Novation Remote 49SL Compact

So how does the ReMote SL Compact differ from the original ReMote SL? The biggest difference lies in the number of controls. The standard SL controllers feature 32 buttons, eight endless rotary knobs, eight standard knobs and eight sliders; the SL Compact pares things down with eight assignable buttons, eight endless rotary knobs, and no sliders. Instead of two 144-character blue LED displays, the SL Compact makes do with one. And in place of the SL’s X/Y touchpad and combined pitch/mod joystick, SL Compact sports a miniature spring-loaded pitch and modulation wheels, similar in size and feel to those on the MicroKorg synth.

KEYBOARD ACTION AND DRUM PADS

The SL Compact doesn’t have exactly the same keybed as the full-blown SL series controllers but it’s a very smooth, solid, semi-weighted synth action, complete with metal weights embedded in the key bottoms. It feels more solid, and a wee bit heavier, than my Korg Triton Extreme, which already feels pretty classy. The SL Compact’s keyboard is definitely in a different league than garden-variety inexpensive MIDI controllers. In addition to standard velocity sensitivity, it transmits aftertouch as well.

Located centrally above the keyboard are eight classic, “MPC”-style square drum pads, this time a little larger than those on the original ReMote SL. These guys are sensitive, so you’ll probably want to limit their MIDI velocity range; not only is that velocity range definable, but the pads have a calibration mode that allows fine-tuning of their initial sensitivity.

IN USE

The SL Compact includes a USB port as well as standard MIDI connectors. I opted for USB, using the included the cable. Installation of the Automap drivers from the included DVD-ROM is an easy process. Once the drivers are installed, you’re presented with a list of third-party instruments currently supported by Automap. You then check off the instruments you own, and Automap does its magic by creating “wrapped” versions; the plug-in windows gain a little frame with a couple of extra parameters, indicating that they’ve shaken hands with the SL Compact. The wrapped versions also show up in your plug-in list as additional plug-ins with “Automap” next to their names, as opposed to replacing any standard plug-in names. Once installed, there were a few additional steps for setting up the SL Compact as a control surface in Apple Logic Pro, but the included PDF manual contains helpful, platform-specific setup guides for Propellerhead Reason, Steinberg Cubase and Nuendo, Apple Logic Pro, Ableton Live, and Digidesign Pro Tools.

Initially I encountered numerous communication problems, which put me on the phone with Novation’s very helpful tech support line. To cut a long story short, my SL Compact was defective and behaving funny. Once I got a replacement unit, things went far better. Chalk this up to a freak occurrence.

With my new unit up and running, I got to work playing with Logic Pro’s built-in virtual instruments under Automap control. This is pretty seamless as the SL Compact automatically senses the software and sets itself to the correct Automap template. Using the shift button, you can select whether the SL Compact controls mixer functions or virtual synths. Automap did a pretty good job of covering all of the functions of Logic Pro’s built-in plug-ins. With only eight knobs available, this sometimes results in a lot of pages when working with feature-rich software — the SL Compact displayed 42 pages of parameters just for Logic’s Sculpture synth! One drawback is that a parameter name can only be eight characters long in the SL Compact’s LCD display, so the names can get cryptic compared to the onscreen versions on your computer. Compared to controllers with no “scribble strip” display at all, this is still a huge improvement, but it’s one reason the SL Compact is a bit better for sound creation than for live performance. Another reason is that the firm detents in the SL Compact’s endless knobs made clicking up and down by single parameter steps a piece of cake, but don’t really encourage fluid use as an expressive control for, say, a filter sweep. For smoother control, one could easily assign any parameter to the mod wheel, control pedal input, or even the pitch wheel, as everything on the SL Compact is fully assignable.

Automap accounted for nearly every parameter of Logic’s own plug-ins, but in the case of some third-party “wrapped” instruments, there were a few odd omissions. Most of the vital parameters were mapped, but when using Arturia’s Minimoog V, for example, nothing was set up for switching oscillator waveforms, though many less frequently-reached-for parameters were. Regardless, one can add pages, or delete and replace stuff on existing pages, to remedy this.

In addition to Logic Pro, I tried the SL Compact/Automap combo with Ableton Live 7. Integration was excellent both with Live’s built-in plugs as well as third-party plug-ins; it required less tweaking than Logic. Oddly, the “wrapped” versions of third-party plug-in names didn’t appear separately in Live’s plug-in list, but Automap still did its thing just fine with the “regular” versions of the plugs.

CONCLUSIONS

Automap is a pretty cool technology, potentially saving users hours of setup time. It was sometimes a little flaky with Logic Pro, occasionally requiring me to delete, then re-add, the Remote SL Compact icon in Logic’s control surface setup window, but for the most part it worked as advertised. The SL Compact itself has a lot of merits; its strongest is that it has the nicest synth-action keyboard in its class, not to mention a big, bright display. Though it’s considerably pricier than much of its competition from M-Audio and Korg, its extended feature set makes it a front-runner among MIDI controller keyboards.

CLAIM CHECK

Rob jones, technical marketing manager for Novation, says, “The ultimate goal of the ReMote SL Compact is to bring Automap Universal technology to a wider range of musicians, by offering a smaller and more affordable version of the original ReMote SL. There are other keyboards on the market that claim to offer similar automatic mapping (such as the Edirol PCR-500 and Korg Kontrol49), but nothing has even close to range of software support and interactivity of Automap, which has led to other reviewers labeling the SLs as ‘light years ahead of the usual MIDI controller.’ The simplicity and time-saving nature of Automap means that it has mass appeal to everyone from a complete beginner, who just wants the controller to work without any real knowledge of what MIDI is, to a pro who just doesn’t have time for tedious setup and control assigning. The other main design benefits are a huge display screen, great feeling keys, compact and portable size, encoder and button grouping, and of course, the speed dial.”