#1

It’s a MIDI router, a USB host, a sampler and standalone instrument, and a hub to clock everything else.

composer pro is also open source and oriented toward communities of small makers and patchers who have been working on this problem. So out of the box, it’s set up to play Pure Data, SuperCollider, and other DIY instruments and effects, extending ideas for standalone instrument/effects developed by the likes of monome and Critter & Guitari’s Organelle.

https://dadamachines.com/products/composer-pro/

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#2

if you squint, it looks like a mashup of a Push and an Elektron box!

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#3

…and a norns and most of a 256

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#4

looks GREAT

if they made an alternate version with more audio i/o (as opposed to midi din slots) i’d have my ears pricked

or the same layout sans grid…

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#5

Yeah… especially since it says that it can only have 16 tracks, so two midi ports isn’t really necessary. And it has USB midi already…

#6

I guess two ports might be for someone that has already long chain of midi through connected devices, so two outputs could be used to create shorter chains with smaller latency? Or maybe to use two devices without midi through? I am just theoretizing. But nonetheless very nice hardware and I am happy to see grids bigger than 8x8 in hardware.

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#7

I made a thread over here:

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#8

I personally welcome MIDI DIN ports, even if you only have two devices, there is less latency if the two channels are on different physical ports.

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#9

Yeah, that’s very true. I was only thinking of the number of channels… my midi setup is always really simple :slight_smile:

#10

I love the vibe of the screen UI I’m seeing so far–where it’s retro and primitive, but also feels like a rational layout. It reminds me a bit of a pebble smartwatch I used to have.

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#11

Nice! Might bring scene/clip based working a bit more into the hands-on realm. MPC Live feels a bit too much like a computer/too indirect for me, this might be more hands-on/immediate.

Also cool that they are using a CM3+ like norns (well, CM3, but pretty much the same :wink: ) and seems to be supporting open-source.
Interested to see how open it’ll be and if there can maybe be some standardized way to shared “patches” between different open-source based instruments in the future?

#12

Glad to see so much enthusiasm here! :slight_smile:

I’m not working directly on the composer, so don’t pin me down on anything, but if you want more audio IO you can always connect your class compliant soundcard on one of those 4 usb ports of the raspberrypi :wink:

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#13

I suppose the ES-8 qualifies, which opens up CV/gate possibilities as well, hmm…

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#14

this thing looks awesome

#15

Yes, wow, this looks incredible! Tons of potential. I can’t wait to see more info on it.

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#16

definitely keeping my eye on this. Hope it can do note scales and handle longer samples. Some velocity patterns would be nice too since pads aren’t velocity sensitive

#17

looks very nice, and it’s interesting to see another take on a standalone device built around a grid-based interface.

i wonder if the sequencer itself will be open source or hackable - the description page only mentions “support for open source audio engines”. entirely possible to have a successful device with a proprietary/close UI (deluge being a good example), but it’ll be significantly more interesting if all that UI is hackable as well, especially since it’s generic enough, it includes additional controls, and the 16x12 grid is a cool form factor to work with (you could have a 16 step sequencer with a full octave range, and it will work really well for simplifying multipage interfaces).

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#18

We are going to open source software (for microcontrollers and fpga) and hardware (schematics will be available on github).
We want to see people working with our frameworks where the doppler boards makes a powerful and affordable starting point. https://github.com/dadamachines/doppler/ // http://cdm.link/2019/03/dadamachines-doppler-fpga-open-music-hardware/
Our next step is to build more units to work with collaborators on the future versions of the software and also with artists.
composer pro is the result of a ongoing journey to build the tools we would love to use ourselfs, with deep admiration for brians / momome’s work.

26 Likes
#19

I second everything about more i/o, it’s litterally the only things keeping this from making me consider switching from ableton to this for live performance (it would be a hassle but this design by far exceeds the akai force proposition for my workflow). Adding an audio interface is ok I guess but also limiting if you still plan on having a computer by its side for other duties (which is implied by the addition of link support). I’m extremely excited this design is “a thing”, I consider the lack of pad sensitivity in favor of a 192 layout an actual plus as pads are easily added by dedicated interfaces, when the oversized grid layout is definitely not. I will keep an eye on this for sure.

1 Like
#20

My thoughts exactly.

The Force struck me on initial review as ‘old’ tech. I just couldn’t look any further. The pinch screen seems weird in this application.