# New 3-fader MIDI controller MICO Cinetic mini



## cedricm (Jan 24, 2022)

MICO Cinetic mini - Ferdz


A light & compact midi controller, easy to use just X3 100mm slide potentiometers.Control your plugins, save multiple automations at the same time.Handcrafted with an entire 3D printed enclosure, available in 5 differents colors.Choose generic or custom Midi CC settings on order.Universal, Plug...




ferdz.fr





3 100 mm faders, available in 5 colors.
Reasonably priced: €99, not sure if with or without VAT.


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## Jeremy_Ferdz.fr (Jan 24, 2022)

Thanks for sharing ! The price is ex vat, customers have to manage with their local VAT 😉


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## muk (Jan 24, 2022)

Looks good, and the price is moderate. However, what is the meaning of the midi ccs being 'pre-assigned'? Can't they be changed by the user? Do you need to decide before buying which ccs the faders control, and then you can't change it yourself? That would be a serious limitation in my opinion.


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## Jeremy_Ferdz.fr (Jan 24, 2022)

muk said:


> Looks good, and the price is moderate. However, what is the meaning of the midi ccs being 'pre-assigned'? Can't they be changed by the user? Do you need to decide before buying which ccs the faders control, and then you can't change it yourself? That would be a serious limitation in my opinion.


Yes the cc settings are fixed, isn't possible to change it later by downloading an update. Many plugins use same cc assignation, however if you prefer your custom cc assignation it's possible to set them before ordering. Also I've made another midi controller with more options like editing cc assign directly on hardware and internal memory.


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## muk (Jan 24, 2022)

Thank you for claryfying Jeremy. Of course you can use a midi translator in your DAW. But it would have increased the versatility if it could be changed in an easy way for the unit itself in my opinion. In any case it's good to know that that isn't possible.


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## M_Helder (Jan 24, 2022)

cedricm said:


> MICO Cinetic mini - Ferdz
> 
> 
> A light & compact midi controller, easy to use just X3 100mm slide potentiometers.Control your plugins, save multiple automations at the same time.Handcrafted with an entire 3D printed enclosure, available in 5 differents colors.Choose generic or custom Midi CC settings on order.Universal, Plug...
> ...


Looks sleek. Kudos for the product launch!

Reminds me of Nakedboards MC-8, which does the same, but with freely assignable CC’s for the same price: https://nakedboards.org/mc8.html

Granted, your version is a lot more compact and better looking, but lack of CC configuration (having only 3 faders) puts a damper on things for me. 

Maybe some kind of firmware update down the line? Just a thought.


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## PaulieDC (Jan 24, 2022)

muk said:


> Looks good, and the price is moderate. However, what is the meaning of the midi ccs being 'pre-assigned'? Can't they be changed by the user? Do you need to decide before buying which ccs the faders control, and then you can't change it yourself? That would be a serious limitation in my opinion.


That's how the Sparrow unit is on Esty that I bought, you email the guy and tell him what CCs you want. These are early days, these things will/should/might get better.


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## Drjay (Jan 24, 2022)

Congrats, looks like a really nice Controller. I especially like the colors. 
Since you also sell the bigger Cinetic controller, I assume you are a professional. Therefore please do not get me wrong, but I hope we agree it is pretty easy to implement a configuration option via midi and store these config values in the EEPROM. Similar to the Nakedboard controller mentioned above. No need for fancy LCDs and buttons.
This would make the controller more valuable for you customers. Just my 2 cents.


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## samphony (Jan 24, 2022)

I was going to replace the FADERCNTRL (by @CACKLAND who disappeared after selling enough units?). But pre assigned controllers in 2022 is a no for me.


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## Jeremy_Ferdz.fr (Jan 24, 2022)

Thanks for your feedback, I'll take note for future improvements. I understand but in the worst case, it takes 2 seconds with midi learn to assign a fader. I wanted to make the midi controller the most easier to use, for more option check the MICO Cinetic on my website.


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## Jeremy_Ferdz.fr (Jan 24, 2022)

Drjay said:


> Congrats, looks like a really nice Controller. I especially like the colors.
> Since you also sell the bigger Cinetic controller, I assume you are a professional. Therefore please do not get me wrong, but I hope we agree it is pretty easy to implement a configuration option via midi and store these config values in the EEPROM. Similar to the Nakedboard controller mentioned above. No need for fancy LCDs and buttons.
> This would make the controller more valuable for you customers. Just my 2 cents.


Yes on the big version (MICO Cinetic) i use eeprom to save user midi settings directly on hardware. You need display and buttons to know what you editing otherside an additional software is needed.


