Earlier this year, Gearwire pinned down a rep from JazzMutant to talk about the Dexter control surface. The Dexter is a touch-screen interface that revolutionalizes the way users can manipulate their digital audio workstation. When was the last time you used all ten fingers on a touchscreen to alter settings in a DAW? The answer is, until Dexter, probably never. Is Dexter the ONLY touchscreen interface out there? No. But is this the most interesting, full-of-potential piece of gear to incorporate touch screen technology in recent memory? Some say yes.

Dexter a big step up from the original JazzMutant control surface, Lemur, because Dexter is specifically built as a DAW controller. From JazzMutant's recent announcement:

"While the Lemur's modular concept aimed at maximum versatility and adaptability, Dexter is devoted to one unique master plan: bringing the power of Digital Audio Workstations to your fingertips in a creative and user-friendly manner."

"Dexter redefines the very interaction between digital audio workstations and their users. This laptop-sized control surface has been designed with only one purpose in mind: making the user experience more pleasant, more efficient and more satisfying."

Is there some PR hype here? Sure. But the hype isn't really empty praise, at least not from the first impression we got speaking with JazzMutant at Musikmesse earlier this year. Dexter looks well and truly revolutionary. Naturally, the jury is out til we get some feedback on how it works across a variety of DAW platforms, but this product shows geniune promise. From JazzMutant:

"In order to provide the finest precision of control, JazzMutant introduces a whole new concept with Dexter: that of zoomable controllers. You can now tweak the resolution you want to achieve from a set of controllers in real time. Zoom in on your faders when you need that extra bit of precision in a mix. Zoom out when you're looking for the widest range achievable. Zoomable controllers are priceless when it comes to adjusting the threshold of a compressor or the cutoff frequency of a filter. Dexter brings matchless precision to your mix that top-of-the-range physical faders not even can compete with."

The zoom feature alone is a welcome relief for those of us with wonky eyesight. There's just one teeny little problem. JazzMutant products are available online direct from the source, but EU only! Americans have only three official JazzMutant options listed at press time, one of them being the very familiar (at least to Gearwire) Cycling74.

If you want to learn more about the Dexter, check out JazzMutant Dexter video shot at Musikmesse earlier this year.