Producely Dialr is a new hardware MIDI controller that automatically maps plugin parameters to 12 knobs thanks to AI technology.
For many musicians, working with plugins is a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, they offer a lot of functionality and sound for a relatively low price, but on the other, they lack the tactile feel of hardware. There are MIDI controllers on the market that attempt to replicate that “analog” feel to plugins. MP MIDI, Electra One, to name a few.
At Superbooth 2025, the new company Producely showcased the Dialr. This is another plugin-focused MIDI controller that follows the same path as Electra One and others. However, it has a special feature that promises to make mappings easy.
Producely Dialr
Dialr is a new MIDI controller with 12 analog rotary knobs with high-resolution potentiometers. These are divided into three size groups: small, medium, and large.
In the middle, Producely Dialr has a 7-inch touchscreen that displays parameter names, values, track names, and plugin visuals. Additionally, you have two clickable knobs and three buttons (undo, redo, and bypass) for menu navigation and controller operation.
That sounds like a classic feature set for a MIDI controller. The next, often tedious, step would be mapping the parameters. In this case, Dialr handles the returning task for you. In this core, it uses AI technology that automatically maps the plugin parameters to the 12 knobs when a plugin is loaded.
It utilizes AI to analyze how plugins are built, creating custom profiles for each one you own. They have a consistent layout; this means that standard parameters, such as Input Gain, Frequency, or Wet/Dry, always appear in the same locations across different plugins.
These profiles are downloaded to your computer immediately, allowing for seamless control whether you’re opening an instrument or an effect plugin. Important: there is also an offline mode that stores profiles locally, allowing it to function perfectly even without an internet connection.
Morten Søderquist Li, Founder & CEO of Producely says:
Parameter mapping kills creativity – we all hate it. That’s really where Dialr started. I wanted to sit down, open any plugin, and just start turning knobs. No setup, no learning curve. Auto-mapping should feel like you have an assistant who already knows every plugin in your collection. That’s what Dialr’s AI cloud gives you, great mappings, always ready. Morten Søderquist Li, Founder & CEO of Producely
Muscle memory is what makes hardware feel like a natural part of your hands. That’s why Dialr’s knobs have different sizes and common parameters are mapped to the same knobs. Your fingers find the right controls without you even thinking about it
Plugin Support
According to Producely, Dialr supports 100,000+ VST3 and AU plugins out of the box. However, some vendors use custom wrapper layers inside these formats that require special handling. In such cases, they ensure compatibility on a case-by-case basis, including Waves, Native Instruments, Spectrasonics, and others.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that not all DAWs are yet supported. At this point (June 2025), you can use the Dialr controller with Ableton Live 11+ and Cubase 14+. Support for other DAWs will follow
The controller is bus-powered and comes in a robust design with a solid aluminum enclosure and a 4U rack-mountable form factor.
First Impression
At first glance, Dialr appears to be a solid, modern MIDI controller with an exciting concept. If the automatic mapping works as smoothly as promised, then this could be very interesting for DAW musicians. Tests will show whether this is all true.
Producely Dialr is available now for order for an introductory price of 649€ instead of 749€. A limited first batch is already in production and will begin shipping at the end of June 2025.
More information here: Producely
Man, I just purchased Melbourne Instruments ROTO-CONTROL a few days ago, and now this is announced.
Looks nice, but pricier than ROTO (and not motorized), so I may stick with what I have.
Is this “AI” system any different than just having a bunch of loadable VST profiles? Seems a bit silly. There are easily accessible lists of common MIDI CC mappings online that hardly require an AI to reference. If a VST doesn’t adhere to those standards, there’s no way for this AI to figure it out, either. Unless it’s already just programmed with those mappings.
Those knobs are so close together it looks unusable. Did AI do the hardware design too?
For the past 2 decades I’ve been watching humanity being unable to design a usable plugin controller. The closest thing to being usable was Nektar Panorama P1 – it was almost there, but still with some flaws.
I’ve seen dozens of similar projects raising and falling. This one has pots instead of encoders (no, thank you) and yes – placed so close to each other that my fingers probably just won’t fit without accidentally moving neighbour pots.
Amazing: the potential market for a good plugin controller is enormous, yet no one cares to do it right.
I am going to go ahead and state the obvious. This is a clone of the mp midi controller. A touch display in the center and knobs around the display.
The mp controller already has intelligent automatic mapping of parameters for both instruments and effects. It does that on the spot, instantly and just works. Load a plugin and it is ready. The parameters are grouped by color. It also has more than 1500 presets for popular plugins made by humans in logical way.
The mp controller is the king of controlling plugins and it does that extremely well. So, it begs the question, did Producely made any market research before making this? Or is it just ok to copy someone else’s designs and work?
It looks the same thing but smaller.
Also the mp works with all DAWs without special configurations. Because of how it’s designed, it can accommodate different solutions, like control surfaces for DAWs. The control surface for Logic is phenomenal, probably the best control surface for Logic atm. I use Logic and it is insane! And free for the mp controller owners. The Nektar CS12 looks also good, but the mp offers more so I went with that.
The other thing is the AI hype and cloud. No, thanks, I’m not comfortable with software potentially collecting information about my DAW usage and plugin preferences. Probably data can be used for marketing purposes too. I use a firewall to block all telemetry and crap being sent out.
Now, automatic mapping is great, but it is so easy to map a plugin you use all the time, it literally takes 30 seconds to map like 30 parameters. You save the preset and use it for the rest of your life. Also, if you really now the plugin you are using, you will map the most frequently used parameters in a way it fits your workflow. So, that’s not a problem at all imho.