Like many of you, we feel like we were able to only scratch the surface of the potential of the Morph, and we’re disappointed that we can no longer produce it. Production challenges were myriad: the unavailability of what was once a widely available microprocessor, the lack of supply of the resistive ink that was used for the Morph’s pressure sensor, travel restrictions, and internal competition with the rapidly growing demand for Sensel’s enterprise solutions.
Over the past year, we explored many avenues to restart production: pitching investors, partnering with other music companies, creative arrangements with high-volume manufacturers, and redesigning the Morph. In the end, we had to make the difficult decision to shift our focus to our core enterprise business, especially in the laptop touchpad market. Sensel’s technology is currently being used in the haptic touchpads of Lenovo’s X1 Titanium Yoga and other laptops already in the market, and will be featured in several additional models in the near future. We’re thrilled to enable the next generation haptic touchpads for Windows laptops, and to get our tech into the hands of millions of users.
For those of you who backed the Morph on Kickstarter or purchased one after, we sincerely thank you for being a part of the Sensel journey and helping us get to where we are today. We still can’t wait to see what you create. And for those who signed up for our back-in-stock notifications while we’ve been sold out, we apologize for the long wait and for not being able to fulfill your requests.
Making the Morph and seeing what creative people could do with it was incredibly rewarding. From the same controller, we saw virtuosic finger drum jams, slick productions, tripped out visuals, and interactive installations. The creative minds that got behind the Morph were just awesome. As we move forward with our enterprise business, we hope to influence those markets with what we’ve learned, and work with innovative tool-makers to bring the creativity and richness-of-interaction of the Morph to everyday consumer devices like laptops and phones.
Down the road, we will also rethink the Morph product line and potentially bring another consumer product to market. While there are no plans to do so right now, we welcome all feedback and suggestions.
You may have questions about how we intend to support the Morph moving forward. Please visit our Morph Sunset FAQ page for our end-of-life policies.
With appreciation,
The Sensel Team
Version 0.19.295 of the Morph Firmware is here! In addition to fixing some long-annoying bugs in the Morph, we’ve introduced some really interesting improvements for velocity scaling and MPE pitch-bending.
]]>We’re happy to announce the release of Version 0.19.295 of the Morph Firmware.
In addition to fixing some long-annoying bugs in the Morph, we’ve introduced some really interesting improvements for velocity scaling and MPE pitch-bending. Check out the video below for detailed instructions on how to set up and understand these two key features.
To update your Morph’s firmware, just open up the SenselApp and click the red button near the top left corner. Detailed instructions can be found here. If you’re using a USB hub and lose connection during the update, please unplug and try again (just let us know if the issue persists).
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or feedback. For now, let’s jump into the changes.
Overview
More Detail: Velocity Scaling and MPE Pitch Bending
Velocity scaling: We’ve adjusted and improved the scaling and reporting of MIDI note velocity coming from the Morph to allow for easier access to lower velocity values. Because many people are used to the current feel of the Morph, we didn’t want to introduce something based on highly subjective criteria that would upset a player’s flow. We also think the new scaling will require some more feedback from a broader audience to see how they like it.
As a result, in order to experience the new velocity scaling, overlays will need to be edited so their pads have a Threshold value of 10. Thresholds 1-9 will continue to use the old velocity scaling. When set to “10”, the effective threshold is “3”, but the new velocity scaling is used.
Pitch-bend: Because of the many-faceted nature of the Morph, our pitch-rounding methods tended to require a bit of finessing on the part of the player. We’ve modified the “Jump” Pitch Round method to create a truly unique MPE pitch-bend experience. The primary goal was to help keep pitch-bend in tune with the Piano overlay, making it so any glides from one key to another would reliably end on the key underneath the finger.
But this new method works for any overlay. Perhaps the best demonstration is using a grid-type overlay with the Innovator’s Overlay. Not only can you slide from notes to the left and right, but you can also slide vertically, introducing glissandos that are truly unique and always in tune. Select the “Jump” pitch rounding in the Morph-XXXX settings panel of the SenselApp. You may also need to adjust the bend sensitivity on your software, too. For example, I needed to set the bend range in ROLI Equator to “24” for this to work as expected.
We hope this update proves useful for you. Please feel free to post in our forum with any questions or feedback.
