Tubbutec launches web app for custom MIDI controllers, vintage synth owners benefit

Vintage synth owners who have spent years living with cramped front panels and MIDI-only menu dives finally got a cleaner answer from Tubbutec: build the controller you wish the instrument had in the first place. The Berlin, Germany company turned its custom-controller idea into a web-based Designer that lets users place faders, pots, and buttons, set how they behave, choose how they look, and upload a full-color image for the front panel before Tubbutec builds and ships the unit.

The pitch is practical, not flashy. Tubbutec’s system is built around a fixed hardware base, but it is configurable enough for serious rig work, with up to 25 faders or 12 pots, up to 8 buttons with LED indication, and layered control assignments that can reach up to 4 layers. The controller can route MIDI between USB, DIN and the controller data itself, supports USB MIDI and USB-C power, and comes in a powder-coated sheet-metal case measuring 14 x 11.5 x 1.8 cm. Tubbutec also said the price is calculated automatically from the number of control elements used, which gives owners a clear way to balance ambition against budget before they order.

For vintage users, the appeal is obvious on the bench and onstage. A modded Roland SH-101, for example, may expose extra LFOs, envelopes and other menu features through Tubbutec’s SH-1oh1 system, but those functions still need a sensible way to be played. Tubbutec’s optional SH-1oh1 controller was designed to make those deeper features easier to reach. The same logic applies to the MC-2oh2, Tubbutec’s upgrade for the Roland MC-202, which replaces the original CPU, keyboard PCB and display and gives the machine a completely new control scheme. In that world, a custom controller is not decoration. It is the missing handhold between old architecture and modern use.

Tubbutec has earned that role by staying close to the retrofit problems vintage owners actually face. Its earlier work around classic instruments, including the Juno-66 for the Roland Juno-6 and Juno-60, showed a company comfortable with making older gear more immediate without erasing what makes it special. The new controller platform extends that thinking into the surface itself, letting users match the layout and graphics to a specific synth, a specific mod, or even a specific stage setup. For players juggling aging hardware, hidden parameters, and studio recall, that is a useful bridge, and for the tinkerers already living inside MIDI maps, it is a serious upgrade path.