Group Buy Custom FX Controller

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by Win Conway

There is no paypal option on the site.

Oh, I see. I'll put it back up. I think I updated the site and it got taken down. I'll let you know when it's back up. Thank you.

Also note that the 1050 price does not include shipping & handling. That will be added after I have your address and your preferred method of shipping.

[siniarch]

Well, it's taken longer than I thought to put these together. I've moved since the last time I build the 2nd prototype and finding all the little items that go inside proved to be challenging. Had to order some things again from Amazon because they were nowhere to be found. Also had trouble with with one PCB Board and after troubleshooting for some time, I just decide to replace it and fix it later.

In any case, here are the units that are shipping out today.

These are the 1st 3 units plus the 2nd prototype to create the "E96"
Man would these look great with a Fader Module below each one of these Encoder Modules.

Of course, we can add more to the side, but I still need to build those.
Unfortunately, I am flying out to New Jersey to see my brother, his wife and my nephew who I haven't seen in 2 yrs. (my nephew is now 3, so it's been a long time coming)
It's only for 5 days but I'll send out the rest as soon as I get back.

Now that I've documented the process of putting them together, things are going much faster.

Hope you enjoy the images.

[andyp24]

Hi Siniarch

They're looking great.

Did you get my emails a couple of nights ago in response to our brief phone call?

Thanks
Andy

[c3r1c3]

It looks really nice!

Is it wrong of me to want to get 3 in a vertical stack, add a fader stack to the bottom and build it 6 across?

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by andyp24

Hi Siniarch

They're looking great.

Did you get my emails a couple of nights ago in response to our brief phone call?

Thanks
Andy

Hi Andy,
No I did not get your email. I looked for it but didn't get anything. Did you send it to my siniarch email?
Let me know.

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by c3r1c3

It looks really nice!

Is it wrong of me to want to get 3 in a vertical stack, add a fader stack to the bottom and build it 6 across?

NOOOOOO, of course it is not wrong of you. hahahaha

I would really like to see that.

[andyp24]

Originally Posted by siniarch

Hi Andy,
No I did not get your email. I looked for it but didn't get anything. Did you send it to my siniarch email?
Let me know.

Ach, that's frustrating. I sent them to info@sinicon.io so I have no idea why you wouldn't get them. Will PM you here to find another way to try getting emails through.

[EskoMastering]

sorry to be that guy, whats the latest on shipping?

hope you had a good holiday!

R

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by EskoMastering

sorry to be that guy, whats the latest on shipping?

hope you had a good holiday!

R

No worries at all. Yours is shipping tomorrow afternoon. Yay.
Happy Holidays!!

[c3r1c3]

Doing the same...just checking in on my order and if there's an expected ship date.

Also I tried to reach out to you on the website: https://www.sinicon.io/contactus.html and the telephone field errors out demanding an URL (I got around it by putting 'tel:' in the front of my number) and instead of going to a page that says something like 'thanks for reaching out to us' it drops me on a page for some offline/free website builder.

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by c3r1c3

Doing the same...just checking in on my order and if there's an expected ship date.

Also I tried to reach out to you on the website: https://www.sinicon.io/contactus.html and the telephone field errors out demanding an URL (I got around it by putting 'tel:' in the front of my number) and instead of going to a page that says something like 'thanks for reaching out to us' it drops me on a page for some offline/free website builder.

Sorry about that. Only 2 units need to ship. Yours is one of them. I'm shipping this week. I'll se d you an email when I do. Thanks.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

This looks like a dream come true. Finally a controller with an LED ring and a display per encoder!

Configuration aside, does the device communicate with the DAW via MIDI? Is it class-compliant or are proprietary drivers necessary?

I didn't see a way to use PayPal when placing an order. Is PayPal be possible as payment method?

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

This looks like a dream come true. Finally a controller with an LED ring and a display per encoder!

Configuration aside, does the device communicate with the DAW via MIDI? Is it class-compliant or are proprietary drivers necessary?

I didn't see a way to use PayPal when placing an order. Is PayPal be possible as payment method?

Hi Reaktor,

Thank you for your comment. I've been trying to make something that I would want and that it's not available. After dealing with labels on my previous controllers, it became clear that I wanted something with discrete displays per encoder.