]]>Max patches at https://github.com/sensel/C74-Max-Examples
Start with some basics with monophonic expressions. Using the BEAP modules, we’ll build a patch that creates a compelling and unique sound design with only a few connections. It’s a great introduction on the basics of Max but relevant to any modular workflow and designing sound with pressure and location. patch: Live Stream.maxproj/MPE in BEAP.maxpat
Using the Temporal Conduit Oscillator patch, we’ll get into how to adapt an existing patch to a Morph Overlay. It’s pretty simple, thanks to Max 8’s MIDI Map feature, so it’s an easy way to get your Morph working with someone else’s work.
We’ll also check out a visual patch where we use MIDI and the innovator’s overlay to animate a 3D puppet.
patch: Morph Puppet.maxproj/Seymour.maxpat
The Morph is all about feeling. Max is a great way to dial that in, or find something new. We’ll go through some different ways of tuning the data from the Morph so you can dial in how your gestures affect your art.
patch: Live Stream.maxproj/scaling pressure.maxpat
Possibly the easiest way to get rich sound out of Max is to use plugins. This lets you focus on interaction, rather than coding DSP.
patch: Contacts To MPE.maxproj]]>
This is a big change. So how do we adapt? For many that question is a lot harder than for others, because their lives depended on an ever changing place, or a place with a constantly changing crowd. To try to figure this out, Sensel is introducing a series of live streams on YouTube to educate and inspire.
]]>So how do we adapt? For many that question is a lot harder than for others, because their lives depended on an ever changing place, or a place with a constantly changing crowd. "In Place" could mean Dayton on Wednesday and Detroit on Thursday. Hungary in May, Croatia in June.
Sensel as a company has adapted by moving workers home, cobbling together labs in living rooms, remote accessing test equipment, relying heavily on video meetings, and, for the Morph, reaching out directly to our customers and potential customers through live streams. A lot of the work on our technology requires extended, concentrated efforts by smart individuals, so some of it lends itself to shelter-in-place, we also have relied on extensive travel and face-to-face meetings to develop our business and technology.
But a lot of our Morph customers as touring musicians and itinerants have faced even greater challenges. On the other end of the spectrum, there are a lot of people new to the Morph. We're doing our best to help by using a tool that seemingly everyone is jumping on: The Live Stream.
Some of our streams will be strictly educational. Our first stream was strictly meta: a live stream about live streaming. We've also streamed about getting started with the free software with the Morph, using MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) in a variety of DAWs, and using Intua Beatmaker for the iPad. We of course keep a playlist on YouTube, and we'll be updating this post with our streams.
We're also going to be taking to artists who are living through this crisis. Some of these will be pretty Morph heavy, as we dive into how they use the Morph, others will be weighted more towards culture and perspective.
Even if these things seem to jump around, they will all share a theme: Adaptation. Whether it's adapting to a new tool like the Morph, a new way of playing like MPE, or figuring out how to keep a company alive, we will take this time to go deep and figure this out.
Although she is a classically trained trumpet player with impressive tone, Sarah Belle Reid would likely embrace the later, and then turn it into a compositional inspiration.
Instead of further perfecting her classical ability, she has taken an adventurous journey to play with the sonic extremes she can coax from her instrument. She then takes the data of her motions, and augments her trumpet with the extremes of electronic sound. The result is a magnificent soundscape that constantly surprises and sometimes offends.
That she is able to take gestures that are musical for the trumpet and apply them to unmusical sounds, then wrestle them into something we can call music again is really the dilemma of any electronic musician. We were really drawn to this achievement, so the Buchla Thunder Overlay seemed like a natural companion for what she does - an interface infused with music-mechanic ideas, but with no musical legacy in its design. It is only concerned with the musical future, a future that Sarah Belle Reid is playfully guiding us to.
We captured some of this spirit in our short film - we hope you can be inspired by it!
]]>Sonalsystem is the sound moniker of Allen Morgan in Nashville, TN. A longtime designer for many top software companies (Steinberg, Output, Native Instruments, Bitwig, and more), mixing engineer and producer for top talent, and general sound professional, he recently gravitated to the Morph as his go-to design tool. Wrote Allen, "With the Sensel morph, I have created some of my most expressive work to date. It has allowed me to bend and manipulate sound in a way I could’ve only dreamed."
