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Dunshield - our passive fader controller is in the works

A new passive fader controller: just faders, or can there be more?

  • Just the faders, thank you.

  • A pitchbend/modulation wheel would be cool.

  • Add a couple of buttons, but no pitch/mod.

  • Pitchbend/modulation + buttons please.


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Dunshield

Member
Hi VI community

We will be releasing an 8-channel passive fader controller in the near future, and I thought to give you a heads up with this thread.

Our fader controller is hand made and built like a tank, with 8 long throw 100 mm faders and quality components. It has a clean design, all black aluminum casing - not slanted but flat, with USB connectivity, and a solid piece of code that runs the device.

The controller might also feature a pitchbend/modwheel assembly and 4 assignable buttons; we are still in the developing phase regarding these features and would like to hear from you if these additions would be welcome ==> see poll in this thread.

The controller can be used as a stand alone unit, and it can be fully integrated into our Dunshield Composer Desk where it will sit snug on either side of the built-in Kawai VPC-1; more on this later.

Too much for now to be shared here, I'll post more info as the design evolves.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers
Emanuel
https://www.dunshield.com (www.dunshield.com)
 
A box with 4 mod wheels and nothing else would be perfect for me. Not really a fan of using faders for dynamics+expression. I've spoken with other composers who feel the same.
 
A box with 4 mod wheels and nothing else would be perfect for me. Not really a fan of using faders for dynamics+expression. I've spoken with other composers who feel the same.

Interesting. What would be a decent mod wheel be to you? Any synth out there with your preference of mod wheel on it? I myself am a big fan of the mod wheels that sit on a Roland A-90. I emailed Roland asking them whether or not we could purchase those exact mod wheel assemblies still in a rather large number. Answer was no. And at Syntaur and the likes these parts are expensive and rare. In the original design of our controller there actually were two A-90 mod wheels present, sitting neatly on top of the pitchbender/mod assembly. 3D printing is an option but it does not come cheap. In the end our primary goal is to build a controller that finds at least 50 clients.

At any rate your suggestion is duly noted, and we are looking into this.
Any other suggestions like this are welcome and listened to.

* I have just emailed Doepfer and inquired whether their single modulation wheel would be available in a rather large quantity. Their dual wheel is too deep to fit the box, but the single wheel should fit.
 
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Something like HZ's would be great with some extra buttons (I just realised I clicked only faders on the poll). Making it more affordable would be great too, this costs $3199.95

https://jlcooper.com/_php/product.php?prod=eclipsemxl2m

745260d1526465599-hans-zimmer-control-box-hans_zimmer.jpg
 
I'm very interested! A few modwheels sounds like a great idea, in combo with a few faders. Faders seem to stay in place better than the modwheel - mine at least (Doepfer).

Now that I think about it - I'd probably use the wheels for musical performance and the faders more for the technical side.
And if you could do the routing inside Logic -

you really could be onto something here...
 
Really glad someone is trying to build this. I've been using Palette gear which is fine but it's not the best and the faders are a little too far spread apart. However, the best part of it is the desktop app lets you create profiles very easily. It's also easy to switch the profiles with a button. So it's nice to a profile for various plugins. I assume having some kind of LED screen which can show the name of the profiles might make too expensive but the new NI keyboards does this very well. This way, you don't always have to look at the software to see what profile you currently are looking at.
 
Didn’t see the option but what made BCF2000 so popular were Continuos Controllers plus USB plus Faders.
I use a Physis K4 and quite happy but used an MC3000D for years and it was an amazing piece of gear, nobody ever sells theirs.

Nice Smooth 100mm faders like my Consoles in a box with Continuos Controllers and 3 Wheels would be totally unique and worthy of a few large.

EE321468-AC4F-42CD-A0C7-3FDCE8AAA186.jpeg EA67F523-2A9F-45F9-A8F6-FDF3EEBB44B7.jpeg
 
Hi VI community

We will be releasing an 8-channel passive fader controller in the near future, and I thought to give you a heads up with this thread.

Our fader controller is hand made and built like a tank, with 8 long throw 100 mm faders and quality components. It has a clean design, all black aluminum casing - not slanted but flat, with USB connectivity, and a solid piece of code that runs the device.

