M-Audio Evolution UC-33e

[rhanson187]

I'm wanting to get a MIDI controller to use with reason. This unit fits the bill as far as I can tell. But before making the purchase, I want to make sure that it supports MIDI connection, not just USB. If anyone is in the know here, please clue me in.

[rhanson187]

I'm gonna answer my own question here in case anyone else is wondering the same thing. Yes the UC 33e supports both USB out and MIDI out.

[Revinant]

Not very worth it, youll end up using 30% of the knobs & sliders. Buy a controller with keyb, thats more usefull. Trust me I had one

[Caley Martin]

but for DJing the UC33e fits the bill nicely

[Revinant]

Too much knobs, I insist

[rhanson187]

I tend to take the side of Caley on this one. For playing live with the software it seems to me to be the end all solution. Designate four or five of the slider/knob groups to tracks, set Live up like a four or five channel mixer that uses these groups on the UC 33e. That leaves, what?, four groups left to assign as pass through effects to be applied either to the master out or to individual tracks. Then there are the 14 assignable buttons (maybe a bit more than needed) that you could set to specific vocal samples or track samples.

[jeffrey collins]

since i'm looing into getting my own computer just for music production and will no longer have a mixer and cd players, i'd like to eventually get something like this to help with making ableton sets for listening pleasure. Can these things really control everything you might wanna do in a set, eq settings and all?

[rhanson187]

A wide variety of the variables in Live are assignable to specific knobs or sliders on a MIDI controller. I don't know if you ever have seen the old Korg KAOS pad in action, but it is even possible to assign some functions to the mouse pad of a laptop and run it in a similiar fashion.

[jeffrey collins]

interesting...

[Revinant]

yes, u can assign every single knob to lets say, mids, on off, faders, slider, mute, any plugin, almost every single thing that u can move with the mouse.

[jeffrey collins]

i think i'm a gonna have to get one of these babies. seems like it would work almost exactly like my mixer does now. Sweet.

[imported_cneill]

I don't know from personal experience, but I've read in the Ableton forums that the UC-33e can have latency issues. I'd be sure to do a lot of research before buying one.

[Caley Martin]

is the chipset on the UC33e USB 1.1 or 2.0 compliant?

[Kinetic]

is the chipset on the UC33e USB 1.1 or 2.0 compliant?

I think it´s 1.1. Definitely not ideal.

Having said that, I use a Behringer BCR2000 with Live and I love it. We all know that Behringer stuff is usually not especially great, but I think they really nailed this one, I love mine so much I may either get another one of these, or a BCF2000, or, alternatively, a Faderfox,

[mrbyrd]

are you using the BCR for just djing or production as well? how did u end up mapping it? i have the xone 92 but need somthing with some more banks and knobs for djing with live!! any help or ideas would be AWESOME!!
aim:photopro35mm

[Caley Martin]

I bought the UC33e finally!

[mrbyrd]

what do you like better, i want to find a controller for djing manley but want to have alot of control of scenes in live!!

[Kinetic]

are you using the BCR for just djing or production as well? how did u end up mapping it? i have the xone 92 but need somthing with some more banks and knobs for djing with live!! any help or ideas would be AWESOME!!
aim:photopro35mm

Well, if you want knobs there?s a shitload of them on the BCR, that?s why I prefered it over the BCF. You get 24 knobs on the bottom 3 rows, plus another 8 at the top, although those 8 can have 4 different functions with, making them actually 32 knobs!. Also, all the top 8 knobs can also work as buttons since they?re push encoders. Below these 8 knobs you have 16 buttons. As you see, lots of control there, especially if you remember that you can change presets at the push of a button, which means you can completely change the layout in a blink.

I mainly use it for DJ?ing, but one of the reasons why I still want another controller, is because, although I?m pretty well off with knobs, I still need more buttons (especially to fire loops). Also, to have access to the other functions of the top 8 knobs, you have to press a button before accessing them, and sometimes I?m too lazy or I?m going too fast to waste time pressing one button to change the functions.

So the point is that I don?t want to keep changing presets and I don?t want to memorize too many things...it has to be fast and instinctive.

Regarding your question about firing scenes, you can, for example, map one of the BCR?s knobs to scroll up and down through the scenes, and then map a button to fire that whichever scene you?re on at any given moment.

My mappings change quite a bit, because I?ve only started doing this in March, and I?m still finding the best layout possible, One of the things I now have is that besides the DJ?ing preset, I have another one immediately after which serves the purpose of controlling Impulse (Live?s drum machine), so I can start playing some percussion or firing short samples during my sets, It?s gonna take practice though.

[Caley Martin]

it has yet to arrive

[mrbyrd]

Awesome that was alot of help!! let me know what other controller you get, and how it works! the BCR is orderd!!

[audiotherapy]

get this beast instead!
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[Kinetic]

get this beast instead!
[Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links])

That one is pretty good, except it?s a hell of a lot more expensive. And I?ve heard there?ve been a bunch of problems with distribution, at least I think it?s not available in the UK yet, for example.