Sonalsystem sells presets and sound packs with top-notch content, giving working musicians a creative edge when their tight deadlines don't give them all the time to create every last waveform.
His latest creation is the first of a series for the granular synthesizer Quanta, from Audio Damage.
The Morph is a perfect companion for the Quanta, as it's fully MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) capable, and offers an easy matrix for assigning gestures to sound control. It's also available on iOS, which is great for the portable controls of the Morph. As Allen puts it on his page
Quanta is an incredible digital synth. True to many of the Audio Damage products, it tucks away the complicated bits and makes them useful and interesting. We've been using Quanta in our in-person demos in a crazy adaptation of MPE to a bare Morph in Cycling74's Max. Take a listen:
That incredibly complicated drama is a single Quanta patch, using a short sample recorded from Arturia's SEM V plugin as the source material.
For a limited time, Sonalsystem and Audio Damage are offering their perfect combination for the Sensel Morph audience at an exclusive discount.
Click to save 25% on Sonalsystem STRUNG presets (normally $20) with Discount code expressyourself.
Click to save 40% on Audio Damage Quanta Plugin (normally $99) with Discount SENSELQUANTA
We first met at the Ableton Loop festival in Berlin - I was showing the Morph to someone else, and she was immediately drawn to it. "What is that?" One might think her keen fashion sense might have been drawn to the colorful overlays, but as you'll see in the video, it's clear that she saw an immediate use for it in her modular and technical assortment of gear.
She's been taking full advantage of the Innovator's Overlay instant flexibility, designing overlays to mange her Ableton Live sets, as well as simple controls for spatial audio. Watch below and get to know this fantastic artist:
Follow Drum & Lace on Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify
However, creating a surface with texture and style can be a bit challenging.
A common question we get is, “How can I 3D print an overlay?” The end goal of course is to get a custom overlay with tactility similar to our own line of overlays. In theory, this is possible - you can even export a 3D model from the SenselApp and send it to a 3D printer. However, the biggest barrier is out of our control: choosing materials and filaments. Most 3D printers use hard plastics that do not transmit a useful force image to the Morph. Some 3D printers and services can print with soft materials, but these often result in unattractive and extremely expensive overlays.
So what’s a designer to do?
One option is to 3D print or cut a “mask.” This method makes use of inexpensive materials, and possibly even inexpensive tools. The example below uses low-cost cast acrylic and a laser cutter, so at least the material is inexpensive!
This simple slider arrangement has an acrylic overlay that creates some relief for tactile assurance that your finger is in the right place. It is a good, easy way to create control areas for an installation, for example, or very distinct boundaries for XY controls.
You can see I also added magnets to keep the overlay in place. I measured the placement of the magnets on the Innovator’s overlay, and added them to the cut design (here’s a template you can use, in Illustrator, PNG, and SVG formats).
I then taped them in place to make them flush with the bottom and filled the hole with silicone adhesive. Epoxy would probably be a better adhesive, but silicone is better for a first stab at a prototype - it’s easier to clean off if I mess up. Hot glue and E6000 adhesive could also be a good choice for experimenting without heavy commitment.
I also tried a mechanical solution, by adhering acrylic tabs to the edge. This is another worthy strategy for installation, since it really prevents the overlay from sliding off from extreme public use. However, the tolerances required for this to work nicely are pretty exact. As you can see in the picture, my fit is not perfect, and my tabs are a little crooked. I should have allowed for the waste from cutting (“kerf”), and overprinted the frame just a few hairs larger to give me the margin for better fitting tabs. Lesson learned!
In conclusion, acrylic is not the greatest material to play with for this “mask” idea. The edges are hard and unforgiving - it would take some polishing to make them feel nice. If I were to try again, I’d be inclined to work with a thinner acrylic - this is ⅛” (3 mm) thick, which is really too thick for comfort. However, as a prototype or quick fix, it’s amazing.
Of course, this could also be done with foam core, pasteboard, or cardboard for less durable, but easier solutions. Balsa wood is also a nice prototyping material that will last longer than a paper based frame, is still easy to cut with an inexpensive blade, and would easily sand down to a nice contour.
Another option that I’ve really been interested in is using fabrics. These can provide a unique tactility and can be easily printed with labels.
