Melbourne Instruments Roto-Control

Melbourne Instruments turn their attention to hands‑on MIDI control...

Melbourne Instruments are quickly becoming the masters of motorised controls. William Stokes reviewed their Delia and Nina synths in SOS October 2023 and SOS January 2025, respectively, and was impressed with the motorised encoders, which are perfect for showing preset values correctly. This time, they’ve ditched the oscillators and envelopes in favour of a MIDI controller that offers tight Ableton Live integration and general MIDI programmability.

The Roto‑Control is a desktop device with eight motorised knobs, mechanical buttons, LCDs for labelling, and a workflow designed for Ableton Live mixing, plug‑in control, and external MIDI gear. It is one of the first compact MIDI controllers to feature motorised rotary encoders, offering instant visual and tactile recall of your settings.

Build & Design

The Roto‑Control is small for a MIDI controller, measuring 341 x 112 x 44mm. The chassis is made of sturdy plastic. The buttons are mechanical with a satisfying 1970s computer keyboard clunk.

The main attraction is, of course, the eight motorised encoders. Unlike standard MIDI controllers, where knobs and faders remain static, the Roto‑Control’s encoders can move automatically, adjusting to reflect the current state of your mix, plug‑in or external synth. They feel very satisfying to use and exhibit no wobble. Each knob is touch‑sensitive, which is helpful in selecting DAW tracks. One of the most impressive features is their ability to change haptic characteristics. For example, for a pan knob, they will behave like a normal potentiometer, stopping at the left and right boundaries with an indent in the centre. If you assign a parameter with, say, three values, such as a filter type (low‑pass, band‑pass, high‑pass), the encoder will snap to three positions, and if you assign it to something endless, like tempo, it will turn endlessly, as required. They really are impressive and practically silent, too. You’ll barely notice them move.

Roto-Control's display readouts.

Beneath each encoder is a colour display, which displays labels for the encoders and the buttons below. Whether you’re tweaking an EQ band, muting tracks, or balancing mix levels, these displays ensure you always know what each knob is controlling. Sadly, however, they don’t display values. Melbourne Instruments rely on the motorised encoders to ‘show’ the value, which they do — up to a point. For example, if you’re controlling panning, it’s easy to see the value by looking at the knob position. However, suppose you are adjusting EQ frequency or any control with a non‑linear response. In that case, it’s often impossible to tell what the value is by looking at the knob position. I asked Melbourne Instruments about this, and they acknowledged it could be a useful addition for the LCDs to temporarily show values in place of the labels. They didn’t make any promises, but I hope it’s something we’ll see in a future update.

Below the encoders are eight RGB‑lit buttons which can be freely assigned or used for transport controls. The buttons to the left are used for mode switching, MIDI learn and other system functions.

Modes & Functionality

The Roto‑Control isn’t just a generic MIDI knob box. It comes with Ableton Live integration, which is achieved by installing the Roto‑Control app, which will also install the scripts needed for Live functionality. Roto‑Control features three primary modes, each tailored to a specific workflow.

Mix Mode transforms the Roto‑Control into a motorised MIDI mixer for Ableton Live, giving you control over track volume, panning, sends, mute, solo, etc. When a Live session is loaded, the track names and colours sync with the built‑in displays. The motorised knobs physically move to reflect volume levels, panning or effects sends. The RGB buttons function as mute, solo and record‑arm controls for each track. Unlike traditional MIDI controllers, where you have to ‘catch’ a parameter before adjusting it, the Roto‑Control’s encoders and buttons always reflect the current values in your project. Hopefully, future firmware updates will expand native support for other DAWs. Melbourne Instruments tell me they are working on Bitwig integration next and are looking into others. But for now, Ableton users will get the best experience.

