8. Speed

There's nothing more annoying than the nagging feeling that your controller is "slowing things down“, because this means the money and effort you put into getting and setting up the controller were not worth it. Controller performance is limited first and foremost by the sedate MIDI interface, which can be somewhat slow and unreliable with both older instruments and older controllers; and you can tell that from the glitches that may occur. Which controller is suitable for which instrument is a question, however, for which there is no general answer. The one thing you should do is actually research (or try out for yourself) whether the controller you are interested in works reliably and conveniently, and whether others found "communication trouble“ betwen the controller and their devices. Consult product reviews and internet chatrooms; they can be very helpful.

Modern controllers should also be able to manage rapid changes between two or more target instruments. The more "work“ the controller takes off the user's hands, the better. If the controller is able to assign the same control to the same paramater, e.g. "base filter frequency“, automatically every time you use a specific software synthesizer, you as a user the user do not have to worry about this technical detail and can devote yourself to the creative aspects of working with different software synthesizers. This aids the creative flow of the artist's work by saving time and effort.

„Intelligent controllers“ with state-of-the-art mapping technology are becoming better and better at "conducting" a wide variety of instruments. Ever more complex programming enables faster recognition of control movements, better evaluation and more immediate availability of the target instrument's status. Variable displays help keep the user informed about the assigned parameter and setting of every control for the target instrument.