So, the device does communicate via MIDI with the DAW. That being said, it is not plug and play per say. Currently the MIDI codes that it sends out are similar to the the Mackie C4 and QCon Pro G2, but not exactly as those. I do plan to have a firmware that will make the unit behave the same as a Mackie C4 but with 24 encoders rather than 32. This would mean, anyone who has a C4 unit could swap out this unit and it would work right away in the same manner. The problem is that MCU protocol that the Mackie C4 unit uses is very limiting. It would limit my controller to showing 2 lines of text with 8 characters as opposed to what the OLED screens can show. But it would be a way to make the controller work with other DAWs right away.

As far as proprietary drivers, they are not needed. It is Class Compliant in that the operating system recognizes it right away without drivers and it receives MIDI messages from the controller right away.

In order to utilize the screens to their maximum potential, I've chosen CSI to communicate with the controller. Now, this is only available for Reaper at the moment, but from what Geoff indicated to me, it is just a translator that could work for other DAWs should the DAW manufacturers ever decide to open up their APIs.

As for Paypal, I'm sure we can arrange something. Send me a PM with your email and I'll set it up.

Thank you.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Originally Posted by siniarch

Hi Reaktor,

Thank you for your comment. I've been trying to make something that I would want and that it's not available. After dealing with labels on my previous controllers, it became clear that I wanted something with discrete displays per encoder.

So, the device does communicate via MIDI with the DAW. That being said, it is not plug and play per say. Currently the MIDI codes that it sends out are similar to the the Mackie C4 and QCon Pro G2, but not exactly as those. I do plan to have a firmware that will make the unit behave the same as a Mackie C4 but with 24 encoders rather than 32. This would mean, anyone who has a C4 unit could swap out this unit and it would work right away in the same manner. The problem is that MCU protocol that the Mackie C4 unit uses is very limiting. It would limit my controller to showing 2 lines of text with 8 characters as opposed to what the OLED screens can show. But it would be a way to make the controller work with other DAWs right away.

As far as proprietary drivers, they are not needed. It is Class Compliant in that the operating system recognizes it right away without drivers and it receives MIDI messages from the controller right away.

In order to utilize the screens to their maximum potential, I've chosen CSI to communicate with the controller. Now, this is only available for Reaper at the moment, but from what Geoff indicated to me, it is just a translator that could work for other DAWs should the DAW manufacturers ever decide to open up their APIs.

As for Paypal, I'm sure we can arrange something. Send me a PM with your email and I'll set it up.

Thank you.

Thanks for the info. CSI seems to be a solid choice. I just gleaned over some of the configuration concepts in their wiki on GitHub and I liked it.

Technically, the controller is being fully controlled via MIDI so theoretically it would work with any other software as long as that software is able to send the appropriate MIDI messages?

Are there any users that already received their controller?

[c3r1c3]

I have not yet, but as soon as I get it I'll post about it.

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

Thanks for the info. CSI seems to be a solid choice. I just gleaned over some of the configuration concepts in their wiki on GitHub and I liked it.

Technically, the controller is being fully controlled via MIDI so theoretically it would work with any other software as long as that software is able to send the appropriate MIDI messages?

Are there any users that already received their controller?

Dave,
You are correct, CSI is an incredible piece of software. I haven't seen anything that is so customizable when it comes to MIDI Controllers. The hard part is that with so many choices, the configuration phase of things can be very complex. This keeps many people from trying it out. The solution is of course to just used someone else's template. And then figure out if there are any changes they want to make.

As per the SCE24 being controlled via MIDI, you are correct but it's a little more complicated than say Mackie MCU. The controller sends out MIDI messages when a button or a knob is pressed or turned. Those messages are very similar to the MCU protocol, but when you talk about color information, or screen displaying information, then we are using MIDI SysEx messages. Therefore, input messages coming from the controller to the computer are pretty simple but Feedback messages coming from the computer to the controller are more complicated. This is where CSI steps in. It basically becomes a translator. It hears the MIDI CC messages coming from the controller and it tells REAPER what to do when those messages come in. But it also translates the Feedback messages from REAPER into SysEx messages that the controller understands.

