I am running Windows 11, and the Devices panel shows the that the X-Touch Mini is working correctly. Also, buttons light up when I press them, etc.. MainStage takes some time to assign knobs and buttons for live patches, but finally can be tailored as much as you bother to think about. Spad is by far not as complicated as the A&O once you get the hang of it it's fairly (un-complicated). When it comes to assigning either PMDG or MSFS events like for example pushing a button/toggle for landing gear it's incredibly easy to set up. If you are going to set it up for the default C172 or CJ4 and the G1000 it's not going to be that complicated. When you have payware aircraft it can get a tad more demanding because they "can" implement their own variables, the only thing I can't assign right now is how to dimm/increase the inside red night light. For example I have a 310R and I was able to assign the fuel levers to rotating knobs. Keep in mind though that I have all the buttons assigned on my honeycomb yoke like lights, battery, alt, mags, ect.. but on the Mini I was able to assign knobs to the HDG, buttons to landing lights and gear, knobs to radios, and all AP functions. For ex on the AP the one I like the most, two knobs to set the altitude and then I simply press it to arm it and the two buttons below knob it for VS up/down, it makes it incredibly less frustrated. Honestly when I see YT's now when they try to wiggle their way to turn radio knobs or use the AP buttons I just facepalm and keep telling myself that's how it used to be. It just fits nice and flat right on top of the honeycomb yoke and I highly recommend the Mini with Spad and for me not having it now would be a nightmare.

In my opinion the biggest challange with such tool is to make a convinient and easy to use interface to assign generic midi buttons, encoders and sliders with xplane commands and datarefs. Dealing with flat config files may not be an options as one would need to know midi button ids. It would be nice to cascade such configurations (eg. make default setup and only apply changes needed for particular aircraft), because managing lots of configurations if you have lots of aircraft can be really painful. It would be also great to share configurations with community. You develop X-KeyPad, so for sure you know these issues better then me. There is also SimVim project which faces similar problems (if I understand correctly they have kind of middle layer in their configurator). In this list, we’ll explore the best MIDI production controllers you can buy in 2021, from modest portable keyboards to expressive touch surfaces and others in-between. Bear in mind, that while some of these might seem designed for a particular DAW, they will usually be user-assignable too. Let’s dive in. The 11 best production controllers to buy in 2021 at a glance:

Behringer USB controller X-Touch Mini

The biggest flaw I have found though, is through the reliability of its connectivity to the computer. The X-Touch has three ways to interface with the computer; through USB, MIDI or through the network. I'm using this with a 2016 Apple iMac installed with the latest version of Logic and connecting it through the USB is by far the most unstable option, with it regularly dropping connection and me having to cycle the power to get it to connect again. The network option is a little better but there is a lot of setting up and additional hardware (a router) involved and it still dropped connection occasionally. In my opinion, the best way is to connect it with old fashioned MIDI cables. In my case, I have them connected through my NI Komplete Audio 6 interface and so far (touch wood) it's not dropped out. Although the X-Keypad UI states that I can operate any control on the Mini to select it, nothing in fact happens when I do so. I have been selecting “X Touch Unit 1” from the drop down menu. Moreover, the X-Touch controls do nothing when I assign even a simple command to a button (I am copying and pasting commands from the search function). You have a MIDI Controller at home with lots of buttons and knobs? Why not use it with your favourite aircraft to control the autopilot and many other functions! XMidiCtrl is a plugin for X-Plane 11, which allows you to connect MIDI controllers to X-Plane commands and datarefs without the need of additional software. To sum up, if you just want something to operate the faders, pan, basic channels switches, like solo mute and transport. This works fine, but beyond that it is not working how it should, at least with cubase. And if you only want those functions, you might be better off with something like the Icon platform M which is a smaller footprint and cheaper. Simulate push and pull functions for buttons (normal button press = push, long botton press = pull)

The touch sensitive faders are useful for automatically selecting channels, no need to press a button first. However, that option does exist as well, if you want to select a channel without touching the fader and risking a volume change. It's great to have both options!

Ableton Push 2

from portable controller and quite handy for rehearsals or even live sessions whether you feel like less reverb or more modulation is appropriate. Extract the ZIP file and move its entire XMidiCtrl folder into your ..\X-Plane\Resources\plugins directory.

DEBUG ] Read settings for device 0 2023-05-06 20 : 46 : 11 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 1 :: Parameter 'name' = 'X-Touch Mini' 2023-05-06 20 : 46 : 11 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 1 :: Parameter 'port_in' = '0' 2023-05-06 20 : 46 : 11 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 1 :: Parameter 'port_out' = '1' ... ... 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 127 :: Parameter type = 'drf' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 127 :: Read settings for type 'drf' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 127 :: Parameter 'ch' = '11' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 127 :: Parameter 'cc' = '81' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 127 :: Parameter 'dataref' = 'AirbusFBW/SDSTATUS' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 127 :: Parameter 'value_on' = '1' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ DEBUG ] --> Line 127 :: Parameter 'value_off' = '0' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ ERROR ] Could not open inbound port '0' for device 'X-Touch Mini' 2023-05-06 20 : 39 : 17 [ ERROR ] MidiInWinMM :: openPort : error creating Windows MM MIDI input port . Has 2 pass-through USB ports, which I use to connect some other music-related gear, allowing me to turn all of it on/off with a single switch - the X-Touch power button.

Full transparency, I don't use nearly all the functionality. I bought it because I want to adjust levels and pans and fast forward to any position in a tactile way, but you can do so much more than that. It's just that I'm way faster with my keyboard for most things. For example, I could adjust FX parameters, but reading the tiny channel displays and menu diving is far too complicated and whimsical. One technical hint. Midi encoders turn around continuously, but they provide values of 0-127 range which may seem to be a problem. Fortunately, it's not a problem at all (at least with X-Touch Mini). When you turn right you get greater values until you reach 127. Then, when you still turn right you get another 127 value and so on. That means that if new_value > old_value or new_value == 127 then you are turning right otherwise you turn left. The MINI features 8 rotary knobs with LED collars for on-the-fly adjustment of your favorite parameters. It also has 16 dedicated, illuminated buttons (including transport control) for direct access to key functions of your DAW. The built-in USB/MIDI interface allows direct connection to your Mac/PC, and for future add-ons of other controllers – no drivers required. Just plug into the X-TOUCH MINI for immediate access to 2 layers of awesome control! Thoughtfully Designed Build is decent and has macro controls with lights, good for dark/club environments. When not connected via MC, the led lights do not work so well but get the job done.

I have gone into the X-Touch Mini editor and re-loaded the default A and B layers (global channel=5, channel for encoders and buttons = 11, etc. )Re-assignable User A/B layer controls found it's use to assign essential functions be active on both A and B layers at the same time. Transport controls are adequate, but the jog wheel is not very usable. It's stiff and the indent for your finger is too shallow to work properly.