I used a service called Ponoko which provides laser-cutting services with a variety of materials. The basic idea is that you create a 2D file in a program such as Adobe Illustrator (or try a free alternative like Inkscape, Boxy SVG, or SVG Edit), then select your material, and Ponoko will send you your cut-and-engraved material in the mail.
Engraving gives you crisp, easy to read labels. You can even add textures with engraving, which can help you zero in on a control without looking at the pad.
In this example, I used a faux-suede material - it was pretty inexpensive, and seemed to be a good test of something unexpected. The results were really stunning, and gave a unique feel to my controller. For a second round, I think I’d try leather, and do a patchwork of colors to create a really cool controller.
I used some silicone adhesive to attach the suede to a thin foam called Poron - just a dot in each corner was enough. This urethane foam was used in the very first overlay prototypes. I found some scraps lying around the office, so I put them to use.
Easy to cut and glue, it was a nice choice to give this a finished feel. Poron may not be an easy or cheap material to find, so I’d recommend some cheap neoprene. Get something with 40A or 50A durometer, which is a measure of hardness that is similar to our existing silicone overlays.
I also did some tests on gray levels, just to see how they would affect texture and legibility. As you can see, values less than 60% black were pretty worthless on this material. However, the bands of gray provide textures that could be applied in different ways. For example, lightly etching a slider for a distortion effect makes it clear from touch that the slider would roughen the sound.
It is also worth noting that Ponoko had great service. There were some mistakes that were a result of my file preparation, and my first cuts from them didn’t turn out. They immediately figured out the problem, made new ones, and let me know how it could be avoided in the future (make sure all your visible Illustrator layers are unlocked!). It was really great to get excellent and attentive customer service.
Another great option is neoprene. Spongy and easy to print on, there are several services that will custom print neoprene, such as Printer Studio and Contrado. You can also use bare neoprene in combination with a material like the faux suede I used from Ponoko.
I did a test using the 14”x24” game mat option from Printer Studio, which cost me less than $30. There’s room to print four overlays on this, so I cooked up four different designs to test.
Forum user "NothanUmber" built his Continuano overlay using the Contrado service, since it allowed him to print a very long scroll. I was lucky enough to try this at SuperBooth when I met him, and it felt great, and looked quite durable. Combining his own interface with MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE), he built an expressive custom instrument that felt wonderful. The nice thing about the Contrado service is that the neoprene is printed and cut to size, which, while more expensive, gives a cleaner finish than the Printer Studio option.
Since I’m not using the Innovator’s Overlay explicitly for this, how does the Morph know to use the Innovator’s Layout? There’s one Overlay you probably didn’t know about: the No Overlay Overlay! In the SenselApp, you can set up the Morph to think it has the Innovator’s overlay on it when it is empty. Just follow this gif:
Select No Overlay, then Select “innovator’s” in the menu, and Send Map to Morph. That’s it!
If you want your finished product to act just like the Innovator’s overlay, you’ll need magnets. For the locations, I already linked to a template above so you can make the cuts you need. This is especially useful for laser cutting or CNC work.
Our overlays use 10 x 5 mm magnets for holding the overlay in place, with a couple 5 x 5 mm in the bottom corners, and 4mm circular magnets for identifying the overlay.
With the printed neoprene overlays, I took a different approach. I just placed magnets on the Morph to get their location, then made a paper template so I could easily mark the neoprene.
I then made cuts with an artist knife (X-Acto) to the neoprene, avoiding a complete cut through to the printed fabric. I sort of dug out the neoprene, and had nice slots for the securing magnets, and used E6000 adhesive to secure the magnets into the neoprene.
Because I cut a little too close, I didn’t get the corner magnets in, just the central ones. Even so, it still secures nicely for desktop use, and I just use the No Overlay setting to make everything work.
After testing all these methods, I’m probably happiest with the Neoprene. It looks nice, feels good, and is easy to read. The ease and affordability of getting these printed was amazing. Getting them functional was incredibly easy.
The one I'm most excited about is using Ponoko to cut different materials. My initial tests with the “ultra suede” were really satisfying; the idea of using cloth, leather, or wood for electronic controls is rich for exploration. So much interaction with computers is mediated by flat, featureless plastic and glass, but the Morph opens up a whole new material landscape. Even for simple keystroke shortcut controllers, it’s nice to have a big soft button to zoom your drawing.
