Faderfox MX 12 User manual

Faderfox
NEW MODULE
MX12
User manual

Provision of guarantee and product liability
The seller warrants for faultless material and proper manufacture for a period of 24 months from the date of sale
to the end user.
Excluded from the stated guarantee are defects on parts as the result of normal wear-and-tear. These parts are
mostly faders (sliding guides), potentiometers, encoders, buttons, switches and touchpads.
Also excluded from the guarantee are damages that are the result of :
incorrect or inappropriate handling, excessive force, mechanical or chemical influences, incorrectly connecting
the instrument with other instruments, incorrect or inappropriate use.
The warranty is void if the instrument is opened or changed. In addition, there is no warranty for individual parts
and components (in particular, semiconductors) and disposables/ consumables. The seller is not liable for
consequential damages which are not the result of criminal intent or negligence on his part. The following
conditions must be met in order to claim the warranty services:
- Instrument is either in its original packaging or similar packaging.
- Copy of the invoice with the serial number clearly visible.
- Meaningful error report or description of the error is attached.
The buyer assumes all costs and dangers of return shipments to the manufacturer. Since the user’s manual which
is included with each instrument also affects the warranty conditions (especially regarding safety issues), it is
absolutely essential that you read through and follow all instructions.
Safety precautions and servicing
- Instrument's intended use is based on the functions and procedures contained in this manual
- Read all instructions for use as well as all enclosed literature before using the instrument
- Use only in closed rooms (not for outdoor use)
- Never use in a moist or humid environment (laundry rooms, swimming pools, etc, …)
- Not for use in the vicinity of heat sources (radiators, ovens, etc, …)
- Operational temperature is in the range of 0° - + 40° C
- Not for use in the vicinity of flammable material
- The instrument should not be in direct or prolonged contact with sunlight
- Dusty environmental conditions should be avoided
- Connect only to USB ports of computers or hubs
- No foreign objects are permitted inside the instrument casing
- No liquids should get inside the instrument casing
- Never let the instrument fall to the ground (casing and/or control elements may be damaged)
If the instrument must be opened (for example, to remove foreign objects from the casing or for other repairs),
this may only be done by qualified personnel. The USB-cable must be disconnected before opening the
instrument. Guarantee is void for defects that occur if the instrument was opened by an unauthorised or
unqualified person.
Use a soft towel or brush to clean the instrument. Please do not use any cleaning liquids or water, so you avoid
any damages to the instrument.
Package contents
- Device
- USB cable
- CD with settings and manuals
- Manual
- Sticker 98 pcs (16 x 9 mm white)

Introduction
Thank you for choosing a Faderfox controller. The MX12 is the first member of a new line called NEW
MODULE. These devices are designed for live use on stage and of course for use in the studio too. All
Faderfox controllers are professionally manufactured in small series in Germany, ensuring high quality.
You can combine two or more NEW MODULE devices to create a large system. The connections are on the
right side to allow a back to back placing of two or more devices. Connect two NEW MODULES by a special
extension port.
Furthermore there are 4 Midi-ports and one USB-port with various routing possibilities.
MX12 as successor of the UC44 is a universal controller for all kinds of Midi controllable hard- and
software.
It is packed in a alu case with the same dimensions like the famous ELEKTRON devices so it’s a great
extension for these devices. But you can use the mix controller also with your DAW like a classical
12-track-mixer.
The device has 24 standard pots, 12 faders and 24 buttons in a 12-track-layout. Various kinds of Midi
commands like control change, note on/off, pitchbend, aftertouch and program change are possible. You can
program every Midi command for every separate control on the device very fast and easily. Of course you
can assign the controls to any of these commands by learning incoming Midi commands, which is the same
procedure you know from your software / DAW.
.
The faders and pots work with standard resolution of 7 bit to have full compatibility to any software and
hardware instrument, effect and DAW. Use the internal 30 setups to save your individual settings. Backup
and restore of all settings by sysex dump is possible too.
The factory settings are perfect to control music and video software products out of the box if they are
freely assignable. So any additional device programming isn’t necessary for many applications.
Check out this amazing power box and you will get a reliable mate...

