October 7, 2024

Following on from the discussion of PADDY for Lightroom recently, I’d like to add something to the fray. Unlike PADDY, Knobroom works on Mac, so it was the perfect excuse to buy a Korg nanoKontrol to test it with.

Basically I plugged in the Korg and then downloade the Kontrol editor. Next I mapped the controls I wanted inside the Knobroom ‘Assigned Controls’ in Plugin Extras. Finally I mapped those control channels to the sliders and knobs in Kontrol Editor, then wrote them to the device. I didn’t read any manuals, and bar seeing a note on not using spaces in the for the plugin, I was good to go.

Here’s a quick and dirty (i.e. not scripted or planned!) video of the setup and a view of it in operation.

23 thoughts on “Korg nanoKontrol with Knobroom: midi control of Lightroom.

  1. Hi,
    When i discovered knobroom, my dream was to acquire a nanokontrol. I buy it, setting it, but i was sad of the matter of “jumping” value when going to develop next image. (ie : I develop a +1 exposure photo, then when i move knob on the next photo, i jump to +1.1 directly).
    So i read a lot and discover that bcr2000 is good with his “virtual” knob.
    So i buy a BCR2000… And now trying to setting it up
    But i still got the “jumping” value, knob doesn’t virtually take the LR5 sliders value
    What is the walthrought to avoid “jumping” ?
    I Use LR5 and My BCR2000 is connected on USB
    I have mapping all knob on the plugin menu (with OSCulator to find and check the CC#)
    I choose start plugin then
    MIDI In : BCR2000 port 1
    MIDI Out : BCR2000 port2

    Plugin : v0.2.779
    License : registered
    Ps : sorry for my english, i’m french.

  2. Would it work better this way?
    – set the current software value only after the cursor/knob goes thru that value.

    So say the slider is at 10 and the software value is 50. If the user moves it up or down but not reaching 50 -> don’t do anything. When the user goes thru 50 start applying the slider value to software value. If a small beep is possible you can do that to let the user know.

  3. Thanks for replying Sean. Sorry if I am a bother, but upon closer use, in my system it seems the relative position of my faders is used as the exact amount of the Lightroom control. If my fader is at its lowest position when I click on a new image, then any adjustment I make, starts from 0. Seems like your system is using the fader to adjust in relation to the current Lighroom setting; or am I incorrect?

    1. You are. It jumps to the detected position, but if you move the fader quickly it sets it to that. The fader position before you move doesn’t matter, it’s not active until you actually move it.

  4. Hi Sean,

    I received my nanoKontrol yesterday, and after installing Knobroom and Korg Kontrol, my system works, but not the way yours seemingly does. When I initially move a fader (say for fill), Lightroom first jumps to a default value (50 for fill) then the fader seems to kick in and adjusts from that default value.

    Did you edit any of the Kontrol settings or need to tweek Knobroom at all to make your nanoKontrol work as shown in your video?

    Great video BTY – it sold me on the whole idea of affordable hardware control.

    Thanks, Scott.

  5. There is a very minimal delay. I don’t think it has anything to do with computer power. In any case, I wouldn’t worry about it. It certainly doesn’t make it unusable in practice.

    Regards,
    Adam

  6. Another point: what about “reactivity”?

    Does using the controller introduce some kind of lag or does it all depends on the computer power?

    Thanks again.

    Best,
    Arnauld.

  7. Hi Sean & Adam,

    Thanks for your feedback.

    I might give a try to the nano. I like the size of it and as guessed Adam it will probably sit on the desktop most of the time…

    I’ll let you know when I receive one.

    Best,
    Arnauld.

  8. Arnauld,

    You may also want to consider something like the Behringer BCR2000 (I bought a refurbished/ex-display model). These use knobs instead of sliders. The advantages are three-fold:

    1) There are more controls on the device than on a device that uses sliders/faders.

    2) Even if not motorized, the knobs are able to “virtually” snap to position like a model with motorized sliders.

    3) The knobs provide excellent control over detail, probably even better than a slider/fader.

    But note that the Korg NanoKontrol is a very small, light unit that you could probably leave next to your keyboard all the time, and also take with you when traveling. The Behringer BCR2000 (or something like the Behringer BCF2000, which has motorized sliders) is much bulkier (though very comfortable to use on your lap when editing images).

    Best,
    Adam

  9. Hi,

    I just discovered this new way of working with Lightroom and I found it amazing!!

    I think it’s much more intuitive to work creatively with a photo this way than to use sliders inside Lightroom. You could even develop the photo without knowing anything about the technical details behind (difference between, exposure, recovery, brightness…)

    Thus this new stuff is very appealing to me and I’m seriously considering the purchase of a Korg NANO KONTROL.

