Whenever I see someone play a keyboard that has one of those joystick controllers, such as on the Kronos, it makes me feel so jealous. These joysticks seem to work so intuitively with the modulation and pitch bend all in one and the same controller. What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone know if such a thing as a separate midi/USB joystick controller exists on the market?
I spent a lot of time looking at controllers this past year but never saw a USB midi joystick .
If anyone would know - it would be these guys:
https://www.midiboutique.com/
Here is a joystick to midi converter:
https://www.otk.it/mjoy/
Have no idea how this would work with C3 but worth a look:
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Thanks Doug, I’ve sent those guy an email. If I receive an answer, I’ll post it here.
This company in Germany sold exactly what you are looking for but it’s discontinued:
http://www.doepfer.de/home_e.htm
Look for Joystick II
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Thanks. I sent a message to the midiboutique guys and got one back from largonet.net saying they could make one to order but I guess that will be something way over my budget.
Hi. A joystick is very useful, and I’m fortunate I have the vector joystick on the Kronos as well as the pitch and mod one. 
But a quick Google search throws up nothing obviously available
Thinking about it, it can’t be too hard to “roll your own”. Not that I have much time to look into it.
It would need a powered analog joystick and something like an Ardurino to sample two analog voltages (X/Y) and a MIDI I/F to send the CCs. would be an interesting project…
Just as an alternative, the Novation Remote 61 that I have has an X/Y pad. And I am just wondering what old Korg Kaos controllers go for?
You could get a simple analog joystick a(about 5 EUR) and a Teensy (instead of the Arduino)- it has a mode where it acts like a USB MIDI interface.
Solder this together with a couple resistors, write about 30 lines of code, put this all inside an old cigar box, and you’re done! Instant USB MIDI joystick for less than 20 EUR.
And if you want a more “synth-like” feeling, you’ll have to invest about 20 more EUR for something like this from Adafruit:
Would be a nice and simple DIY project. But I’m pretty happy with pitch and mod wheel currently…
Cheers,
Torsten
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I recommend an Altoids case 
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I wish I had the courage to DIY one myself. You make it sound so easy, @Torsten. Maybe I actually will go and dive into this and make one myself. I like the pitch stick and modulation wheel on my Nord Stage but just cannot get the hang of the more traditional pitch wheel on the Arturia. Also, to combine the two functions (pitch+modulation) in one would make it so much more intuitive. I’d love to own a Korg Kronos (for more reasons than just the pitch stick) but for the moment I prefer not to burden my marriage any further 
I’m expecting my new Behringer XR18 to arrive today…
Good advice from Torsten and a nice little project for somebody - not me, as I am sooo busy and have the Kronos for my Joysticks.
That one looks quite sexy. I’ve sent another email to the largonet people with a more detailed request, to find out how they would charge to custom build the whole thing. Probably way too expensive.
Someone actually used that very joystick to make exactly the thing I am looking for!!!
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This shows that if we keep looking we will find it! 
Would need an XXXL Altoids case, though…
It might fit in a regular one if the joystick is mounted on top:
Probably a little bigger case would make sense
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Actually I used the first “thumb”-joystick in one of my projects:
But it was a hard task to find such a joystick that doesn’t have a high deadband. I tried 3 or 4 till I found one that worked also with minimal movements.
The other joystick looks great. I’ll have a look at it. Thanks for sharing.
I found a German source for this: http://www.pimoroni.de - I have one incoming in the next days and will play with it a bit …
Cheers,
Torsten
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I ordered also one of them
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Well, I know it may be out of context, but I bought the Studiologic SL-88 Studio (not Grand) and it has 3 joysticks that are mappable per program. I love it. 3 joy sticks because - one is snap to 0 x/y axis, the next is snap to 0 y axis only, and the third does not snap to any position but is free. Just bought the MixFace for it, and this thing does pretty much everything I need.
Like I said, it may be out of context.
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The quote I was given for this:
A. MIDI encoder for joystick with standard MIDI input/output – cost 125 EUR.
B. same encoder terminated with USB/MIDI input/output. – cost 160 EUR.
(shipping not included)
Both a bit too pricy for me at this time (I would prefer the USB one)…
I also contacted the person who built the nice black joystick box. He gave me a link to the code he used for this project: https://pastebin.com/i6g3chj6. I’m have no experience building this kind of thing so I guess I’ll just keep on dreaming…