Non-Keyboard Controllers

The new Logidy UMI3 is a USB MIDI foot controller with three configurable foot switches, an input for an expression pedal, and USB connectivity.  

The Livid Instruments Block has 64 backlit buttons, a square layout, some knobs and faders, and enough likenesses to other control surfaces to make you wonder which MIDI control surface you're working with.  

Continue reading if you have a PreSonus FaderPort, you have a Mac, and your Mac runs Snow Leopard OS. If you have fewer than three of those things, you can probably skip this important announcement and move on to the next.  

How is Akai like AT&T? In the same way that Novation is like (if you believe the rumors) Verizon. The new Novation launchpad is a Monome-like controller that sports the Ableton Live icon. Maybe Akai is more like what's-her-name (Lance Armstrong's ex-wife).  

String players have had enough of the limitations of the keyboard-based protocol called MIDI and wished they had a protocol of their own; besides, the violin's expressiveness is yet to be beaten. The Keith McMillen StringPort brings that computerized edge to violinists and violists paired with the expressive nuances of their acoustic counterparts.  

Since it permits control over two parameters at once, the XY, or vector control pad, is probably one of the most efficient types of control for instruments like synthesizers. The Leslie Sanford Sanford Vector Pad takes that concept up a few more notches, as it gives you simultaneous control over four MIDI sources.  

The advent of the laptop DJ required a new set of tools without breaking off from traditional functionality. Carrying over the tradition of the two-channel DJ mixer with crossfader while bringing new functionality, the Stanton SCS.3m is now shipping out to stores worldwide.  

Enviromentalists now have something more to smile about with regard to Ohm Classic users. Users of Ohm Classic get a chance to get a discounted upgrade as well as join a recycling effort thanks to Livid Instruments Ohm Classic Recycling Program.  

Owen O'Malley is back with Native Instruments Maschine, bringing you what you want with a blow-by-blow beatmaking demo that comes on fast and furious. Well, maybe not fast so much as deliberate and informative. You all need to know that beatmaking is actually a highly detailed skill that appeals mostly to math geeks. So, get your algebra on and join us in the studio!  

Now at Part Three of our epic demo of Native Instruments Maschine, we are finally getting into the hardware / software bundle's whole raison d'etre: making beats. Owen O'Malley further proves his prowess outside of Guitar City, scrolling through those menus and adjusting parameters like a real pro. You can be a pro too, if you just watch this demo. So let's get started with Part Three!  

Back with Owen in Part Two of an uncharacteristically guitar-free demo, we look more closely at Native Instruments Maschine and how it expresses itself on various screens. The small ones on the unit are loaded with easily accessed menus and effects, and the large remote one on your desktop is easily controlled therefrom. Get it? I learned that from the demo!  

Sporting a new hairstyle and glasses, the intrepid Owen O'Malley dives into a decidedly non-guitar adventure. Native Instruments Maschine may be initially intimidating, but Owen's confident and thorough approach will have you grooving that box in no time. Can we say that on the internet?  

In addition to the exciting announcement about the MINIAK, Akai is bringing two new controllers to Frankfurt. The Akai MPK88 will be the company's biggest keyboard-controller, while the MPD18 will be the company's smallest pad-contrller. No judgements about folks who prefer one over the other, please.  

Future Retro predicts that in the future, the past will be all about circles, and who can prove them wrong? They're latest circular sequencer, the Orb, has been getting some positive spin.  

In this video, Bill Holland takes a look at the Korg nanoKONTROL, one of the most compact controllers on the market today. This is not to be confused with the nunoKONTROL, which subsequently controls Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt.  

Everybody loves a good theremin video, but there just haven't been that many improvements in theremin technology until now. The Moog Etherwave Plus also acts as a CV controller, giving you more ways to use your theremin.  

DJs frequently encounter situations that are a bit rougher than they might wish. While some have taken to wearing their own suit of armor - sometimes physical, sometimes emotional - until now their equipment has been vulnerable to the ravages of the brutal gig. The Numark Stealth and Omni Control units aren't taking any of that from no one.  

Winter NAMM 2009 sees the release of the Numark STEALTH CONTROL, a new DJ controller that you can buy from the inside of a guy's trench coat in an alley somewhere. Just don't tell him you heard it from me.  

Rarely is something that looks so fun actually as useful as the JazzMutant Lemur V2. With an artist list that reads like the Who's Who of People Who Know What's Up, Lemur V2 puts serious music manipulation together with such a cool interface that you'll never use your Spirograph again.  

Winter NAMM 09 has lots of goodies for the Live crowd. Akai paired up with Ableton to make everyone's Lives (get it??!!) easier with this controller.  

IK Multimedia shows off their StealthPedal at the 2009 Winter NAMM Show, ultimately defeating the purpose of stealthiness in the process. Technically the pedal is meant to control Powered By Amplitube products and interface with your computer, but that wouldn't have made for as catchy of a name: IK Multimedia ControlPoweredByAmplitubeProductsAndInterfaceWithYourComputerPedal. That wouldn't even fit on the box.  

The Moog Music Etherwave Plus makes its debut at Winter NAMM 2009, and this theremin / CV Controller impresses with its ability to create otherworldly noises or control analog synths with simple hand movements -- allowing you to feign telekinesis. In fact, that's what almost got it banned from Alaskan public libraries.  

The movers and shakers at Ableton found more friends at Akai. The two partnered up to produce the Akai APC40, a massively intertwining controller built for Ableton Live, at Winter NAMM 2009.  

Now that Bricasti Design has released the M10 remote control for the M7 reverb processor, couch engineers everywhere are surfing through the channels and complaining that there are too many "reality reverbs" because reverb stations just aren't putting money into scripted reverbs anymore. And don't get me started on the commercials.  

Alesis ION owners now have a new way to control their synthesizers thanks to Hypersynth ion-editor. This MIDI-editor allows you to control your synthesizer from your remote underground base while it does your bidding.  

Valerie Mih, who has just released the CD, Meridians talks about her first forays into the world of looping. Her background is Jazz and Classical, two genres not renowned for their use of MIDI.  

If you love the design of the C-Thru Music AXiS but feel like learning how to play the 64-note version might be too challenging, why not start out with something a little less daunting: the new 49-note version!  

Friend Of Gearwire and local Chicago jockey des disques imaginaires Jake Coon dropped by Gearwire Studio to drop some beats with the competition-droppin' Behringer BCF2000. As part of the B-Control series of MIDI controllers, the BCF2000 is one of the nicest pieces of equipment that Behringer has ever laser-engraved its name upon, and Jake gives us a taste of its functional flexibility.  

To commemorate the release of the Akai EWI USB electronic wind instrument, may I suggest, Akai, a series of clever and moderately ribald, slogan-bearing t-shirts and / or bumper stickers? Slogans such as, for example: "AKAI EWI USB PLAYERS DO IT WITH THEIR MOUTH."  

One of Alex Rose's live tools for Minus The Bear is the Korg padKONTROL. This MIDI controller lets Alex do numerous things while he's doing numerous other things to bring such a wide sonic variety from the studio to the stage.