The controller might also feature a pitchbend/modwheel assembly and 4 assignable buttons; we are still in the developing phase regarding these features and would like to hear from you if these additions would be welcome ==> see poll in this thread.

The controller can be used as a stand alone unit, and it can be fully integrated into our Dunshield Composer Desk where it will sit snug on either side of the built-in Kawai VPC-1; more on this later.

Too much for now to be shared here, I'll post more info as the design evolves.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers
Emanuel
https://www.dunshield.com (www.dunshield.com)

I'm also very interested. For myself, two Oor more mod wheels, plus faders would be great, what we are all looking for is the "Zippo" of controllers, constructed like a tank and in the same time clever and a bit wild... I hope you see what I mean :shocked:
 
Curiosity is getting the better of me: dare I ask a rough price range?

Would love to give you a price but it's too early to tell.
Will keep you posted.

Something like HZ's would be great with some extra buttons (I just realised I clicked only faders on the poll). Making it more affordable would be great too, this costs $3199.95

I remember that Eclipse controller, it's expensive and seems a bit bulky. LCD buttons are pricey.

We considered implementing one small Oled screen per fader; it would read what the fader does. Price goes up really fast with tech like this, and there's a considerable amount of programming to be done. Better keep it simple and affordable. We could launch a bundle deal of the controller with a classic DYMO label maker. Instant hipster look and cool vibes.

Tell me more...

Decent software is the real challenge here isn't it!
Hang in there, I'll get back on this.

.. However, the best part of it is the desktop app lets you create profiles very easily. It's also easy to switch the profiles with a button. So it's nice to a profile for various plugins. I assume having some kind of LED screen which can show the name of the profiles might make too expensive ..

Great idea and it crossed my mind too, having a small Oled screen that reads the active preset and a button to navigate through the presets. As you said it will up the price. Duly noted though.

Multiple banks please!

YES! Should be covered in the software.

Nice Smooth 100mm faders like my Consoles in a box with Continuos Controllers and 3 Wheels would be totally unique and worthy of a few large.

EE321468-AC4F-42CD-A0C7-3FDCE8AAA186.jpeg EA67F523-2A9F-45F9-A8F6-FDF3EEBB44B7.jpeg

I agree on the combo you described. Would 2 wheels be enough though? Am trying to make it as compact as possible, and wheels take up a lot of real estate.

Eyeing the poll we could end up doing different models - that is if there's enough demand for each model. It would look something like this:

- model A = 8 ~ 10 faders
- model B = 4 faders + 2 mod wheels + pitchbend/mod joystick + 2 buttons + 2 rotary encoders

However: distilling all of this down to one single model would make it more affordable.

I'm also very interested. For myself, two Oor more mod wheels, plus faders would be great, what we are all looking for is the "Zippo" of controllers, constructed like a tank and in the same time clever and a bit wild... I hope you see what I mean :shocked:

I see what you mean and I couldn't agree more.
 
PS
Great input guys and galls, keep it coming.

On a personal note I would love to implement some Yamaha CS 50/60/80 style levers in the design. I'm a lucky owner of a CS 60 and those vintage levers work really well for musical control over sound. My expectation is that these will translate as great for musical control over CC. Still looking for this kind of potmeter though and so far no luck. I am not promising anything, this is a side quest, but I'm passionate about this. Here's a video of what I mean (click to link) and I've included a photo. Any leads on a part like this are welcome.

20190201_155328.jpg
 
To add my two cents,

the best imho would be a quick way to put faders at the last CC used value (without using motorized faders... I know, quite a challenge!).

I'd also like something with the same configurability than the Faderfox UC4 (and other models) but of course less tiny and more comfortable (the UC4 size is perfect for traveling though).

Good luck and good work!
 
IMO we need something like the Palette Gear + StreamDeck merged into a single unit. Imagine a 'base unit' with say 4 sliders, 4 modwheels, 4 buttons with LED screens displaying text that tells us what each piece is controlling. Combine it with 'profiles' so we can easily switch what type of data each piece controls, and allow us to switch profiles based on certain criteria. Either through quick keys, images on the screen, pixel values, etc.

This is one of the ways I've started using my StreamDeck in combination with Keyboard Maestro.
 
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