With some creative iteration and a bit of glue, you can make some really wonderful computer interfaces with the Morph. We hope to see more of your designs in the Sensel Forum.
]]>You can get the scripts from our store or from our github repo.
Join the Sensel forum to comment on this story and contribute to the conversation! And if you like what you read, you can easily share on social via the icons below. We can't wait to hear from you.
]]>
What can your derriere tell us about cutting-edge technological frameworks?
Enter Buttchain, a “cheeky” Morph-featuring interactive installation from the Brooklyn studio Red Paper Heart. Created to help people understand the basics of blockchain as it becomes an increasingly important part of the global economy, the exhibit applies the technology to something slightly less intimidating (i.e. butts).
To bring the project to life, the Red Paper Heart team created a custom bench fitted with two Morphs under the cushion. The Morphs record each time someone takes a seat, turning the encoded signatures into an utterly unique piece of art, and adding it to ‘an immutable ledger’ inspired by the tenets of blockchain.
In Red Paper Heart’s words: “[T]he art itself is a visualization of each block. Each successive piece of art builds on the previous one, so that movements happen over time, and the pieces of art only align if put in sequence. Simply take a seat, and watch as your butt becomes the next link in a growing chain of artwork.”
How did the Red Paper Heart team land on the Morph? According to Technology Director Daniel Scheibel, “When we started researching pressure sensors to sense people sitting, we really quickly landed in the automobile industry. Unfortunately most sensors available were way over our budget. But then we found the Sensel Morph. We ordered one and it worked great. Easy to connect and work with. The data we can get from the Sensel Morph is actually a much [higher] resolution than we needed for our project, but it wasn’t quite big enough for all butts, so we decided to use 2 x Morphs next to each other.”
To bring the visualizations to life, Red Paper Heart created a C++ app with the Open-Source Framework Cinder. The app interacts with the two Morphs, takes all the data, and compresses it to the resolution used in a web-based graphics app. It then sends it via OSC to the graphics application.
Many thanks to Red Paper Heart for using the Morph to help us all understand blockchain a little bit better!
Join the Sensel forum to comment on this story and contribute to the conversation! And if you like what you read, you can easily share on social via the icons below. We can't wait to hear from you.
]]>This video gives you a complete tutorial on how to use the Buchla Thunder Overlay and Sensel Morph with MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) with a modular system. Not only do we go into detail about the FH-1 configuration tool, we patch up the FH-2 USB Host module to convert the Morph's MIDI into CV for a rich and expressive patch.
We've successfully tested the Morph with Expert Sleepers FH-2, Snyderphonics MantaMate, ExcelValley USB-> MIDI converter, Kenton USB Host, and all the iConnectivity gear.
Here's the most current list of Hardware Synths that we've tested the Morph with.
What other hardware are you working with? How would you want to integrate the Morph? Share your setup with us at @senselinc on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
]]>Boards of Canada – “Roygbiv”. Dig that warm drift!
One thing that’s notoriously often “not quite there” with models, however, is the pitch drift of an oscillator in an old analog synth. Often enough, you’ll end up with something that either sounds like an exaggerated LFO (modulator) on the pitch – an overdone warbling – or something so subtle that it’s barely there.
One of the great little features of the Piano Overlay for the Sensel Morph is the pitch bend. Using the x positioning of each finger, an amount of pitch bend is applied. Practically, this can be used for sliding effects between notes. Another great use, however, is to add a “humanizing” element to your performances.
With pitch bend turned off (easy to do with one button push on the Piano Overlay), each note that you play will output the same pitch, every time. With pitch bend on, however, you’ll find that each note has a slight difference of a few centitones – enough to add some pitch travel that reminds us of the imprecise keybeds and detuned analog oscillators of yesteryear.
Check out this sequence, first with no pitch bend:
Now, let’s hear it with the pitch bend I get from wiggling my fingers a little bit when I hold notes:
A world of difference, and a key component in that classic analog synth sound!
Check out the Piano Overlay – also available as part of the Morph Music Maker’s Bundle.
What are you making with the Piano Overlay? Share it with us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
At CES, we put Sensel’s touch technology to the test, showing off integration into displays for phones and even underwater. The Sensel phone was completely usable, the iPhoneX...not at all!
