing)... I'm definitely interested.
     
  4. #4 Mike Verta, Aug 31, 2017
    Personally I find myself more in need of wheels or buttons, but how can I not support such a great independent venture like this? Answer: I can't not not not support it. Keep us updated!
     
  5. #5 Luke Johnson, Aug 31, 2017
    The very reason I want 16 faders is simply because I want Mic Positions next to the usual Suspects. "Playing" the Mic Positions is a great way to dial in sounds and Spitfire Mics alone take about 6 Faders.

    The intention is to assign CCs. But, in Cubase, You can create a Generic Remote and use them to control pretty much anything you want. I want 16 Faders so I can have all the Mic Positions next to the usual Suspects plus a couple spare for real time assigning.
     
    Rohann van Rensburg likes this.
  6. #6 Aaron Venture, Aug 31, 2017
    From what I gather, it'll be possible to assign any CC to any of the faders. It's a controller side thing, speaking based on all hardware that I have (usually done with software that comes with it). The only thing you do in a DAW (or VSTis, for that matter) is tell the instrument what value will a certain CC# affect.

    Most sample libraries today are set up so that CC1 controls dynamics, CC11 controls Volume from the get go. So in the software that you'll install on your computer you set it up so that whichever fader you want sends CC1, etc., and that software on your computer communicates with the firmware inside the hardware via USB, and it saves these settings in the firmware (for some toys it doesn't and options are handled software-side).

    So once it's saved, think of it like your MIDI keyboard. Wherever you take it, the modwheel will send CC1, because it's assigned in the firmware. A lot of cheaper MIDI keyboards don't even allow you to change that (this is where the DAW part comes in and you can usually re-assign CC messages, for example CC1 to CC11).
     
  7. #7 Matthias Fluor, Sep 2, 2017
    Looks nice!
    with 8 faders I would be interested as well ;-)

    Are you planning to open-source it? Same as with another guy who built such a faderbox, the shipping and tax is depending on where you live is just extremely high (resulting in almost double the initial purchase price)
     
  8. #8 Vincent Rice, Sep 8, 2017
    I'd be up for that. Make sure the faders are nice and smooth. ALPS preferably. I also think an 8-way would be popular.
     
  9. #9 Casey Edwards, Sep 13, 2017
    Hey everyone! Sorry for the late reply - business swept me away into a cave...

    To address some of the questions here, YES, you can assign any CC to any fader using the software we made. This also includes mono Aftertouch at the moment. Once you assign each fader to the CC of your choice it will remember it. No need to launch software just to use this. Only to change banks or assign new CCs.

    8 faders would be nice and it's on the table after I see how this venture pans out.

    No, this is not an open source project. This is a commercial product being worked on in my spare time between scoring projects.

    Currently not using ALPS faders for this, but instead we're using Bourns and they are incredibly high quality. One of the goals with this project was 100% MIDI accuracy. Meaning that if you move the fader at most reasonable speeds you get every increment between 0 to 127 without it skipping steps. And so far we have succeeded and I'm still tweaking the MIDI software sides of things to make sure it stays the best it can be.
     
  10. #10 Luke Johnson, Sep 13, 2017
    Yeah, it must be! There is no point in doing things by halves. This is exciting Casey! Thanks for letting us know!
     
  11. #11 Sam Miller, Sep 14, 2017
    This looks awesome. Is it possible to include ports for MIDI and power? I love USB, but I'm running out of space and sucking loads of juice from my PSU.
     
  12. #12 Casey Edwards, Sep 14, 2017
    No power bricks or MIDI in/out/thru for this device. Just one cable and the power consumption is incredibly low. These aren't motor powered faders. I'll be considering all other options if we move forward with other designs after this one. Gotta make it to the finish line on this one first!
     
  13. #13 Sam Miller, Sep 15, 2017
    That seems like a pretty good reason to omit it, if only for the time being. Good luck with it!
     
  14. #14 Paul Salerno, Oct 24, 2018
    Is there any update on the Fader16? I'm in the market for something like that right now and it seems perfect.
     
    George Streicher likes this.
  15. #15 Casey Edwards, Nov 10, 2018
    Still working out vendors and distribution. Turns out making it work was the easy part....
     
    Patrick Puszko and George Streicher like this.
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