Plug‑in Mode is, unsurprisingly, used to control Ableton devices and third‑party plug‑ins. Plug‑ins are initially unmapped and require some setup. Thankfully, this is an easy process involving hitting the Learn button, selecting a control, and tweaking a control in Ableton. This will create a link between the two controls. Encoder haptics and naming happen automatically, although you can use the Roto‑Setup app to edit things. After this, the mapping will be recalled whenever you load up the same plug‑in, so it’s a once‑only process. I like this approach. Some controllers automatically map every parameter, which means scrolling endlessly through long lists. But Roto‑Control’s approach means you get to choose what’s important. If you do want to map all the controls on a particularly large plug‑in, it will take some time (you can have many pages of parameters if required), but I suspect most people will just map the things they need quick access to or the things they automate the most.

MIDI Mode offers MIDI CCs for those who don’t use Ableton Live or want to create mappings outside the DAW. There is support for MIDI control changes and NRPNs, but not SysEx. The standout feature here is the Motion Recorder, a built‑in recorder that allows you to record and loop knob movements. You can record up to eight independent automation lanes, loop in forward, reverse, ping‑pong or random order, and adjust the loop length and speed in real time. It’s great fun for studio experiments or live performers who want evolving filter sweeps, LFO‑style effects, or generative textures. You can even sync the Motion Recorder to MIDI Clock.

Creating a MIDI setup can be done on the unit or via the Roto‑Setup application, which can be downloaded from Melbourne Instruments’ website. It allows you to customise each encoder and button to behave as you like. You can change the MIDI channel, labels and colours, and program the encoder haptics to become either stepped or have indents so they behave like real potentiometers. MIDI is always sent to the MIDI DIN outputs and USB simultaneously. There is no way to target one or the other.

The back panel offers two USB‑C ports: one for power and the other for MIDI data (the motorised encoders cannot be powered from USB alone). It’s also nice to see a full complement of 5‑pin DIN MIDI in, out and thru ports for direct hardware control.

Conclusion

The Melbourne Instruments Roto‑Control is an intriguing product. I was hoping that it would provide a similar level of Ableton Live integration to the Ableton Push controllers (just without the pads). It doesn’t manage the same level of detail, but it does the basics extremely well. One workflow I particularly enjoyed was Mix Focus mode, where you get the mix settings for the selected track: volume, pan and all sends. The knobs, of course, update to their proper positions every time you select a new track.

Plug‑in Mode was useful once I accepted its limitations. I planned to map all the most useful controls for, say, EQ Eight and then reach for the controller every time I wanted to tweak the EQ on a track. It does work, but the problem I found was not being able to see the values for parameters like frequency. Relying on the knob accurately pointing a certain way isn’t a substitute for knowing your EQ band is set to 340Hz. And so I kept having to look at the computer screen when making edits. Plug‑in Mode is still useful, however. Instead of using it for surgical edits, it makes a great automation controller. Map it to your favourite 303 plug‑in’s cutoff, resonance and envelope amount controls, automate to your heart’s content, and then sit back and watch the knobs move with your freshly recorded acid tweaks. Very satisfying.

MIDI Mode is also useful if you accept its limitations. It won’t be a behemoth, all‑in editor for your Yamaha DX7. But suppose you’re looking for something small that could integrate nicely into a live rig, or a versatile studio assistant that can add physical controls to any synth, sampler or drum machine. In that case, the Roto‑Control will prove extremely handy. The motorised encoders are great in MIDI Mode, too. And if your equipment sends MIDI control changes, the encoders will move with the incoming MIDI, providing proper two‑way communication.

I like the Roto‑Control. It’s not perfect. In some ways it is a work in progress, but that’s fine because it’s a new product from a relatively new company. Creating DAW integration for all DAWs is a considerable development task. Hopefully, the product will be successful enough to warrant support for more DAWs and even bigger controllers in the future.

The Roto‑Control delivers a compact, premium controller with features nobody else can touch.

Don’t dismiss the Roto‑Control just because you don’t use Ableton Live. At this price, the Roto‑Control delivers a compact, premium controller with features nobody else can touch. Even if you only use MIDI Mode, it could be a valuable addition to any studio or live setup. I hope Melbourne Instruments will continue to develop the controller side of their business because these motorised knobs are perfect for the job.