At NAMM, we launched the Buchla Thunder Overlay, our first partner product, created with the legendary synthesizer company, Buchla. We added another award to the Morph’s trophy case: “Best MIDI Controller” from MusicRadar (slide #14).
Tons of videos hit the tubes, and we showed it off to some amazing artists, including a great session with electronic music legend Suzanne Ciani and the prolific video star, Andrew Huang.
We had an incredible amount of feedback, great meetings, and we’re looking forward to new product announcements this year - watch this space!
Protip: you can also check out our sound packs so you can play with our show demos at home.
Upcoming!
We'll be showing the Morph a lot more in smaller shows throughout the year. Here's some upcoming dates:
March 15-16: We'll be in Austin during SXSW for the Synth Zone show - an incredible hands and feet on event showcasing some great guitar pedals and synthesizers.
April 26-28th: Workshop at Cycling 74's Expo in North Adams, MA.
May 9-11: Superbooth in Berlin, Germany. Greatest synth show ever!
Hope to see you there!
]]>We were greeted by a harmonious resonance once we set the hefty unit on the table, and immediately knew we had to play it. Rather than mounting it to a drum kit and smashing it, we sampled several sounds from the metal case, and turned it into an instrument fit for the Drum Pad and Music Production Overlays. Check out our little video to hear what this thing sounds like!
Of course, you can download this free from our store for Bitwig, Ableton, Cubase Groove Agent, and even the raw WAV files. Recorded at 24 bit 96Khz.
]]>The MP Jam set is configured to be more than just a drum machine. It’s a completely remixable set designed for the Music Production overlay. It’s pretty common to treat the 4x4 grid of any MPC-style controller as single sounds or running loops. Instead, the Jam set uses arpeggios to trigger drums and make for easily customized patterns.
Instead of effects on the knobs we have an assortment of loops to bring some energy to the beats. These knobs control volume and a filter sweep, which makes the sounds useful for different moods.
The small bass keys have some vocal stabs for some melodic decoration and the two sliders fade in a backing bass and beat.
What makes all this possible is the advanced MIDI mapping in Bitwig. Dive into the video to see what makes this kit special:
To get this running, you’ll need to download the pack from our store.
If you own a Morph, you already have Bitwig Studio 8-Track, since that’s free with every Morph (hit up support@sensel.com if you missed your copy!).
The set also includes a map for the SenselApp to set up the MP overlay, and a basic MIDI controller script for Bitwig to make it simple to use the set. These simple configuration instructions are included in the download. You can also view the PDF guide here.
]]>Drum pads were pioneered in the late 70s by Simmons and continuing in popularity to this day with instruments like the Roland SPD series and the DrumKat. The goal is to approximate the expressiveness of playing an acoustic drum. With larger pad areas that accommodate drum sticks, drum pads are great for trained acoustic drummers, or anyone looking for a larger range of nuance in a performance. They do, however, take up more space.
Sampler pads were pioneered in the 80s with the Akai MPC series and later championed by contemporary classic machines like the E-Mu SP1200 and Boss SP-303. These pads are smaller and designed for finger drumming and triggering loops. In the classic arrangement of a 4x4 grid, sampler pads facilitate easy sound triggering in a smaller area, giving you an instrument with more sounds and room for more controls. Additionally, because we’re using all ten fingers, sampler pads allow for virtuoso playing from artists like DiVinci or AraabMuzik.
DiVinci live on three MPCs
Which one is for you?
First off, the great news about the Sensel Morph is that you don’t have to choose. By easily swapping overlays, you can find the control scheme that’s right for you, every time.
The Drum Pad Overlay for the Morph provides a drum pad-style layout. Each pad area is larger, and the pads are arranged like a standard acoustic drum kit. With the exception of the kick, each pad on the Drum Pad has two sections, allowing for either different sounds, or for mapping to different articulations (for example, using one area for a closed hi-hat sound, and the other for an open hi-hat sound).
Nate Hendrix on the Drum Pad Overlay for Sensel Morph
Due to the larger pad area, the Drum Pads can capture more nuanced performances – it’s easier to hit one pad area with two fingers to do a roll. By default, the X axis of each pad acts as a pitch-bend – perfect for tuned percussion models or samples, such as tabla or gamelan.
