Dark Controller DARK FADER User manual

DARK FADER – CUSTOMIZING
Dark Fader already works well with the factory settings.
If you still want to customize your Dark Fader, you can
use the setup mode to modify the fader characteristics.
To active the setup mode you must press and hold a
dedicated button during power on (USB connection).
Once in setup mode, the pitch fader is used as an input
parameter to select minimum (lowest position) or
maximum (highest position) or any value in between.
As soon you release the setup button the fader position
defines the new value.
Any changes in setup get stored permanently and will be
used each time you connect Dark Fader again (similar to
the last used midi channel).
If you want to customize several values you have to enter
the setup mode for each value separately.
CALIBRATE PITCH FADER MID POSITION
A calibrated pitch fader should switch on the LED to green at the mid (zero) position of the pitch scale. If
your fader switches to green above or below you can calibrate the mid again. In older Technics SL days
you may remember that you had to open the chassis and readjust a trimpot. Dark Fader allows a new
calibration much more easily. Use the procedure below to calibrate the exact mid position and the new
position gets stored permanently. You can repeat the procedure as often you want:
§Disconnect Dark Fader (Power off)
§Press and hold MIDI CHANNEL button (on top)
§Connect (power on) Dark Fader via USB IN, the fader LED gets green on
§Move pitch fader position to exact mid of pitch scale
§Release button, fader LED flashes green 5 times to confirm a successful calibration
§Done, new Dark Fader mid position is stored permanently.
CUSTOMIZE PITCH FADER MID RANGE SIZE
The fader LED switches to green when close to the zero zones. You can define how large this zone
should be. A huge zone has pros and cons. Pro’s: easy to find pitch zero position (without using pitch
reset), Con’s: increasing of the dead area close mid position. Dark Fader allows you to define your
favourite behaviour: large range (similar the old ‘click’ versions in SL-1200mk2), or even smaller areas.
Friends of the SL1200mk3 may want to remove the dead area at all, using the pitch knob only to reset
the pitch and get the LED green. Dark Fader allows all these behaviours.
Define you favourite behaviour once, it gets stored permanently (until you calibrate again):
§Disconnect Dark Fader (Power off)
§Press and hold LEFT button (left below fader)
§Connect (power on) Dark Fader via USB IN, the fader LED gets off
§Use the pitch fader position to define size of range. Lowest end: remove dead zone completely,
highest position: define a large green range. Default is mid position (small green area). You can use
any fader position between to define your favourite range size
§Release button, fader LED flashes red > green > red to confirm a successful calibration
§Done, new Dark Fader mid range size is stored permanently.
CUSTOMIZE THE SENSITIVITY FOR SMALL MOVEMENTS OF PITCH FADER
The pitch fader is an analogue element. Dark Fader uses a high 14bit resolution to create a 14bit midi
pitchbend command, much higher than most other DJ controllers can offer. But 14bit on 100mm means
that noise would produce ghost midi commands even if you do not touch the pitch fader. So we
integrated an intelligent noise reduction algorithm to keep still the high resolution on the movements,
but avoid self fired ghost midi messages.
You can calibrate the noise reduction level that works best for you. Dark Fader easily shows you if your
noise reduction level works well: Normally the fader LED is switched off. As soon you move the fader
you see the red LED flashing, each flash means a midi message has been sent. Sometimes you may see
a short red flash even if you do not touch the fader. This is absolutely ok and indicates that Dark Fader
works in highest resolution. In case the red LED is flashing more often (e.g. each second) then you
should set the noise reduction higher. Or explaining the other way around: If you feel that small
movements with your finger do still not fire any messages then you should calibrate your fader to be
more sensitive, which means reducing the noise reduction.
