Chapter 15: Hardware Control Options (Control Freak And The Phatboy) - Yamaha SW1000XG Advanced Manualbook

Chapter 15
Hardware control options (Control Freak and the Phatboy)
Fact: NO-ONE LIKES TO MIX WITH A MOUSE!
It's a simple fact of life that mixing audio or MIDI tracks with a mouse can be a drag (no pun intended). Having to
move multiple faders one at a time with an imprecise pointing device can be a really slow process. People for many
years have wanted the kind of hands-on control offered in 'The Good Old Days' with analogue synthesisers and big
mixing desks. Luckily with the SW1000XG being fully controllable over MIDI, almost any MIDI controller unit can
become a very comprehensive mixing or editing device. Yamaha have chosen to focus on 2 such devices in this
section, both of which are made in the UK but are available all over the World.
The Keyfax Phatboy
This small knobbed wonder came onto the scene in 1998 to massive critical acclaim. The beauty of it lies in its
simplicity of design. You have a fixed set of knobs controlling a fixed set of parameters via NRPN and controller
messages. The SW1000XG responds to these, and hey presto you have an editable synth with knobs on. Used with
applications like XGEdit, you can re-map the controllers coming in to XGEdit to be assigned to various other
parameters such as audio volume levels. As the Phatboy supports 3 modes of operation, you could re-map dozens of
controllers in your software to react and change all sorts of XG parameters.
The Kenton Control Freak.
The control Freak is a marvellous device in that it takes the concept of the Phatboy to another level again. In the case
of the Kenton Control Freak you can program every single button or fader on the front panel of the unit to perform
almost any MIDI task you wish. Each slider or button can be assigned to perform program changes, controller
message sends, and also system exclusive data changes. It has a great 'learn mode' which when hooked up to
XGEDIT via the MIDI out of the SW1000XG, enables anyone to build their own editing parameters and then use the
Control Freak to edit the SW1000XG. It is almost like having XGEdit in hardware. Yamaha have provided a set of
preset profiles for the SW1000XG which Kenton have kindly now built into the factory ROM.
It really does act and feel like a proper hardware mixer, and this author uses one all the time. The profiles for it
include Audio Mixing, synth editing, effect selection/send levels plus many more besides.
The SW1000XG then as you can see is a powerful professional tool, when placed in the right hands. Many MIDI
controller devices exist from companies such as JL Cooper and Peavey Electronics. So if you are lucky enough to
own a MIDI controller unit, start using it with the SW1000XG. It really is an eye opening experience.
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