Could the MP MIDI controller finally make your plugins feel like hardware?

MIDI controller technology has advanced greatly over the past few years, with multiple manufacturers offering tighter integration with your DAW and plugins. There remains a certain disconnect, though, which is why MP MIDI thinks there’s a market for its eponymous new Controller.

Designed, quite simply, to let you “Control Software plugins like hardware,” this puts the focus on the display: a 21.5-inch IPS 1920 x 1080 monitor that’s surrounded by 32 endless encoders. The display shows your chosen plugin’s full interface; you can scroll through to additional pages if your plugin has them, and the encoders are automatically mapped to the parameters.

All of this is made possible by the MP Host VST3/AU/AAX plugin. This runs in your DAW and can itself host your plugin instruments and effects (you’ll need to have a separate instance for each plugin) and enables you to create the encoder mappings (up to 32 per page and four pages, meaning a total of 128 encoders). Opening your plugins up within the MP Host is easy: it scans your collection and displays everything in a list.

The MP MIDI Controller offers total recall - current settings are automatically transmitted to the hardware as soon as you open up a plugin - and will ship with ready-made templates for some of the most popular plugins on the market. There are no confirmed availability or pricing details, but those who are interested can get in touch with the manufacturer via the MP MIDI website.