Define you favourite sensitivity of the fader during setup (check the behaviour later in normal mode):
§Disconnect Dark Fader (Power off)
§Press and hold SHIFT button (on bottom)
§Connect (power on) Dark Fader via USB IN, the fader LED gets red on
§Use the pitch fader position to define the level of noise reduction. Lowest end: no noise reduction at
all, you will see later that the fader always fires midi messages (LED red). Highest position: define
maximum noise reduction, no ghost messages at all, but your fader does not react on small
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© 2019-08-04

movements. Default is mid position: the fader reacts fast on smallest movements without ghost
messages itself. If you want a more sensitive fader then try any values in lower range. See the result
later in normal mode, if your fader fires ghosts rarely you found best sensitive value, go for it. If you
fader fires often (e.g. each second) the you should increase the value
§Release button, fader LED flashes red 5 times to confirm a successful calibration
§Done, new Dark Fader sensitivity (and noise reduction level) is stored permanently
§Check in normal operational mode if the new sensitivity level works best for you. Keep it if it works
well, or repeat the sensitivity customizing with a new fader value (remember and modify the fader
position from your last calibration).
ENABLE/DISABLE MIDI SOFT TAKEOVER (MSTO)
Dark Fader offers an inbuilt hardware Midi Soft Takeover feature on fader movements after deck change
(midi channel change). This ensures that the pitch tempo will not jump abruptly in your DJ application.
Principle of a typical MSTO Workflow: After changing deck (midi channel change via top button) the
pitch fader stops to send any midi messages any longer (because the physical fader position would not
match to the fader deck position in the software anyhow). MSTO ensures that fader movements get
ignored (kind of waiting mode) until you move the fader position close to the last used position on this
channel. This catches the fader and activates them again.
Background why we added this feature: Most DJ applications also offer software MSTO in their midi
settings, but their features are often limited (e.g. Traktor Pro struggles with MSTO on different midi
channels). Using the Dark Fader MSTO allows overcoming such DJ application limitations. And the
hardware MSTO offers one nice features on top: The LED gives you a feedback when the fader is in
MSTO waiting mode (LED off means: your fader is in MSTO waiting mode, until you catch manually the
last used position). Typically your DJ application MSTO is no longer needed, but you can keep them still
on (this ‘double’ MSTO allows even a tempo jump prevention in Traktor 4 deck mode).
In case you still prefer to use the MSTO of your DJ application only, or if you want force Dark Fader to
fire midi messages always, you can disable the feature in settings. Use the procedure below to enable or
disable the MSTO feature:
§Disconnect Dark Fader (Power off)
§Press and hold RIGHT CHANNEL button (right below fader)
§Connect (power on) Dark Fader via USB IN, the fader LED show the current status (red: MSTO is
currently disabled, green: MSTO enabled)
§If you want to keep the current status, then disconnect (power off) fader before you release the button
§If you want to toggle the current status, then release the button, the fader LED flashes 3 times to with
the colour of your new setting (green= enabled, red=disabled)
§Done, MSTO feature is enabled/disabled and stored permanently.
RESET DARK FADER AND RESTORE FACTORY SETTINGS
Reset will remove all your calibration adjustments and restore the default factory setting:
§Disconnect Dark Fader (Power off)
§Press and hold LEFT button (left below fader) + RIGHT button (right below fader) together
§Connect Dark Fader via USB IN, the fader LED should still be switched off
§Release both buttons, fader LED flashes fast and alternating red & green 5 times to confirm a reset
§Done, user specific customizing were removed, Dark Fader works with original factory default values
§We recommend resetting the Dark Fader once after installation of any firmware updates.
CUSTOMIZING SUMMARY
Customize
features
1. Disconnect
device, then
press and hold
button below:
2. Connect (power on) device and move
Fader to position below:
(still hold button)
3. release button, fader
mid LED flashing
confirmation:
Calibrate fader mid
position
MIDI CHANNEL
(on top)
exact new zero mid position green ð5 x green
Customize fader
mid range size
LEFT
(below fader)
Bottom: no mid range at all (similar mk3)
Top: large snapping zone (similar mk2)
Default: mid position (small green area)
off ðred > green > red
Customize fader
sensitivity
SHIFT
(on bottom)
Bottom: noise reduction off (highest
sensitivity), fader always fires ghost
messages (LED always red)
Top: maximum noise reduction (low
sensitivity), small movements ignored
Default: mid position, fader reacts fast
on small movements without ghost
messages
red ð5 x red
Enable/Disable
Midi Soft Takeover
RIGHT
(below fader)
- no fader movement needed -
Default: Enabled (green LED)
Enable: red ð3 x green
Disable: green ð3 x red
Reset to factory
settings
LEFT + RIGHT - no fader movement needed - off ð5 x red / green