Akai LPD8 review
I’ve just put up a review of Akai’s LPD8 nano midi controller. Certainly some competition for Korg’s nanopad but you lose some pads and gain some knobs. Interesting how these two will face up to each other. Same price by the way, well korg lowered their price to match the LPD8′d. Let the battke begin.
Max for Live is basically a way for Ableton Live users to incorporate Max/msp patches into Live as plugins and effects. This really opens up Live’s flexibility as no other DAW or performing software allows Max/msp patches to be used. The other big news is that it will allow the APC40 to become fully customizable which is exciting and opens up a whole new world of what the APC40 can do.
Proteus VX 2
E-mu are currently giving away their Proteus VX 2 synth, all you have to do is sign up for thier newsletter. Spam email address at the ready. Well worth a gander I think.
Proteus VX 2 is a sampling synthesizer so it could be useful for making some cool sounds. It runs in standalone and VSTI modes and comes with a composer bank with plenty of presets to get you going.
Logic 9.0.1 & 9.0.2
Apple have anouced an update to Logic 9, well actually two but 9.0.1 first. The most important update is in conjunction with Novation and sees full intergration between logic and automap. Logic users will have been waiting for a while for these compatability issues to be ironed out.
Main features in 9.0.1
The 9.0.2 update mainly fixs bugs that appeared with 9.0.1 and adds a few other work flow tweaks and tunings.
Download the updates and read all the changes here
No major changes here, many bug fixes covered but the improved support for logic, protools and RTAS will mke quite a few people smile.
Audiomulch 2.0
Three years in development and Audiomulch 2.0 has finally been released. Testing out the trail version is easy to see why it’s been a long wait. The whole program has been re coded and designed with a host of new features, new user interface and now has mac support.
The full version of Audiomulch is $189 and the upgrade from version 1 is $89. You can try out the trail version for free here, which I suggest you do. Updates are free and aparently they will include new features as well as bug fixes. See the diagram below for the planned development.
Audiomulch planned development
Check out the video below to see how audiomulch works and the new features put to the test.
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Livid block
This week Livid announced they were releasing a new open source midi controller called Block. The block has 64 back lit LED buttons in an 8 by 8 grid, an extra 7 buttons for other functions, 8 knobs and two faders. All of the buttons, knobs and faders are freely assignable and not locked to anything but more about that later.
The block is plug and play compliant, meaning no drivers and is USB powered so no dragging round extra power leads or losing power at a gig. The USB port is at the back of the unit too so there’s nothing to stop you putting other units next to it. The block has bi directional midi, which basically means it can receive and send midi data. So when you change something in the software you see the controller react and visa versa.
The block is released on the 1st of November but can be pre ordered now and will cost $399.
Livid block back
The Livid block is made from beautifully crafted and stained lightweight wood with an anodized aluminium faceplate. The units are made and assembled in the USA, Texas to be exact, so there not mass produced like other companies.
The block is 10.25″ by 10.25″ and is 1.5″ high making it portable and compact. It weighs in at 1.36 kg which is very light for a controller. These properties make this a good contender for live use, especially as it looks great too.
Livid block front
All of the block’s buttons, knobs and faders are fully assignable and not stuck to say just Ableton Live. Block will work with anything that will except midi learn, i.e. max/msp, synths, plugins and DAW’s.
Behind all this flexibilty is the software called blockEditor. Blockeditor will alow the user to create their own grid matrix’s and means the block is completely custimisable unlike the APC40 at the moment (roll on MaxLive).
BlockEditor is open source which means it can be modified and developed outside of the conpanys original intentions. This is likely to see the block be used for all sorts of carzy things which is definetly exciting.
Could this be a more affordable option over a monome? After all it does have knobs and a slider which is a plus over a monome and is completely custumisable. That said you could also go for the Novation Launchpad, although it’s missing some knobs. I can’t help but feeling this new matrix controller war is having a great effect on the monome by bringing it into the spot light and cementing it’s rep as the daady of matrix controllers. Hope so.
Novation 25 SL MKII
Well I’ve been quite quiet on here recently but the other day I got a chance to review Novations new 25 SL MKII midi controller, the update to the popular SL series controllers.
The update sees some features removed such as the second LED display but new features added such as LED rings around the knobs, touch sensitive knobs, buttons and faders plus improved drum pads. Theres loads of other little things that make this controller great so check out the review for the full picture.
Zander
Novation Launchpad
Novation put there left foot into the Ableton Live controller market this week and announced the release of the Launchpad. The Launchpad is an Ableton Live controller based around an 8×8 button matrix similar to an Akai APC40 or a monome. The controller has been developed in conjunction with Ableton and is officially supported and endorsed by Ableton.
The controller itself bares an incredible resemblance to an Akai APC40 without buttons and a monome with menu buttons and a plastic case. The 8×8 matrix works the same as an APC40’s, launching, stopping and arming clips and is fully backlit with different colours for different functions.
Along the top and right hand side of the unit are buttons for editing parameters with the pads. The top has the grid navigation, i.e. that red box you get in Ableton + APC40 around the 8×8 clips being used. You also get buttons for selecting between the mixer, FX and user mappings so you can use the pans to input data. The right side you have vol, pan sends, solo, track on and track arm buttons. The idea is that you use the pads as a vertical button fader to make adjustments. See the video below for more details.
The Launchpad runs on USB which has a little L shaped USB lead which connects on the right hand side. Novation have said that they you can use Launchpads together to create more control, definitely an interesting note so as you could get two people performing together. The Launchpad also runs on Novations Automap which gives it the edge over the APC40 which has no dedicated editor yet.
Now heres the really important part. The Launchpad retails at £150,which is a hell of a lot cheaper than a monome or Akai APC40. Could the Launchpad be a monome or APC40 killer? Well I’ve just purchased an APC40 and I’m not worried about losing out to the launchpad, no buyers remorse here as I really wanted some knobs to twiddle. Monome might be a bit worried but that said a monome is a very powerful tool and totally customizable so maybe not.
Createdigitalmusic.com got to twiddle and fiddle with a prototype so check out there post and so did musicradar.com.
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