Breaking news from our knob beat department — remember the Reflex Audio Sonia, which I looked at when it was announced in March? This knob-laden MIDI box is back, it’s shipping, and it’s cheaper: US$109 for 22 user memories, or $129 for 44. There’s no USB, but that shaves more off the price, and you have a keyboard with free MIDI ports anyway, right? (I’ve got more free MIDI jacks around here than USB, thanks to a forest of dongles.)
So, how are we doing in the Things With Knobs Department? Glad you asked. That’s:
One Sonia, 12 knobs, $109
One iControl, 8 knobs (but various buttons), GarageBand/Logic-only, $179
One Behringer BCN-44, four knobs, $64.99
Who’s winning? Well, the iControl should be shipping soon, but isn’t shipping yet; the BCN-44’s whereabouts on North American shores are unknown at this time. Only the Reflex is actually shipping. Then again, only the Behringer has continuous knobs (of these, anyway), if you’re into that sorta thing. All things considered, I’d rate the Reflex kit as the most useful of these.
Tune in for another thrilling episode of KnobWatch, same twiddly time, same twiddly channel. Don’t forget to breathe; I know you’re really excited about this.