A pneumatic control system for machines that provides precise incremental or continuous direction, position, veloc- tty and acceleration control of a variety of machine functions, such as rotary or linear motions, tool positioning and the like. A compressed air supply is maintained accurately at a preselected minimum pressure necessary for a particular operation, by a digitally pulsed air flow control system. Air flow and pressure to the associated actuating mechanisms is also controlled by a digital dithering technique using individual sharp pulses of air, each of which instantly breaks the static friction of the mechanism and causes a discrete precise increment of movement, with rapid consecutive pulses providing continuous motion. The direction, amount, acceleration and speed of travel are controlled by varying the pulse width and rate of air flow and pressure as necessary and for efficiency in air consumption. The system is computer controlled and is readily adaptable to numerically controlled machines, industrial robots and the like.