Thanks a lot!
The new Faderfox EC4 is what I have my eye on. 4096 controls PLUS you get a small screen where you can label them. Seems just the thing for Rack.
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I start to see “clones” of the Arturia MiniLab here and there, 45€ or so…ok, only usb midi, no 5-pin, no aftertouch…but…come on…45 bucks? (…and for 50 more you can get “original one” with Analog Lab…)
do NOT get a minilab for VCV. the rotary knobs are not compatible as they send a non standard cc control value when turning the knobs. you get either the highest output cc or the lowest value and nothing in between.
@dronehands if you use the midi-control-center (software for win or mac) you can set them, I use it 
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i tried for a year and a half to get the midi control center to work on mac. the midi control center is probably the most frustrating piece of software i have ever encountered. it doesnt work with all three pieces of arturia equipment i have tried it with. its constantly telling me to update things then crashes when you update them then tells me to update them again. it does not save or apply settings and is totally useless. i read the manual several times. i googled for weeks. there is nothing on the internet telling you how to fix it. arturia was no help either. i asked several of my friends to help fix the problem and they couldnt find anything wrong but it still doesnt work. as a contrast i got an akai lpd8 and it worked in 5 minutes without any issues. i am glad that you were able to get the minilab to work but my experience with it was so horrible i can only tell people to avoid it at all costs.
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I understand your frustration. If you know someone who’s got win7/win10 you can ask him a favour (said a linux user 
)…
the first combination is the “default one”, and is not possible to overwrite it. I have done my settings once in a lifetime, sent them onboard on “preset 2” and now, every time I turn on the PC, I just have to enter SHIFT+PAD#2 on the minilab, and my combination is ready. this is not the first time I hear that that software sucks on mac. to me it seems out of this world.
I would like to know if the “clones” are working properly out of the factory…
I’ll toss in another pitch for the BCF2000, it’s a cool breeze to use it with VCV Rack. There’s some nice software for managing the unit too.
It’s too bad that it and the BCR2000 are no longer manufactured.
Used BC*2000 units are priced at around $150 to $200 (US), not a bad price and within the OP’s range. And yes, it is too bad they discontinued them. I don’t care for the motorized faders, otherwise I think it’s a great bang for the buck.
Novation Launch Control XL 
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I have the Faderfox UC4 and love it. I can vouch that the Faderfox controllers are very high quality. I use the UC4 for tactile control, and the Sensel Morph for MPE keys or for CC while traveling. These two pretty much cover my needs. I also have a ROLI Seaboard for MPE. It’s a lot more tactile that the Sensel, but I find myself using the Sensel more because of the interface flexibility.
Additionally, I have a Native Instruments S61 mk2 that I got while adding NKS support to the Unfiltered plugins. The keyboard on it is excellent, and the thing is built like a tank. I’d recommend it if you plan on using their NKS environments. If you’re just using VCV, it’s probably a bit overkill.
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I love the MIDI Fighter Twister. There are 16 endless rotary knobs. Each knob can be: two knobs, and a button (or note press). And there are 4 banks. That’s a LOT of control in a tiny device. There’s also LED rings around each knob.
Now, if someone were to build MIDI Feedback into a rack module (doesn’t one of the Stoermelder do feedback) then in theory, the MIDI Fighter Twister should get the current knob position, light up the LED to show it, then the next knob turn would pick up at the current value rather than jumping. Note: I’m not saying this works in VCV Rack, but that it’s a capability of the unit when paired with software the supports sending MIDI parameters to devices.
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Yes, MIDI-CAT is an extended MIDI-MAP with feedback.
So, it’s $50 over the OP’s budget but this looks like Arturia have combined the Keystep with the Beatsetp.
Maybe they’ll send @Omri_Cohen an early copy to play with:
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I sure do hope so 
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Just released a few hours ago. 2020 NAMM .You know you want it! Huh Omri??
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Looks a little expensive for my tastes.
Said to be released late March.Cost showing $450 US 399 Euro I believe
The link above to the arturia site conforms that pricing. Don’t get me wrong, I can imagine a niche for it but for the VCV user I’m not getting it. Don’t we have loads of sequencers?
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