Blue Cat Audio on FacebookFollow Blue Cat Audio on TwitterFollow Blue Cat Audio on InstagramBlue Cat Audio's Official Youtube ChannelThe Blue Cat Audio ForumThe Blue Cat Audio Blog - The Dark Side of the Cat
Blue Cat Audio - Software Made by Musicians for Musicians
Blue Cat's Remote Control
Blue Cat's Remote Control
"The Virtual Control Surface for your Virtual Studio"
Price: 49€ or $49 (tax incl.)
Blue Cat's Remote Control - virtual MIDI Control Surface (VST, AU, VST3, AAX)

Blue Cat's Remote Control is a plug-in and application which lets you control and monitor in real time several MIDI controllable plug-ins or devices from a single customizable user interface.

MacOSUniversal BinaryWindows Vista or newerWindows x64 (64-bit)VSTVST3AAX64-bit AAXAudio Unit
Also in Bundles: All Plugins Pack / Crafters Pack

The user interface of your favorite plug-in is not satisfying? Your favorite hardware device is too complicated to control? Your project contains hundreds of plug-ins and you would like to control them all from a single user interface? You need undo/redo for all your modifications? You would like to instantly recall all settings of your favorite MIDI devices from your DAW projects? This product was designed for you!

With Blue Cat's Remote Control, you can choose any type of control (switches, faders, joysticks, knobs) or meter, assign a MIDI channel and CC number to each control, customize its response curve. You can as well choose a built-in skin that suits your needs for every instance of the plug-in, or create your own (see the Skins section): this is the best way to create your own user interface to control your entire Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and external hardware the way you have chosen.

Since the Remote Control can also be controlled via MIDI, you can also use it to remap and transform MIDI messages, from one MIDI CC to another, with different response curves or MIDI channels.

Read our Remote Control Tutorials and see this plug-in in action!

Main Features:

  • Virtual MIDI control surface and monitoring tool.
  • Control or monitor in real time any MIDI-controllable plug-in or external MIDI device.
  • 30 built-in skins with various typs of controls and meters (knobs, faders, switches, joysticks...).
  • Customize the controls response curve with advanced settings.
  • Create your own Digital Workstation controller thanks to the KUIML Language.
  • Transform automation lanes into MIDI CC messages.
  • Instant preset recall with MIDI CC messages.
  • Easy controls assignements with MIDI learn.
  • Undo/Redo.

Blue Cat Audio Standards:

  • Available as a standalone application and in most plug-in formats for Mac and Windows.
  • Full MIDI control and automation support, MIDI Learn.
  • No CPU load on idle: processing shuts down when fed with silence (optimal CPU usage).
  • Customizable user interface with transparency & zoom.
  • Automation and MIDI output: record output parameters as automation curves or send MIDI CC messages to other plug-ins for powerful side chain effects.
  • Smooth Bypass: noiseless plug-in activation / deactivation.
  • Undo/Redo.
  • Full featured integrated presets manager.
  • Copy/paste the state of the plug-in between instances.
  • Any sample rate supported.

Typical applications: MIDI remote control, MIDI CC mapping, MIDI CC values monitoring, transform automation to MIDI and MIDI to automation, custom user interface.

User's GuideOn The BlogTutorialsNewsletter

Blue Cat's Remote Control - Monitor the evolution of MIDI values over time using the curves skins Blue Cat's Remote Control - Use up to 64 MIDI controls in a single instance Blue Cat's Remote Control - virtual MIDI Control Surface (VST, AU, VST3, AAX) Blue Cat's Remote Control - Control several parameters with a single joystick-style 2D control Blue Cat's Remote Control - virtual MIDI Control Surface (VST, AU, VST3, AAX) Blue Cat's Remote Control - virtual MIDI Control Surface (VST, AU, VST3, AAX) Blue Cat's Remote Control - Monitor MIDI values with meters Blue Cat's Remote Control - Use meters and knobs to monitor and send MIDI messages simultaneously Blue Cat's Remote Control - Send MIDI messages with on/off switches

User Comments & Reviews

Blue Cat's Remote Control was granted the Innovation award by Computer Music Magazine

"Looking to wield greater power over your MIDI software and hardware? This suite of virtual control surfaces might be the answer. [...] Remote Control 2 gives you deep, unified control over MIDI Continuous Controller data.[...] Does it work? Indeed it does. [...] Remote Control 2 does what it says on the tin, and does it well, all for a reasonable price."

"Verdict: Remote Control is a bit of a niche product, but for those who do need to unify their MIDI-manipulating activities, it could be a real lifesaver." - 8/10 rating granted by Computer Music Magazine (CM), March 2008 - www.computermusic.co.uk - [read review on musicradar]

"The Remote Control plugins [are] fantastic for DAW workstation control.[...] The possibilities are really almost endless and this makes it another one of my favorite plugins of the [All Plugins Pack] bundle." - Glen Heffner, CakewalkNet

To add your own comment about this product, please contact us.

Demo Limitations:

  • Limited number of instances of the plug-in per session.
  • The application or the plug-in is regularly bypassed for a few milliseconds.

System Requirements

MacOS

  • An Intel or Apple Silicon processor.
  • Mac OS 10.9 or newer.
  • For the plug-in, any VST / Audio Unit / AAX compatible application (64-bit) .
  • For the standalone application, a Core Audio compatible audio interface.

Windows

  • An SSE2-enabled processor (Pentium 4 or newer).
  • Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 or 10.
  • For the plug-in, any VST / AAX compatible host software (32 or 64 bit).
  • For the standalone application, an ASIO, MME or WASAPI compatible audio interface (ASIO recommended).

