Yeah I prefer keeping vcv as the brain, although omri’s vids can show how to make the midi controllers all work together in a nice way if you want the more powerful ones like beatstep or keystep to control the clock.
I’d go for any of those mini keyboards, they all have lots of knobs & pads to let you control things without harassing the mouse. For me, the lx25 due to its (smallish) size & physicality.
Thanks! Omri uses the bigger version, so must be good.
beatstep pro has way more features, i’d recommend the pro instead of the normal.
As for the akai, Imo the keys feel very bad… but well, i’ve always been used to very good keybeds…
I’d love the Beatstep Pro, but I think it’s to expensive for someone new like me hte Nektar Impact LX25+ is around £79 in the UK, the Beatstep Pro is £200+
I’ll take a look at the nektar but I’m fairly sure that Beatstep pro is about 195 in most places (Amazon have it at 230 which is more than I’d be willing to pay). Scan have it for £195. Not that it makes that much difference.
Certainly looks amazing, lots of features too.
Damn I don’t know if I should get the one mentioned above at £79 or wait a few months and save up for this. I’m new to all this which doesn’t help 
I have a Novation Circuit gathering dust, I wonder if that can be used with VCV?
no harm in plugging it in and seeing. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work
yeah, you can surely use the knobs for cv, and the pads for triggers
edit : just checked the web you can !
Lots of other threads on the same topic, here are some:
yes, I have a Minilab too. And a keystep… . both work well! But lately I also have been using a Microsoft Surface Dial (works with any Windows 10 PC!) Once you get the hang of using it, It’s quite nice! You can control the rate of rotation depending on how fine you want the control to be. The nice part about it is that it doesn’t require any setting up of knobs or MIDI controls beforehand! You just put your mouse over any knob (or slider) and just start turning the dial! The only Caveat that is a bit of a habitual learning curve is that you MUST remember to click (depress) the dial before moving your mouse away from the knob. If you forget, you find that the control is still enabled and you knob goes banannas!
Midi fighter twister! 4 banks of 16 knobs that each have a separate push function. That’s 128 separate mappings. Can’t beat it and the footprint is small.
i have an m-audio code 61, but i’ve never felt the need to hook it up with vcv rack. i only use it with vst synths and kontakt.
That seems like quite a lot of money for 16 encoders. Does it do anything else?
TouchOsc. I will show on you in the mondays video how cool is it with Rack (I hope so…)
The Fighter Twister seems to include a “sequencer mode” - see this thread:
Some other info here:
Linnstrument 128, Arturia Minipad MKII, TouchOSC on iPad.
Novation Impulse
Akai MPK mini mkII
Yamaha P90
Android phones/tablets loaded with Lemur App, Touch OSC, Lk by Imaginando, TouchDAW, and Launch Buttons plus.
wait does the nektar work with vcv i just got mine and have no clue hhow to set it up or if it even works with vcv
everything that sends midi cc messagges works fine with vcv rack.
connect the device, run rack, load a midi-cv module, select the device (nektar …), connect the cables and play it!
to map (let’s say) a pad, just load a midi-cc or a midi-gate module, select the device (nektar …), select (let’s say) the first top left box (single left mouse click) and then press a pad, you will notice that now the number of the cc message has appeared in the box, and it will be mapped to the first top left cable. repeat for other pads, knobs, faders