#49

+1 on this…
Bitwig is ‘ok’, however , I think Cubase sets the benchmark, its visualisation/editing of per note expression is very good.

I’ll say, mostly I just dont bother with recording midi and just recording audio rather than MIDI, so can use any daw. (as i dont route midi thru the host)

I do hope Ableton add multi channel midi support in Live 10 though, will make things a little easier.

4 Likes
#50

If anyone from Ableton’s listening, this +20!

3 Likes
#51

Randy, will the next-gen Soundplane be standalone or hooked up to a computer?

It’s connected the same way as the Model A, and mostly the same electronics. Major redesign of mechanical aspects.

The planned outboard CV box is my route to a “computerless” setup. It’s a more modular approach that should help keep costs more reasonable.

4 Likes
#52

I just meant something little as opposed to something big.

#53

Stubbornness by the designer/owner to not provide requested documentation and support was larger, IMO. People couldn’t figure out how to configure the instrument for playing.

That was my big frustration. They seemed so hung up on the idea of the Eigenharp as an instrument that configuring it was a huge pain in the ass. Even doing something like setting scale and key required memorization of a weird set of button presses (do you touch or hold? which keys for scale? which for root? oh no I just selected key split how do I undo that?) when software could have done it. Software caught up, eventually, but by then it seemed dead.

Anyone want to buy a Tau?

#54

I had a chance to play with the Roli Blocks at the Apple Store in Palo Alto this evening. My impressions:

  • The build is lovely - you want to hold them, snap them apart and together, and to touch them.
  • These seem to take a lot of force - but it could have been the settings on the synth?
  • Response of the synths/drums didn’t feel consistent - but again, could have been the app?
  • The note grid isn’t playable:
    • 5x5 is too small to really maneuver on, even when set to scale mode.
    • With no physical boundaries, at that size, it is far too easy to hit the edge of the wrong note.
    • The layout in scale mode is awkward for playing chords: The 6th is above the root, and it didn’t work well - compounded by the fact that you need change fingerings for the same chord to just keep it on the grid.
      (For calibration: I’m an active 8x8 isomorphic grid player with a Launchpad Pro - and love both scale and chromatic modes there.)
  • In 4x4 drum pad mode, it wasn’t all that much better. Still too easy to hit the wrong “pad”.
  • Bluetooth MIDI, at least for MPE, had very noticeable latency. Alas, they didn’t have a USB tethered set up to try.
  • The iPad app is surprisingly unintuitive for something trying to be so simple.

If they are aiming for the “just swipe around on it and something fun and musical will come out” - they may have hit it spot on. If they are aiming for “an expressive and playable instrument”, seems like they missed by a mile. I really wanted to like these… but no dice.

7 Likes
Roli Blocks
#55

I finally had a chance to try their updated Noise app (that didn’t require me to sign in), and it seemed like the app has a lot of latency even when just using the phone (without external hardware)… It’s not clear if this is because of 3D Touch, or what, and there weren’t really any settings or places where I could see if things were quantized, so it might be the app.

This has been my experience with every Bluetooth MIDI thing that I’ve tried, and it’s really quite unfortunate. Do the Blocks support USB?

#56

Yes they do, but in the Apple Store they are all set up with Bluetooth.

#57

another MPE devices just appeared on Kickstarter…

this actually really looks quite playful… at 260 euros, pretty cheap fun… and quite small (portable)
250hz response is not very fast, but probably ok.

3 Likes
#58

That one reminded me a bit of of the sensel morph, and both remind me a little of KMI’s tech. I was frustrated enough with the Quneo that I’m hesitant about all of these lower cost things at this point. But it sure would be nice if one of them turned out to be great!

2 Likes
#59
#60

Ok, so I think I might go a DIY route with this. I realize that with the grid/arc, I have binary and (knob-based) continuous stuff covered, so no need to double-down on any of that kind of stuff. So having something that focuses exclusively on funky controls would be the way to go.

At the moment I’m thinking something that’s arc4 sized, but that might be a needlessly compact restriction. Either way I’m thinking the width of the newschool grid/arc, so it would fit well in that setup.

I’ve not done this kind of touch stuff before in Arduino-land, but I’m imagining (hoping) it’s not too difficult or different from regular analog-y reading stuff.

With this many continuous inputs I may consider going HID instead of MIDI since I’d want to have higher resolution outputs from the continuous stuff, and it would swallow up a huge amount of CCs if everything is doubled up with MSB/LSB. (But at the same time, HID wouldn’t allow LED feedback, so there’s that too)

So here’s a quick sketch:

controller.jpg3264×2448 1.33 MB

On the left would be some piezo-based barres (ala ciat-lonbarde Tetrax):

tetrWEB.jpg1000×789 114 KB

Then some Manta/Rene/PressurePoints-like ‘touch’ pads (where pressure = skin conductivity), with possible backlighting/LED feedback:

Then finally on the right, something like a small array of touch points that would be used to control cross modulation and repatching in software, ala Mocante:

mocante.jpg800×426 146 KB

5 Likes
#61

I would go at least as deep (the smaller dimension) as the grid, or else your manta pads are going to be really little.

One thing you might consider is the Bela Mux capelet. Gives you 64 individual analog inputs. And then you’re building on top of Bela, which is an amazing platform. Then again, I don’t really know what your budget is, and Arduino is cheaper.

A project like this is pretty much what I intend to do with my Bela and Mux capelet. And since it’s built on Bela, I’ll also be able to include on-board DSP. Should also be possible to build in MIDI/MPE output for integration with other stuff. Hadn’t really considered HID output until now…

1 Like
#62

Hmm, I hadn’t thought of incorporating some ‘heavier’ embedded brains into these kinds of projects. I’ll have to tally up to see how much IO I need, as maybe I can manage it with a mega or something, as the beagle+bela+cape might take up too much of a physical footprint for it to be as ‘short’ as the grid/arc.

Cost isn’t super crucial as I only plan on making the one, but cheaper is generally better if the same will do.

That is a good point about on-board DSP too, as I can handle whatever low(er) level signal conditioning that needs to happen on there.

I definitely want to go general purpose with it, otherwise it would be great to build a proper bela “instrument” out of it.

1 Like
#63

Yeah, I guess I’m less concerned about size than you are.

#64

Heh, my “it can be smaller” knows few bounds…

(I have some kind of bag/container fetish that seemingly requires me to have a container that’s exactly the right size for what’s going into it)

4 Likes
#65

I think I probably spend a lot less time on the road than you do. Fetishes usually have their roots in some kind of experience. :wink:

#66

The LinnStrument runs on an Arduino Due (the code is open source and very clean if you want to reference it - https://github.com/rogerlinndesign/linnstrument-firmware).

Edit: You could also try using a Bela, I have one and they’re pretty awesome. They have a lot of CPU and run a whole tweaked Linux OS. Having lots of I/O without having to roll your own circuits/boards around that is nice. But you’re right in that the size might be too big. But then again will doing it with an Arduino be significantly smaller? (unless you want to roll your own pcb as well). Either way I think you’re going to need some sort of multiplexing going on to handle all the I/O you want.

1 Like
#67

Darwin interviews Geert.

2 Likes
#68

I really need to try Cubase.