>Of course, modern controllers exist that offer many more literal bells and whistles...
Anyone have a favorite 'modern controller' for those of us who no longer have a PowerMate?
>Of course, modern controllers exist that offer many more literal bells and whistles...
Anyone have a favorite 'modern controller' for those of us who no longer have a PowerMate?
I have this and it’s great https://binepad.com/products/bnk9
Customization is possible https://blog.lanzani.nl/2025/customizing-the-binepad-bnk9-fi...
I don't have one, but Ploopy's knob is intriguing (https://ploopy.co/knob/).
LilyGo/TTGo also has some interesting knobs with some unusual features features (force feedback or LCD touchscreen on top of the knob, depending on model) but again I don't have firsthand experience and these might take some DIY
Not commercial, but “Engineer Bo” on YouTube has an interesting series about building his own very professional looking scroll knob:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYK5tmZIBWtHYt4w8Y6P6ba-I...
There was a poster on HN a while ago that recommended¹ the Drok USB volume knob because it can be reconfigured to send keystrokes or mouse actions. Just Google for "configure drok usb volume control knob" for instructions. I reconfigured mine to send mouse scroll events for scrolling through documents.
¹ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31702940
Surprised Loupedeck hasn't come up here. The Live and CT both have weighted main dials with real damping — which is what made the PowerMate feel different from a regular rotary encoder, more than the software integration ever did. Pricier than most of what's been mentioned, but the closest I've found to the tactile feel. Everything in the sub-$50 range (Drok, generic Aliexpress encoders, etc.) works fine for mapping to volume or scroll, but they all feel like plastic clicky knobs. Fine for utility, not for fidgeting.
Microsoft Surface Dial is nice. You'll also need to write a driver...
As usual there is very very very good Linux support for a device (this device, the MS Surface Dial), better than anywhere else. https://github.com/daniel5151/surface-dial-linux
Some are calling it the most obvious trend of all computing. And that was before the agentic age super put its finger on the cosmic scales of justice+hacking.
Surface Dial is a good hardware target.
some elgato stream deck models have knobs. 3Dconnexion also still around
Elgato and Corsair have also made a keyboard that has the Stream Deck buttons + knobs on it.
https://www.elgato.com/us/en/explorer/products/stream-deck/g...