The Drum Pad is also a robust overlay – smack it with drum sticks, or even put it on the floor and use it as a stompbox or expression controller! It’s easy to integrate into a drum set and add electronics to your kit.
The Music Production Overlay for the Sensel Morph
The Music Production Overlay gives you a classic 4x4 pad layout, along with eight knobs, two sliders, and an octave bass keyboard. If you’re looking to finger drum or trigger samples from one hand, the MP overlay is what you want.
The MP overlay also makes it easy to map to many software samplers. From DAW-based offerings like Ableton Live’s Drum Racks and Bitwig Studio’s Drum Machine to dedicated plugins like FXPansion’s Geist, the 4x4 pad grid is easy to match between the MP overlay and software, without any extra mapping. Flip through drum kit presets, or drag and drop your sounds and start playing!
The MP overlay is especially great as a finger instrument. With less distance between the pads, it’s easier to trigger your sounds. Plus, you’ll quickly find that working with a pad grid gives you the muscle memory to not have to look much at your hands. Lastly, if you’re looking to tweak effects with one hand while you play with the other, the MP Overlay can’t be beat.
Beat BundleBy now you probably realize that there are times when you might prefer the Drum Pads, and times when the Music Production is more what you want. The good news is, you don’t have to choose! With the Morph Music Maker’s Overlay, you get the Drum Pads, Music Production, and Piano overlays together as a bundle with your Morph.
What are you making with your Morph? Which do you prefer for laying down your beats? Let us know on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
When you step back, it should be obvious that it’s not effortless. There is a full stack of talent that needs to write the songs, sing them, choreograph videos, create a visual experience, and produce the many-layered tracks into tightly mastered stereo experiences for our cars, headphones, and bluetooth speakers. Usually, this is the result of a lot of people creating an experience, not a singular vision.
That’s why we’re so excited to meet Anya V and Jae Deal. They started working together in early 2018 on Anya’s FREQUENCIES EP, and it’s now seeing its release today (1/29). Their ambitions are large and Anya's vision is bigger. Frequencies is a seven song document of Anya’s songwriting and vocal skills, amplified by Jae’s seasoned production. Anya augments the songs with incredible photography, stunning fashion, modeling, and dance. A mysterious, multifaceted gem starts to sparkle. She's not a product of someone else's plan, she's making this happen with her savvy, desire, and craft.
Our planets aligned at the end of December and we got to know their stories and dive deep into the first single from FREQUENCIES, “Issa Party,” with vocals thick and production slick. Check out our short documentary to get to know the rising star of Anya V.
Keep up to date with their work:
Anya V
www.IamAnyaV.com
Insta: @iamanyav
Facebook: Anya V
Jae Deal
Instagram: @jaedeal
Facebook: Jae Deal
www.jaedeal.net
Order the Buchla Thunder Overlay
When it comes to expressive and unique instrument design, Buchla is a towering legend. 30 years ago, with the release of the Thunder, Don Buchla introduced a musical playing interface inspired by Native American art and the natural playing positions of the human hands and fingers.
Now, we’re thrilled to partner with Buchla U.S.A. to bring the Thunder to the Morph, for a modern update that combines the genius of Don Buchla’s ergonomic designs with the unparalleled force sensitivity of the Morph.
The Buchla Thunder Overlay is uniquely well-suited to a variety of instruments - from synthesizers with rich and evolving timbres, to acoustic samples that benefit from a more “human” touch, to hardware synthesizers like the legendary Buchla Easel. You can witness the richness of expression in this video of Peter Nyboer playing with the Buchla Thunder Overlay in the video above.
Along with our friends at Buchla U.S.A., we dedicated extra care and engineering to making the Buchla Thunder Overlay a smooth and expressive experience worthy of the Buchla legacy. We worked closely with the team at Buchla on the feel, design, color, and sizing to respect history and take full advantage of the Morph platform. Each of the 27 areas of the Buchla Thunder Overlay transmits a dedicated note and can be used with any instrument that accepts MIDI or MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) input. The Buchla Thunder Overlay can further be customized to transmit any of the protocols supported by the Sensel App, including HID for gaming, computer keyboard commands, and more.
