Controlling JD-Xi via MIDI - knobs vs faders vs encoders

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brakjoller
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Joined: 11:33, 16 January 2016
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Controlling JD-Xi via MIDI - knobs vs faders vs encoders

Post by brakjoller »

Hi MIDI gurus!

Related to another of my posts I have a question about "knobs, faders and encoders (*)" that are available on MIDI controllers in general. From my very naïve view, these should be more or less the same kind of things in that they produce a range of values to be sent over the MIDI wire. But I suspect there is more to it than that and before I buy something I want to understand what things I will be able to control on my JD-Xi. Yes, I'm that kind of guy who want to understand a lot of stuff before I jump into the action :)

As an example of why I am asking: will I be able to control, say, the ADSR values for the amplifier and filter sections on the JD-Xi both from a fader, a knob (rotary controller) and an encoder, or does any of them differ in some critical way? Personally I do not care if I have to turn a knob or slide a fader/slider.

I found a nice page which covers the number of available controllers and their type on some popular MIDI controllers:

http://controllers.cc/

As you can see, they use all the three terms mentioned above, which suggests they are different in some respect, and perhaps then more than in just the physical appearance. I have tried to google for this but it is hard to find some relevant pages that discuss the differences. It's like everyone in the business just know all these things :)

Thanks!

/Mathias

(*) With "encoders" I mean rotary encoders.

PS. For reference, here is the link to the JD-Xi MIDI implementation again:

http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/ ... _e01_W.pdf
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PauloF
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Re: Controlling JD-Xi via MIDI - knobs vs faders vs encoders

Post by PauloF »

brakjoller wrote:Hi MIDI gurus!

Related to another of my posts I have a question about "knobs, faders and encoders (*)" that are available on MIDI controllers in general. From my very naïve view, these should be more or less the same kind of things in that they produce a range of values to be sent over the MIDI wire. But I suspect there is more to it than that and before I buy something I want to understand what things I will be able to control on my JD-Xi. Yes, I'm that kind of guy who want to understand a lot of stuff before I jump into the action :)

As an example of why I am asking: will I be able to control, say, the ADSR values for the amplifier and filter sections on the JD-Xi both from a fader, a knob (rotary controller) and an encoder, or does any of them differ in some critical way? Personally I do not care if I have to turn a knob or slide a fader/slider.

I found a nice page which covers the number of available controllers and their type on some popular MIDI controllers:

http://controllers.cc/

As you can see, they use all the three terms mentioned above, which suggests they are different in some respect, and perhaps then more than in just the physical appearance. I have tried to google for this but it is hard to find some relevant pages that discuss the differences. It's like everyone in the business just know all these things :)

Thanks!

/Mathias

(*) With "encoders" I mean rotary encoders.

PS. For reference, here is the link to the JD-Xi MIDI implementation again:

http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/ ... _e01_W.pdf
Very extensive list of Controllers indeed, although some information is misleading in my opinion, as some of the products shown have rotary encoders, and the list says "0" Encoders.
Unless they are considering just the Endless Rotary Encoders as "Encoders"...
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