Novation Nocturn

awesome, good luck with that :]

I plan on getting the X-Session pro and combining it with one of Midifidlers MidiFighters ;D
And using Ammobox ;D

Not too sure when lol, the sooner the better :stuck_out_tongue: i will write a full review on it too while i am at it.

Thanks, and good luck with your setup too :slight_smile: I cannot wait to try arcade button cue juggles and clist beatlookup effects !

Can’t wait for the review dude. (Can’t wait to buy my BCR2000 either. :wink: )

I dont mean to spoil the party but there is not way that thing is deep enough to hold the shallow arcade buttons. Its a very low profile unit from my memory…:confused:

I had the same question on MSN, but he said it should be okay? :eek:

I realise its small but its more about whats on the device, the plan is to transfer the guts into another case and solder wires from the original buttons to arcade buttons that will be positioned along the top of the rotaries - it would make the device larger but not unbearably as its a prety small unit to begin with.

The LED lights thats are under the buttons should work this way aswell, so i will most likely leave the buttons that are on the unit as is (the wiring that needs doing is under the PCB) so i have LED action aswell.

The 8 automapping buttons along the bottom might be a problem though, i am not quite sure if they can be assigned to send out midi messages which would really suck. Ill have more on this soon.

1st post on here, though I’ve been observing the great topics for a while now, anyway… I received the Novation Nocturn this morning so I thought I would share a little info on it from a consumers perspective. The unit its self is plastic’y light (more so than the x-session pro) and slim so I doubt much modding will be going on and I don’t know how much gig bashing it could take but it seems that it was more built for a home studio/production environment rather than a DJing one. The controls are well spaced enough and feel nice and smooth. As it stands, the Automap software that came with the unit is buggy to say the least. It doesn’t seem to have generic midi drivers like my Akai Mpd24 because assigning functions using lets say Torq’s Learn Midi feature just don’t work and every plug-in (VST only despite what the promo claims,well on PC anyway) has to be wrapped and saved using the automap software. When I did finally get it to map to a VST and control a few parameters using the unit it some how knocked of my other midi controllers, it did this under Torq and ProTools. It might just be me not understanding their instructions which they claim are super easy but they have alot of fixes to do yet. Its a shame so far because I see so much potential in this unit. If anyone has had better luck with the Nocturn, please let me know

Here are some images I uploaded to let people get an idea of the size
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doyli/2534189973/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doyli/2534189837/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Tekki came up with the cool idea of putting it in a clear acrylic shell, i think i might take that option if i can get all of the buttons to spit out midi messages.

Heck, I might even mod my soon to arrive BCR2000, if I am fed up with that casing/housing. :smiley:

I’m really starting to feel confident about ordering an x-session pro instead of the nocturn.
But good luck with the mods!

Go for it Wuz!

It seems to be a nice contender!

well I already ordered it earlier this week :wink:

they called me up to tell me they had to wait another day for stock to arrive and that i would get it early next week - I asked if they had the nocturn in stock and they did (same price) but then i decided on the spot to wait for the x-session. The BCD3000 won’t be lonely for much longer!

X Session Pro next to a BCD3000?

I have been in contact with Novation about the Nocturn and there is no way to get midi messages out of the bottom 8 buttons or the automap knob :disappointed:
Though some of my ideas\feedback has been passed on to the Novation development team for future devices - hopefully they do something about it in a later version but i highly doubt it.

Also i took the time to dig up some information on the microprocessor used on the Nocturn for anyone who’s into firmware hacking.

Chip information - “Low speed USB 8-bit MCU family with up to 32K Flash/ROM, DFU capability, 8-bit ADC, WDG, timer, SCI and I2C”
Micro Processor Order Number : ST72F63BK2M1
Generic Part Number : ST7263BK2
Manufacturer : ST www.st.com

Product Page -
http://www.st.com/mcu/modules.php?name=mcu&file=devicedocs&DEV=ST7263BK2

Product Data Sheet - http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/ds/7516/st7263bk2.pdf

There is also a 2x 5 pin connection on the PCB of the Nocturn for reprogramming the chip.

i think i’ll use both - not quite enough knobs and buttons on the xsession for everything

i added an Akai MPD24. i like it a lot, using it for fx and loop triggers

I am thinking i might just do a single row of 8 arcade knobs to control some Clist Beatlookup Juggling among other things, that will still make it pretty fun to play with :slight_smile:

Just 8?
Mannnn, if I know you well enough, this will never be near enough. :wink:

Arcade buttons have so many useful applications but foot controllers do double their uses ! :wink:

so i did a gig with the mpd24. first impressions - it’s quite big, worked well but i did a sh!t set, partly because it was last minute and i hadn’t prepared or thought about, and partly cause i got so stuck on the mpd i was forgetting the actual mixing and kept leaving the bass off and things. oh well, luckily hardly anyone was there.