For more information about supported platforms, see our Knowledge Base.

Versions History

V3.11 (2022/12/12)

  • custom control names should now be visible in automation lanes in most host applications (may require a session reload in some cases).
  • Added Apple Silicon support for AAX Plug-in Format.
  • VST: improved parameter value display in some host applications.
  • Mac: installers and plug-ins have been notarized to avoid security warnings on Mac OS Catalina and newer.

V3.1 (2022/07/21)

  • Now available as a standalone application (can run without any host application)
  • Added an option in global & preset input settings to send MIDI events when MIDI-enabled parameters are modified in the plug-in (to update control surfaces accordingly). These MIDI output messages work independently from the usual Remote Control outputs (it's only for control surface feedback).
  • Improved undo management and automation when using the mouse wheel to move knobs and sliders.
  • Fixed VST3 version not showing in Cubase.
  • Fixed VST3 version not loading properly in Ableton Live 11.

V3.0 (2021/11/09)

New Features and Improvements:
  • Brand new GUI design, with improved usability and touchscreen support.
  • The GUI can now be zoomed from 70% to 200%.
  • Now packaged as a single plug-in.
  • The plug-in now sends MIDI CC events only when parameters change or a new preset is loaded.
  • Now supports retina displays on Mac
  • VST: the user interface is now properly resized in Cubase on Windows.
  • New installer on Mac.
  • Brand new presets management system.
  • Presets can now be selected using MIDI Program change and bank select messages (can be activated with the presets menu/MIDI Program Change item), or MIDI CC events for next/previous preset.
  • Copy/paste the plug-in's current state from the presets menu using the system clipboard.
  • Full Unicode Support.
  • Updated demo limitations: up to 5 instances allowed, bypass time changed to half a second, and bypass parameter is not affected anymore.
Compatibility:
  • Apple Silicon (M1 processor) support.
  • Now compatible with MacOS Catalina and Big Sur.
  • VST3 plug-in format support.
  • Dropped support for Windows XP and Mac OS X 10.8 and earlier.
  • Dropped support for legacy RTAS and DirectX plug-ins formats.
Note: this new version can be installed side by side with the previous version for backward compatibility reasons. Installing this new version won't break your previous projects.

V2.32 (2014/03/20)

  • Fixed 64-bit VST MIDI Events not sent for the first output parameter in the list.
  • Windows VST installer now detects the VST plug-ins path and remembers previous install location for updates.
  • Fixed Audio Unit validation issue on OSX Mavericks/Logic Pro X.
  • Fixed VST plug-in window frame not showing in Cubase 7.5 (32-bit) on Mac.
  • Fixed VST version that could not be loaded in Audio HiJack Pro (Mac).

V2.31 (2011/02/10)

  • Fixed keyboard focus stealing issue in Pro Tools and several other host applications.
  • 64-bit Mac VST support.

V2.3 (2010/06/02)

  • RTAS plugin format support for Pro Tools (Mac and Windows).
  • 64-bit applications support for Windows DX and VST under Windows x64.
  • Mac AU 64-bit format support (compatible with 64-bit Logic 9.1 on Snow Leopard)
  • Space bar does not trigger plug-in buttons anymore (avoids conflict with transport control in most applications).
  • Demo version now displays a nag screen only once per session, and only when opening the user interface of the plug-in.
  • Fixed MIDI learn issues.
  • Performance inprovements (processing and user interface).
  • Mac: fixed user interface crashes in some hosts under Snow Leopard.
  • Mac: fixed keyboard/mouse focus issues in some hosts.
  • Mac: fixed multiple screens issue.
  • Mac-AU: fixed user interface resizing issue when changing skin in some hosts (Logic).
  • Mac-AU: fixed settings lost issue when doing offline rendering in some applications.
  • Mac AU: output parameters routing now works for more than one instance in Logic Pro's Environment.
  • Mac AU: fixed output parameters that could exceed defined range and not record properly as automation curves.

V2.2 (2009/09/30)

  • Controls names can now be customized from the user interface (no need to change the skins).
  • Output automation is now disabled by default.
  • Bug fix (PC): Cubase freezes when loading a preset using a different skin while the plugin window is open.
  • Blue Cat's Skinning Language 1.6.1 support for enhanced user interface customization.

V2.11 (2009/05/05)

Mac VST update: fixed incompatibility issues with Cubase 5 on Mac.

V2.1 (2009/04/01)

  • Mac Audio Unit support.
  • Mac VST Support.
  • Automation output can now be disabled for hosts that do not propose automated parameters choice.
  • New Windows installer (you should uninstall any previous version before installing this new one).
  • New documentation.
  • Minor user interfaces changes.

V2.0 (2008/02/07)

  • New user interface design.
  • New joystick skin with XY controls.
  • Undo/Redo support.
  • Window Opacity Management: make the plugin window transparent and see behind.
  • Load/Save presets in a host-independent format: you can now share presets between the directX and VST versions.
  • New toolbar to access main functionalities.
  • MIDI settings are now available from the plugin user interface.
  • Improved Skins loading performance.
  • Curves are now anti-aliased.
  • Improved the display of parameters values in the MIDI settings panel and the host application.
  • Improved graphs refresh rate.
  • Reduced memory consumption when using several instances.
  • Default values for MIDI controllers have been changed to be more convenient.
  • Blue Cat's Skinning Language 1.4.1 support.

V1.0 (2006/12/16)

First version.