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## Drjay (Jan 24, 2022)

Jeremy_Ferdz.fr said:


> Yes on the big version (MICO Cinetic) i use eeprom to save user midi settings directly on hardware. You need display and buttons to know what you editing otherside an additional software is needed.


I agree display and buttons are nice but costly. But all we want are assignable CCs for the faders.
I know it is none of my business, but why not keep it simple?
Let the controller unit receive three different midi messages, e.g. cc messages. The controller numbers specify the fader, the controller values define the control number assigned to the fader. Et viola. I used this approach in my DIY fader unit. 

On the other hand, this approach might be to error prone for real live scenarios and you will have to take that into consideration.


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## Jeremy_Ferdz.fr (Jan 24, 2022)

Drjay said:


> I agree display and buttons are nice but costly. But all we want are assignable CCs for the faders.
> I know it is none of my business, but why not keep it simple?
> Let the controller unit receive three different midi messages, e.g. cc messages. The controller numbers specify the fader, the controller values define the control number assigned to the fader. Et viola. I used this approach in my DIY fader unit.
> 
> On the other hand, this approach might be to error prone for real live scenarios and you will have to take that into consideration.


Yes I take note for future improvements, maybe for version 2.


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## Justin L. Franks (Jan 24, 2022)

No need for a display or buttons, just a basic software utility to reassign the CC's.


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## Justin L. Franks (Jan 24, 2022)

M_Helder said:


> Looks sleek. Kudos for the product launch!
> 
> Reminds me of Nakedboards MC-8, which does the same, but with freely assignable CC’s for the same price: https://nakedboards.org/mc8.html
> 
> ...


Yes, only 3 faders, but they are full-size 100 mm faders instead of the 60 mm faders on the MC-8. Makes a huge difference.


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## Jeremy_Ferdz.fr (Jan 24, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> No need for a display or buttons, just a basic software utility to reassign the CC's.


Yes it’s what i said, display + buttons OR Software 👍


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## M_Helder (Jan 24, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> Yes, only 3 faders, but they are full-size 100 mm faders instead of the 60 mm faders on the MC-8. Makes a huge difference.


MC-8 has 70mm faders, not 60mm. Not that huge of a trade-off for 5 more faders, to be honest. But anyway, that’s not the point. 

As a potential customer looking to get a mobile rig, my feedback to the developer was to hopefully make it “CC customizable” for the end user. That would be the x factor for me, at least.

For you, 100mm is the dealbreaker, which is cool. To each their own


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## Justin L. Franks (Jan 24, 2022)

M_Helder said:


> MC-8 has 70mm faders, not 60mm. Not that huge of a trade-off for 5 more faders, to be honest. But anyway, that’s not the point.
> 
> As a potential customer looking to get a mobile rig, my feedback to the developer was to hopefully make it “CC customizable” for the end user. That would be the x factor for me, at least.
> 
> For you, 100mm is the dealbreaker, which is cool. To each their own


Well, actually, assignable CC's *and *100 mm faders are the dealbreakers for me.

This is something I've been wanting for a long time.






Why does nobody make a compact, inexpensive USB MIDI fader controller with three or four 100mm faders?


Everything on the market is large and/or expensive with 8+ faders, designed more for mixing than controlling an orchestral sample library, or cheap with much smaller faders (like the Korg Nanokontrol 2). All I want is something small, with three or four 100mm faders. No extra buttons or knobs...




vi-control.net


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## M_Helder (Jan 24, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> Well, actually, assignable CC's *and *100 mm faders are the dealbreakers for me.
> 
> This is something I've been wanting for a long time.
> 
> ...


+1


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## Sunny Schramm (Jan 24, 2022)

Jeremy_Ferdz.fr said:


> Yes on the big version (MICO Cinetic) i use eeprom to save user midi settings directly on hardware. You need display and buttons to know what you editing otherside an additional software is needed.


looks really good


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## Tralen (Jan 24, 2022)

Looks really nice.

Congratulations on the products and good luck with your business. Looking forward to different versions with more options.


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## colony nofi (Jan 24, 2022)

Yeah they look great. The 4 fader version is out of stock - saying feb for it to come back in. Its a super interesting little unit. I also think the 3 fader unit will be excellent for taking on the road. I can cope with pre-programmed CC's. I happen to love Bome. 

You can treat bome as the "config software" for this unit, set it and forget it. Its super stable, and can do SO much more than any software that would be otherwise supplied with the unit would ever do. So I'm happy on that front.

(Serious - how everyone on this board doesn't use BOME is beyond me. It just got SO many uses. Enough gushing)


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## waveheavy (Jan 24, 2022)

I went with the AMC3 3 fader controller, handmade in North Carolina.









USB 100mm Fader MIDI Controller


We sell high quality, USB MIDI Controllers for music recording



amc3midicontrollers.com


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