    I saw Adam mentioned motorized sliders (not available with the Korg NANAO KONTROL). What would be the benefits of it?

    Thanks

    Best regards,
    Arnauld.

    1. Motorised faders snap to position when you change images. Also they tend to be 100mm faders rather than the smaller ones on the nanoKontrol, so you’ve more precision.

  10. This is just a cleanup comment to avoid having misinformation floating around the Internet. Now that I have my BCR2000 I should clarify:

    – The BCR2000 has 32 knobs and 30 buttons, I believe.
    – The standard setup is to have four of the buttons set up to control the BCR2000 operating modes (though these can be reassigned if you want to use them for something else), two buttons to be used for switching between presets and four buttons to be used to switch between encoder groups.
    – Each preset includes the 24 basic encoders/knobs, plus an additional 8 encoders/knobs across the top. Within each preset, each of the 8 top encoders/knobs can have 4 different functions, depending on which encoder group is set.
    – So (disregarding the buttons), you have a total of (24 + (8*4)) * 32 = 1972 controls you can adjust just using the encoders/knobs on the BCR2000 in conjunction with the encoder groups and presets.

    Hope this helps!

    Best,
    Adam

  11. Thanks, that’s what I suspected. I think the Behringer BCR2000 (which has 32 knobs, 8 of which are dual-purpose, so 40 knobs x 4 scenes) might be more useful than the Behringer BCF2000, although the motorized faders are certainly appealing.

    Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

    Best regards,
    Adam

  12. As a sound engineer by trade, I’d say faders, but in truth it’s much of a muchness. If you could get midi controller with 50 knobs, it’d be more direct. I’ve loads of control here by switching scenes. Unfortunately not everything is included in Knobroom, e.g. no B&W controls and the Tone curve is parametric only, so you can’t enter points, but it’s still great for the quick edit.

  13. Thanks, Sean. I think I understand now. One last question (I promise!): do you find it easier to use the faders or the knobs? I’m trying to figure out whether I should get a MIDI device with more knobs or more faders.

    I really appreciate your patience with these questions.

    Best,
    Adam

  14. Thanks, Sean. I think my second question wasn’t clear.

    Suppose you have a slider mapped to Recovery. You start editing a severely overexposed picture (Picture A) and find that it needs Recovery set to 100. So you push the slider mapped to Recovery all the way up.

    Then you go to the next photo you want to edit (Picture B), which is also severely overexposed. The slider you had mapped to Recovery is still physically pushed all the way up to the top of the nanoKontrol (where you left it when editing your last picture), I assume, because the sliders on the nanoKontrol aren’t motorized and don’t zero out between pictures, right?

    If you now want to use the Recovery tool on this Picture B, how does that work? You can’t push the slider mapped to the Recovery tool up any further, because it is physically at the limit. So I assume you have to drag the slider mapped to the Recovery tool down first. Wouldn’t this have the effect of creating negative Recovery (actually, it won’t, because Recovery can’t be negative, but you get the idea)?

    I assume you have to drag the slider mapped to Recovery down to the bottom, press some kind of reset button to have it reset at 0 and the bottom position, and then you can push it up to start adding Recovery to your picture. Is this how it works?

    1. Each control is inactive when you go to a new picture. When you first move a control (knob/fader/button) it jumps the lightroom slider level to match. So if I was at 100 on recovery and went to another image, that image is at default (or the last setting it had). If I move the fader down quickly, the slider in lightroom will match the position of the fader on update. So if I pulled down to the bottom, recovery would be at zero. This behaviour is identical to how it would work with midi music programs, or even lighting desks. There’s no need to reset, the slider just updates to the current position.

  15. One more question: do you have to reset the sliders when you move on to edit the next picture, or how does that work? E.g., assume you set Recovery to 100% on Picture A, then switch to Picture B, which also needs Recovery? Do you have to move the Recovery slider on the nanoKontrol down, then reset it, then start adjusting?

    Best regards,
    Adam

    1. HI Adam.. I’m getting .05 increments with Exposure for example. Depends on how fast you push really. As to the sliders and knobs, they only kick in when you actually move them.

  16. Sean,

    Have you found that the sliders on the Korg nanoKontrol are big enough to give you sufficient control to make accurate micro-adjustments in Lightroom? The author of Paddy software speculated that the small sliders on the nanoKontrol might be too small (and therefore too sensitive) to work well. Any views based on your experience so far?

    Best regards,
    Adam

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Verified by MonsterInsights