Features
- Universal controller for all kinds of midi controllable hard- and software
- USB interface with bus powering - class compliant / no driver necessary (consumption 110mA)
- 2 MIDI in and out ports with routing and merge functionality
- Extension port to connect a second NEW MODULE device
-12 faders and 24 pots with rubber knobs and standard midi resolution of 7bit
- 1 push encoders with detents (30 pulses) and 14 bit high resolution mode
- 24 buttons with LED for switchable parameters
- 4-digit-display to show values and programming data
- Data feedback for all controls avoid value jumps
- Programmable value ranges with min/max values
-Fast control assign by incoming midi commands (assign whole rows of controls by one command)
- All controls (incl. push buttons) fully programmable in the device by channel, type, number and mode
- Different command types like control change (CC), pitch bend, aftertouch, program change and notes
- Advanced programming functions like copy, paste, duplicate, channel sets
- 30 setups with backup/restore function contain all controller settings and presets
-Switchable Snap function for all faders / pots to avoid value jumps
- Sanpshot and Preset functions to send momentary values or stored presets for all pots/keys (30 presets)
- Upgradable firmware by simple Sysex-dump
- Very compact and solid design in a black metal casing (size 340x176x75 mm, weight 1.3 kg)
-Same size as the ELEKTRON devices (ELEKTRON accessories like dust cover and bags fit perfectly)
-Cascading of NEW MODULE devices one behind the other due to the side connections
System requirements
- PC or Mac with a free USB port (1.0 or higher) or any USB hub
- MIDI device with standard MIDI in/out port
- USB power adapter (5V min 200mA) if you want to control midi gear only

Connections
The device has four ports each with one in- and one out-port:
- USB
- MIDI 1
- MIDI 2
- EXTENSION
All controller data will be sent to each of the four available out ports simultaneously. Internal connections
between the ports are possible by the routing functionality (see chapter setup / routing). In the case of a
routing the incoming data will be merged to the controller data of the device. You can route only one in
port to each out port.
If you don’t connect a computer it’s necessary to power the device by any kind of USB power adaptor or
by the extension port thru another NEW MODULE device..
Extension port
The extension port is a 8-pin-interface to connect two NEW MODULE devices.
Please use only a crossover ethernet patchcable for this port and don’t connect to any other devices !
The interface allows to power a second device so you need only one USB connection to a computer or power
adaptor for two devices. Further all controller data will be interchanged between the devices.
There are pins for power, one in-port and one out-port. It’s also possible to route the extension in- and
out-ports to any other port (MIDI, USB).
How to setup
Below you find three examples of possible setups. First setup comes with one or two NEW MODULEs and a
computer with ABLETON LIVE. The other two setups contain one or two NEW MODULE devices and one
or two ELEKTRON devices (RYTM, OCTATRACK, ANALOG FOUR). Note that you set the ELEKTRONs
to different Midi channels so you can control each ELEKTRON by each NEW MODULE. Note the different
internal routings for sync- and all other data.

Controller mode
Controller mode is the basic mode of the MX12. Here the faders, pots, encoder and buttons are used to control
any parameter in your soft- or/and hardware by standard midi commands like CC and notes.
The encoder can send different commands via turn and push. You can see the numerical value in the display
too. A programmed acceleration gives a better feeling for the encoder so you can go from min to max value
easily. Hold down the red shift button while you turn the encoder to have a precise control without
acceleration.
The gray / green buttons can be programmed to various modes like the pots and encoder too. So they can work
as momentary switch or in toggled mode, sending notes, CC, program change or aftertouch commands.
Snap function
The faders / pots can work in snap or jump mode. In snap mode you have to catch the last value which avoids
any possible value jump after feedback data. The last value and two arrows in the display show the necessary
fader / pot movements to catch the value.
Jump mode works like a standard controller so the data will be sent immediately.
Switch between the two modes (snap / jump) by pressing the blue button shortly.
Hold down red shift button while you move a control to suppress data sending temporarily. This is also useful
to catch the last value exactly.
Special shift functions
You can use the green buttons while holding down the red shift button to get the following special functions:
- button 1 to 10: select setups in the current tenth group
- button 11: activates/deactivates monitor mode
- button 12: sends a snapshot (current values) of all controls
The monitor function shows incoming and outgoing Midi data. Arrows in the display flash bright when the
device transmits or receives controller data. Low flashing indicates midi clock or other midi data. Each
display digit represents a Midi port described below the display. The upper arrows show outgoing data and the
lower arrows flashes for incoming data. Monitor function is great to check routings etc.
A snapshot includes all current pot/encoder values and the values of all buttons with toggle mode.
Presets
There is also a new preset functionality which allows to store and send values of all controls. That’s great for
initialization. You can store a total of 30 presets in the device. The tenth group (green buttons 1 to 10) follows
the setup number. (for instance the setup 15 is currnetly selected so you can send/store presets 11 to 20 by the
green buttons 1 to 10).
Store current values of all controls to a preset by the following steps:
- hold red shift button and press green button 12 to send a snapshot
- hold blue button and press any green button 1 to 10 until all green leds flash shortly
To send a preset hold the blue button and press any green button 1 to 10 shortly.
Presets include only the control values and not the commands itself. That means you can use different presets
for each setup or one preset for different setups.

