Would a Mackie MCU (or Behringer X-Touch Universal) work in same way as a Motormix

Question

Hi there

I'm curious about trying a controller such as the motormix to get automatic assignment to the VCS and to display the widget labels.  The Mackie MCU and Behringer X-Touch are also motorised controllers with scribble strips/displays that work using HUI protocol.  I was wondering whether HUI is how Kyma communicates with Motormix (and the Behringer BCF2000 which I know is also supported, but lacks screen) and therefore whether the MCU or X-Touch are viable alternatives? I could get a Motormix but the footprint of them seems a little large, especially in comparison with X-touch.

As an aside, is there any other way to get the Kyma VCS widget label names to display elsewhere (e.g. on my Ableton Push 2 controller)?

Thanks

Answer 1

The MotorMix's control protocol is similar to, but enough different from the MCU and HUI protocols, that those controllers will not serve as a MotorMix substitute. One critical difference is that the MCU's LCD has less characters, and the MIDI commands to control it are different.

As far as controlling the VCS from something like Push 2, or using the Push's displays, that would require custom software interfaced to Push and communicating directly with the Pacarana using either MIDI or OSC.

We have a product, vKA, that transforms the Akai APC40 into a VCS controller by emulating the MotorMix with the Akai (no LCD support though since the APC40 lacks a display). Our vM2 product does a similar thing except it provides a way for a Lemur template to do the same. Lastly our vKiP iPad app uses the MotorMix protocol to provide a full-featured VCS touch control surface.

Comments

Thanks for a detailed answer as ever.  Ok, useful to know they don't work using same protocol.