Welcome to The Gadget Blog

I got my hands on one of these controllers about 8 weeks ago after reading rave reviews about it on other blogs and techie guides. 2 months down the line I’m really getting to grips now with this wonderful piece of midi gadgetry.

The SL comes in 4 different flavours.

The SL Zero, 25, 37 and 61, I own the Zero which is the one pictured above as I already own midi keyboards and these work fine alongside the Zero, pictured below is the Remote SL 25, exactly the same as the Zero but with a keyboard.

Now you may ask why the Remote SL range ? Well in my books thats an easy answer “Automap” this is a revolution in midi gadgets / technology. What Automap does is save you absolutely hours in midi mapping and programming, you just fire up an appplication such as “Reason”, “Ableton”, “Cubase”, or “Logic” and the SL automatically maps all of its pots, drumpads, sliders etc to your instruments / vst’s etc.

For example in cubase there are two modes of operation “Mixer” mode and “Plugin” mode, when in mixer mode you control the mixer, no shocks there then, but in plugin mode it maps itself to whatever vst’s you have loaded into the plugin manager software that ships with the SL, fantastic !! you can also easily tweak these templates and refine them to your own unique working styles. Heres a shot of a plugin thats got the automap wrapper around it, all ready to go. This allows for complex automations etc.

In “Reason” all the instruments are automatically mapped and its just a case of switching from say the maelstrom to the nn19 and boom bosh the SL is way ahead of you, this makes reason a breeze even in a live setup, and as for “Ableton Live” well the possibilites are endless, this is my preferred DAW and I’ve only scratched the surface of the possibilities.

I highly recommend getting one of these puppies if you are really serious about music and want the ultimate gadget in midi control. I could go a whole lot deeper on this control surface but it goes beyond the scope of this article.

Must mention the nice lcd display that tells you exactly what you are doing, for example in mixer mode in cubase if you change a track name that is instantly changed on the sliders title on the SL also the SL is a fully functional midi controller with in, out and thru on midi port 1 and midi out on midi port 2.

Key Features

• Automap Universal
  Instant control over sequencers and plug-ins. Automap Universal removes the pain and time involved in assigning MIDI parameters.
• Giant 144-character LCD screen
  Frees the artist from being chained to the computer screen, placing all the essential data right alongside the relevant controls.
• Semi-weighted keyboard with after-touch
  Delivers the feeling of playing an instrument, rather than a computer peripheral.
• Speed dial and PAC technology
  Ultra-fast software control for composers and performers alike; at a click, the speed dial takes control of whatever the mouse is focused on
• Huge array of controls suitable for every need
  The artist has the exact control setup they desire, no matter how complex the plug-in.
• Large programmable drum pads
  Eradicates the need for separate drumpad triggers, providing the ideal platform for sketching out beats or triggering samples.