Create Digital Music » Gallery: The Music and Visual Controllers of NAMM, Up Close

Jan 30 2009

Gallery: The Music and Visual Controllers of NAMM, Up Close

Jay Smith of Livid Instruments may be in the business of making controller hardware himself, but that doesn’t stop him from appreciate the knob-laden goodness of the NAMM show floor. Jay’s own gear reveals a not-so-secret love of knobs and buttons and faders, and if you’re into that sort of thing, this year’s NAMM music trade show had plenty to love – Akai’s APC40 controller for Live, Akai’s MPK keyboard, the Alesis MasterControl, Arturia’s Factory Experience controller for their soft synth emulations, and even another brutish-looking computer-in-a-keyboard, now with pads, from Open Labs.

The shots give you a particularly good feel for what the Akai APC40 is like up close and personal. It’s no accident that Jay himself is a VJ. I really imagine that a number of these devices might be brilliant for running live visuals, though we still have yet to find out exactly how the APC works. I assume it’ll run as a standard MIDI controller outside Live, but I’m unclear on the specifics of what that will mean.

Thanks to Jay for sharing these photos with CDM.

Now I can’t wait to get another look at Livid’s own controller line and what may be next for it; see its wooden crossfader below. Previously:

Hands-On: Livid’s New Ohm Controller, Custom Control Geared for Visualists

Hexagonal Sequencer with vvvv, MIDI, Ableton, and Soon Wii, Camera Input

A Mutating Drum Step Sequencer, New MIDI Library for Processing

6 Comments

poorsod

you’re right about the APC shots giving a nice “up-close-and-personal” feel, it looks even more excellent in that shot than in the promotional video!

January 31, 2009 @ 12:44 pm

poorsod

and, while investigating that Open Labs controller/workstation/laptop/touchscreen thing, i think my head actually exploded. partially at the details, partially at the price. :(

January 31, 2009 @ 12:47 pm

RCUS

I own an open labs miko and it does indeed cause that reaction!! Seriously, I’ve had it for over a year and probably haven’t heard everything in it yet. Is almost as if I made a wish to a genie and was granted EVERYTHING I wanted in a workstation. It’s a little daunting trying to get stuff done with so many options. The best is when I think I’m pushing the limits running a ton of plugins and effects and I look at the performance meter in ableton and it’s only at like 30%!

be careful what you wish for!

February 1, 2009 @ 11:28 pm

RCUS

oh, almost forgot! thanks for the killer shots peter. seriously those are really nice! i just hope those new Open Labs drum and fader controllers actually fit in the Gen 4 stuff. no word from OL on an upgrade path yet…i really hope it doesn’t break the bank.