Edit mode
The edit mode allows the programming of the controls (pots, encoder and buttons). Start and leave edit
mode by holding down shift key and press the blue key. The activated edit mode is indicated by blinking
yellow Edit-LED. All data will be stored in the currently selected setup automatically by leaving the edit
mode.
To edit any control you have to choose the control number first. There are two ways to do so:
1. press green button 1 and then select the control by the encoder or
2. holding down the blue button while you move the wanted control
Then you can set different properties by selecting them with green button 2 to 8 (see below) and changing
with the encoder.
To copy properties separately to all controls of same row (pots or buttons), hold down the green button 2,
3, 4, 5, 7 or 8 while running bar lines shown. This makes editing much faster if you want to have same
functions on all controls in same row.
Hold down the red shift key and turn the encoder to send Midi commands in edit mode. Pots always send
Midi commands in edit mode.
---- 4 lines in the display means that the property isn’t available
Control number (Button 1)
P01...12A…b select pot 1 to 12 in rows A or B for editing
F01....08 select fader 1 to 8 for editing
Enc select encoder for editing
Pbt select encoder push button for editing
b01...12c…d select gray / green button 1 to 8 (rows C or D) for editing
You can see the control and row numbers on the faceplate.
Display scale (Button 2)
Fader / Pot / encoder scales:
OFF no display control
Std standard display-control (0 to 127) by the device and by external command
bPoL bipolar display-control (-63 to 63) by the device and by external command
(for high resolution mode running bar lines per step on right display)
Button scales:
OFF no LED control
Std standard LED control by the device and by external command
EHt LED control only by external commands
External control by feedback data with same commands as corresponding buttons.

Command type (Button 3)
Fader / Pot types:
notE note command (note on for upper / right side, note off for lower / left side)
CC control change command in 7 bit absolute mode (values 0 to 127) most used standard-mode
Pr g Cprogram change command (values 0 to 127)
Pbnd pitch bend command 14 bit (values 0 to 16383) Resolution 7 bit !
AFtt aftertouch (channel pressure) command 7 bit (values 0 to 127)
Encoder types:
CCr1 control change command in relative mode 1 (values 1/127)
CCr2 control change command in relative mode 2 (values 63/65)
CCAb control change command in 7 bit absolute mode (values 0 to 127) mostly used as standard
Pr g Cprogram change command (values 0 to 127)
CCAh two control change commands (MSB/LSB) in 14 bit highres mode (values 0 to 16383)
Pbnd pitch bend command 14 bit (values 0 to 16383)
AFtt aftertouch (channel pressure) command 7 bit (values 0 to 127)
notE note command (note on for turning clockwise, note off for turning counter clockwise)
Button types:
notE note command
CC control change command
Pr g Cprogram change command
AFtt aftertouch (channel pressure) command
(for all button types: upper value = press/on, lower value = release/off)
Command mode (Button 4)
Fader / Pot modes:
JUMP jump mode, command will be sent immediately by moving the control
SnAP snap mode, sends command not before catching the last value by moving the control
Encoder modes:
Acc0 no acceleration by faster turning
Acc1 low acceleration by faster turning
Acc2 middle acceleration by faster turning
Acc3 max acceleration by faster turning
Button modes:
btn send momentary command (upper value = press, lower value = release)
togLsend toggle command (upper value = on, lower value = off)

Command channel (Button 5)
Ch01....16 choose midi channel 1 to 16
Command number (Button 6)
n000...127 choose controller or note number 0 to 127 for note and CC commands
0 to 31 (MSB) for high resolution mode (32 to 63 for LSB follows automatically)
Lower / upper value (Button 7 / 8)
L000...127 choose lower value (0 to 127) for all command types except relative modes
U000...127 choose upper value (0 to 127) for all command types except relative modes
Set same lower and upper value for buttons with program change type to choose only one program change
number by the button. Set a higher amount in lower value as upper value to have an inverted control.
lower value = note press velocity
upper value = note release velocity