Without CSI, I could program my controller to use the Mackie MCU protocol designed for the Mackie C4 unit. This would allow my controller to behave exactly like a C4 unit but with 24 encoders rather than 32. The screens would be limited to 2 lines of text which are only 8 characters long. (pretty limiting, but at least it makes it plug and play without CSI)

And finally, as for some units already being in the hands of some customers, the answer is Yes. I'll ask some of them to jump in on this thread and report.

Originally Posted by c3r1c3

I have not yet, but as soon as I get it I'll post about it.

I'm getting your unit ready. There was an issue on some of the encoder boards I found during testing your unit and I decided to repair it before I sent it out. The chips are coming on Monday and I'll be soldering them in and shipping right after.

[Funkybot]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

Are there any users that already received their controller?

Luis already answered the bulk of the questions but I've got the controller, I know Geoff has one, as does another forum user who has been in touch...so there's a few of these out there. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to offer my take on it.

[EskoMastering]

Received here. Build quality is superb, it's a good looking thing. Screens are great at all viewing angles.

I'd be keen to discuss the configuration, CSI stuff specific to this device. Should we do this in here or is that worthy of its own thread?

[c3r1c3]

Originally Posted by EskoMastering

I'd be keen to discuss the configuration, CSI stuff specific to this device. Should we do this in here or is that worthy of its own thread?

I'd say....put it on a new thread. This one is already at 21 pages and CSI+SiniCo is a unique combo that may take some exploration to fully exploit, and you don't want it to get 'lost' in a thread about the creation hardware-side (and ordering as well) of things.

[Nick Morris]

I had all the dimensions for this controller in an email a while back, but seem to have lost the email. Possible to have them posted here?

[c3r1c3]

Originally Posted by siniarch

I'm getting your unit ready. There was an issue on some of the encoder boards I found during testing your unit and I decided to repair it before I sent it out. The chips are coming on Monday and I'll be soldering them in and shipping right after.

Thanks for the update! I'm looking forward to taking it for a spin.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Originally Posted by Funkybot

Luis already answered the bulk of the questions but I've got the controller, I know Geoff has one, as does another forum user who has been in touch...so there's a few of these out there. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to offer my take on it.

How consistent is the knob resistance? Can you twist some knobs considerably easier than others?

How reliable are the buttons? I've had some Eurorack devices where buttons would mechanically click but not be registered by the software occasionally.

Generally, how happy are you with the device regarding the build quality?
Since I'm thinking about developing a controller extension focusing on sound design and synthesizer workflows, I don't care so much about how well it currently plays together with existing controller integrations.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

@siniarch how much time do you estimate you need between receiving a new order and shipping it?

[Funkybot]

Originally Posted by Reaktor:[Dave]

How consistent is the knob resistance? Can you twist some knobs considerably easier than others?

How reliable are the buttons? I've had some Eurorack devices where buttons would mechanically click but not be registered by the software occasionally.

Generally, how happy are you with the device regarding the build quality?
Since I'm thinking about developing a controller extension focusing on sound design and synthesizer workflows, I don't care so much about how well it currently plays together with existing controller integrations.

Knob resistance is great. They're accelerated so you can customize how much they move each parameter in CSI. I think the MF Twister has more fine resolution (i.e. slower turns send out more messages) but if I didn't have that right next to me to compare, I'd honestly never notice.

Rotary press "buttons" have an occasional, rare, double press. I'm hoping that can be fixed in firmware, but it's already way better than it was in the past. I only ever saw it with the Rotary Press buttons, not the OLED or LED buttons.

Overall, it's built like a tank. Having the screens is incredible and really the obvious selling point. There's some quirks that I think may be CSI-related such as the encoder ring values looking like the plugin is at 100% when it's not, and some zone clearing issues, but I hope once Geoff's done with this big rewrite and he can take a look at any leftover issues with the SCE-24. But note: it works as-is - just some little things like encoder ring values or colors not changing [likely due to zone clearing issues].

I'm very happy with my unit and have created over two hundred FX zones for it with more on the cards. Finding the motivation to do the mapping can be hard but I'll get back at it eventually. Trying to spend more time playing music than mapping plugins

[Nick Morris]

I cannot send an email through the Sinicon controllers website, the site has issues/errors when attempting. Possible that someone who has Luis' email or contact info to message me with it?

