Faderpunk

Faderpunk is a 16-channel modulator where each channel has a button, a slider, and a CV jack that can be configured as an input or output in software. Two accessory buttons add shift, for secondary functions, and scene, for saving and loading the state of the apps.

What makes Faderpunk unique is just how much a single unit can become. Using a software editor, users load applications onto one or more channels, and each app turns this set of channels into something different: a simple controller, a MIDI-to-CV or CV-to-MIDI converter, an LFO, a sequencer, and more. Multiple apps can run simultaneously, and up to 16 can run at once. We’ve designed 27 of these apps ourselves, covering a huge range of modulation, sequencing, and control needs (list here: [https://faderpunk.cv/apps](https://faderpunk.cv/apps)).

Where one would use a MIDI controller to control LFO, sequencer, or envelope settings, Faderpunk removes the middleman and becomes the LFO, sequencer, or envelope.

Faderpunk’s open-source firmware pushes that multifunctionality even further. Development is a community effort, and it’s already produced 22 user-submitted apps, expanding what the device can do well beyond what we designed alone. Two are already in the firmware, and the remaining 20 go live in September, meaning the range of functions keeps on growing every day!

Faderpunk introduces several key innovations to the hardware market. First is the app system allows users to personalize Faderpunk so it is useful to them, offering a degree of customization most MIDI devices do not offer. While most MIDI hardware is designed strictly for either control or sequencing, Faderpunk can do both at the same time.

Another side of Faderpunk is the introduction of extensive MIDI modulation, allowing users to add LFOs, envelopes, or even CV inputs to MIDI devices, as well as many more experimental sources.

The way MIDI and voltage control (CV) merge together is truly new. While bidirectional translation exists on the market, Faderpunk achieves it using sophisticated ADC/DAC technology that allows every single one of its 19 jacks to be software-configured as either a CV input or a CV output on the fly. No other controller offers this level of physical fluidity. It can add CV to a MIDI device, and use MIDI to control voltage-based instruments, featuring adjustable ranges of ±5V or 0–10V (with even finer adjustments available within the apps).

Finally, the platform’s open-source business model is an innovation in itself. This approach brings immense expandability by empowering users to create and share their own apps. Crucially, it also ensures the long-term sustainability of the hardware as well as the availability of the online tools, allowing for continuous community-driven software development entirely independent of ATOV as a company.

The most inspiring application of Faderpunk is its ability to shrink a modular system into a much more compact footprint by replacing simple utility modules, all while bridging entirely different hardware ecosystems so they play as a single, unified instrument. In my own live electronic setup, I use one Faderpunk to free up space while orchestrating a complex hybrid rig. It sequences two distinct synth voices (one modular, one semi-modular), translates my Eurorack drum sequencer into MIDI to trigger external devices, and provides master faders (with automation) for general control across the rig. Faderpunk acts as the central nervous system, making separate pieces of gear react to one another seamlessly on stage.

Equally inspiring is the creative freedom the platform gives to me as a designer and to the open-source community. Because the ecosystem is app-based, anyone can build and release highly experimental tools that would be financially risky to manufacture as a standalone product. Even non-programmers benefit, as we are already seeing musicians directly commissioning custom apps from independent developers to suit their specific workflows. The worst that happens is a niche app goes unused—but for the right musician, it becomes the exact tool that unlocks their perfect setup.