Since many people are asking on other forums, I'd like to give a little information on how the Mastermind GT prototype came about and why it is the way it is.
I decided "hey, let's do a big MIDI controller" last September, and ever since it's been a mad scramble to get something to show for NAMM. As a result, a lot of things were part finished and not a slick as we want the final product to be.
Displays: the displays were the best we could get in the short timeframe. I've got a lot of display shopping to do in the next month or two. I do want to make the upper display a bit larger if possible, and the button displays more contrasty and readable. As it is, they work out pretty well (I can read it on the floor, and my eyesight is not great) and they're sunlight viewable. But, if I can improve them further without sending the price into the stratosphere, I will.
Case: The case was a quickly conceived, unfinished aluminum prototype. The final product will look better, probably will be black, and will probably remain aluminum. I'm happy about how sturdy it turned out to be, and the weight isn't too bad.
Size: Some folks have asked for a smaller controller. At this point, I'm pretty set on the size (it's 19 inches wide, 14 inches deep / 48cm wide, 36cm deep). I wanted enough buttons to support 12 IA buttons, 6 presets, bank up/down plus two others. I don't want to make the buttons any less than 3 inches / 7.6cm apart, so that pretty much determines the size. The nice thing is that the design is very modular. Making a second, smaller model would be very easy to do once the original is done. Removing 1 or 2 rows of buttons is just a matter of making a new case and putting less circuit boards in the box. Reducing the number of columns requires new circuit boards, but is not too hard either. So, you can bet we will do a smaller version if there appears to be enough demand for it.
I'm back to work on it, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know soon! There's still some time to tweak the design if I get some good ideas (in fact, I've already decided to incorporate some things that were discussed at NAMM!)
I decided "hey, let's do a big MIDI controller" last September, and ever since it's been a mad scramble to get something to show for NAMM. As a result, a lot of things were part finished and not a slick as we want the final product to be.
Displays: the displays were the best we could get in the short timeframe. I've got a lot of display shopping to do in the next month or two. I do want to make the upper display a bit larger if possible, and the button displays more contrasty and readable. As it is, they work out pretty well (I can read it on the floor, and my eyesight is not great) and they're sunlight viewable. But, if I can improve them further without sending the price into the stratosphere, I will.
Case: The case was a quickly conceived, unfinished aluminum prototype. The final product will look better, probably will be black, and will probably remain aluminum. I'm happy about how sturdy it turned out to be, and the weight isn't too bad.
Size: Some folks have asked for a smaller controller. At this point, I'm pretty set on the size (it's 19 inches wide, 14 inches deep / 48cm wide, 36cm deep). I wanted enough buttons to support 12 IA buttons, 6 presets, bank up/down plus two others. I don't want to make the buttons any less than 3 inches / 7.6cm apart, so that pretty much determines the size. The nice thing is that the design is very modular. Making a second, smaller model would be very easy to do once the original is done. Removing 1 or 2 rows of buttons is just a matter of making a new case and putting less circuit boards in the box. Reducing the number of columns requires new circuit boards, but is not too hard either. So, you can bet we will do a smaller version if there appears to be enough demand for it.
I'm back to work on it, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know soon! There's still some time to tweak the design if I get some good ideas (in fact, I've already decided to incorporate some things that were discussed at NAMM!)