I am trying to find the dimensions of the controller before I order it.

[c3r1c3]

Originally Posted by siniarch

I'm getting your unit ready. There was an issue on some of the encoder boards I found during testing your unit and I decided to repair it before I sent it out. The chips are coming on Monday and I'll be soldering them in and shipping right after.

Just checking in on the unit and if there's an estimated ship date.

Thanks,
c3r1c3

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by Nick Morris

I cannot send an email through the Sinicon controllers website, the site has issues/errors when attempting. Possible that someone who has Luis' email or contact info to message me with it?

I am trying to find the dimensions of the controller before I order it.

Send me a PM and I'll send you the drawing with exact sizes.

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by c3r1c3

Just checking in on the unit and if there's an estimated ship date.

Thanks,
c3r1c3

I'm so so sorry for the delay. I'll definitely send it this Friday. My sincere apologies for the delay and thank you for your patience. Please send me a pm with your mailing address phone to make sure I have the latest information.
Again. So sorry.

[Nick Morris]

Originally Posted by siniarch

Send me a PM and I'll send you the drawing with exact sizes.

Sent!

[c3r1c3]

Just doing my monthly check-in. ;-)

[c3r1c3]

Just checking in again...

[c3r1c3]

Just checking in to see if anything has happened, it's been another month...

[andyp24]

I was in touch with Luis today, after asking a few questions about my SCE24.

He's been busy on other projects for a while, but is still planning to continue to develop and promote the SCE24 in conjunction with Geoff and the CSI team.

Hang in there.

[c3r1c3]

Well it's good to know that he's still alive and working on products...(I'm quite serious, I had a friend pass away about 2 years ago while I was in the middle of fixing his computer...that was not a good day)...

but considering that the communication form on the website is still broken (after being reported months ago), and that I've received no communications at all outside these posts on the forums and its been almost 10 months since I placed the order, I must ask for a refund.

Sucks, but I ordered this control surface to use with REAPER and after almost 10 months of nothing, 2+ broken promises of delivery, a request for a PM from me (with me sending it that very day) and over 3 months later still no reply/updates/info/shipping to said PM...Look, I understand things are tough, but this is not acceptable on any level. At least have the decency to say that the unit can't be delivered in a reasonable amount of time and give me the option of waiting for it or taking a refund.

If I don't see within the next 7 days a refund, I must initiate the NDG/Chargeback option on my card.

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by c3r1c3

Well it's good to know that he's still alive and working on products...(I'm quite serious, I had a friend pass away about 2 years ago while I was in the middle of fixing his computer...that was not a good day)...

but considering that the communication form on the website is still broken (after being reported months ago), and that I've received no communications at all outside these posts on the forums and its been almost 10 months since I placed the order, I must ask for a refund.

Sucks, but I ordered this control surface to use with REAPER and after almost 10 months of nothing, 2+ broken promises of delivery, a request for a PM from me (with me sending it that very day) and over 3 months later still no reply/updates/info/shipping to said PM...Look, I understand things are tough, but this is not acceptable on any level. At least have the decency to say that the unit can't be delivered in a reasonable amount of time and give me the option of waiting for it or taking a refund.

If I don't see within the next 7 days a refund, I must initiate the NDG/Chargeback option on my card.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend and everything you say in this post is true. I won't make any other promises for fear of failing to comply with them. You have been more than patient and I am terribly sorry.

I'll send you a PM and will be happy to refund you the money if you choose.

Thank you for your interest and sorry for the delays. My apologies.

[Nick Morris]

This still moving forward? Interested in purchasing one of these

[siniarch]

Originally Posted by Nick Morris

This still moving forward? Interested in purchasing one of these

Hi Nick. Yes, the project is still moving forward. I hit some delays because of personal issues but I'm getting things back on track. In fact, Geoff and I have been discussing some amazing updates to the firmware that will make the unit work much better than before. I'll ask you to wait a little before order a unit as I'm getting my developer to assemble some boards for the next batch.

As always thank you for your interest and support.

[Nick Morris]

Awesome. Please post when you are up to speed and ready to take on orders again.

[Reaktor:[Dave]]

Also highly interested in this and want to buy one when you're ready.

[dna598]

I'm seriously interested in this too. Looking forward to an update re: ordering