Setting up those knobs on your controller

When synthesisers first appeared, the thing that players loved most – apart from their sound, obviously – was their tweakability. Those rows of knobs and buttons on the front panel just itched to be messed with during a performance. The modern computer-based equivalents of analogue synths are much less tactile by comparison. Moving virtual knobs on screen with a mouse just isn’t the same – not to mention tricky to accomplish in the middle of a solo.

Luckily, controller keyboard manufacturers have caught onto this, and many current models sport a generous array of userassignable hardware controls that can transform your favourite software synth’s flat, virtual control panel into a properly tweakable, hands-on experience.

The controls on your keyboard will most likely fall into three main types: rotary encoders, faders and switches. If you need to adjust within a set range of values, a fader, with its easily visible start and end points, is a good bet. However, if the current parameter setting differs from the fader’s physical position, there may be a big jump in values when you move it. Conversely, rotary encoders rotate continuously through 360 degrees, incrementing or decrementing values by one from wherever the current parameter value is set, so if you need to adjust settings without a big jump, a rotary encoder will do the trick. Meanwhile, switches are more suited to on/off controls like mute or solo buttons.

All you have to do is tell the synth what it needs to do when it receives a continuous controller MIDI message from a particular control. Here’s how to set up the knobs and faders on your controller so that you can use them, not just to perform and change sounds in real time, but to record those changes into your DAW for posterity.