Also, the Buchla Thunder Overlay exclusively features a new preset system to the Morph. Using the preset button and the numerical keys, you can easily and instantly switch between nine mappings without needing to open the SenselApp. Need to go from an instrument controller to a virtual mixer? Want to swap between scales? Presets add a seamless extension of expressive control possibility to the Buchla Thunder Overlay.
The Morph with the Buchla Thunder Overlay and more will be on display this Spring and Summer at Sensel's booths at Moogfest, Expo '74, Mutek SF, Superbooth, and Brooklyn Synth Expo, so come by and check us out.
We’re excited to continue to share more photos and videos of the Buchla Thunder Overlay in action – be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more updates.
Order the Sensel Morph + Buchla Thunder Overlay for $269
Order the Buchla Thunder Overlay for $59
Using the Buchla Thunder Overlay with CV
To output control voltage (CV) from the Sensel Morph, you'll need an interface that can translate USB to CV. Two that we recommend are the MantaMate from Snyderphonics and the FH-2 from Expert Sleepers.
]]>
Keep up with Nate:
Amazingly, Envelop is not affiliated with a university, tech incubator, or a startup with eyes on being the next billion-dollar company. It's a non-profit with a mission. Learn about this amazing space, and see how we used the Morph to create a hands on controller for mixing sound on their 28 channel system.
Envelop is not just a venue - they have also designed a complete software toolkit for Ableton Live for mixing ambisonic and binaural audio using Max For Live.
Learn more about Envelop at http://envelop.us
See what Cycling '74's Max is all about at http://cycling74.com
There's even more in version 2.4, including an incredible Sampler and the Phase4 synthesizer. You can get into all the details on the Bitwig YouTube channel.
On the more esoteric side, here's a demonstration of using the Morph as a pressure controller to "massage" a synthesizer for some pretty extreme effects:
Every Morph purchased with music overlays includes a free copy of Bitwig Studio 8-Track. This version of Studio gives you eight tracks of audio or MIDI tracks, two effect sends, a couple plugins, along with some other limitations described on their site. But limitations are the font of great art - there's still a lot to make and explore with Studio 8-Track. And if you want more, this license provides an automatic $40 off the full Studio upgrade.
The other great news is that Bitwig Studio (and 8-Track) is fully integrated with the Morph. Just update the overlay maps and flash the Morph, and you're ready to go. Check out this blog post that highlights the integration, or head on over to the guide for complete documentation.
We look forward to hearing what you make with the expressive combination of Bitwig Studio and the Sensel Morph.
]]>Bitwig Certified Professional Mathieu Pe was kind enough to give us a complete overview from his incredibly well-appointed Berlin studio, Orbit Productions.
Of course, we've provided complete reference documentation in our guide. Some highlights of this script include:
Download the Bitwig Script pack that has all the files you need to get started from our shop. If you want to take a look at the code, it's open source.
]]>I first met Shawn Greenlee when he invited me to do a DIY controller workshop where we did an intensive 2 day workshop to teach students the principles of sensors, MIDI, parametric control, and hardware. I recently reconnected with him at the NIME conference, where I found that the Sensel Morph was at the center of his performance there, and he had been experimenting with different ways of controlling audio and distributing it among large speaker arrays.
It was clear that he was really pushing the Morph way beyond the overlays, and incorporating multi-touch and pressure into really dynamic noise-scapes. As is often the case with electronic music, it wasn’t totally clear what was going on behind the scenes, so I chased him down at the beginning of his semester to ask some questions.
Let’s cut to the chase. What are you doing up there? What is your live performance setup for the piece I saw at NIME? Where else have you performed it?
With my latest performance system, which I call Quarries, the work is geared toward solo electroacoustic improvisation. The software I’ve made with Max. The primary sounds are the result of some erratic synthesis procedures that I refine between performances. There’s multiple feedback points within the synth parts of the patch, so the outcomes are often unpredictable. Additional sounds produced come from my library of personal field recordings, most recently from three weeks I spent in Alaska in April and May. These sounds get mixed in and are used to set some of the synthesis parameters.
On the physical controller side of things, the latest incarnation of Quarries features 2 Sensel Morphs, a Faderfox DJ44, and 2 Bodelein USB microscopes. The microscopes are live cameras, pointed downward at the table. I put drawings I’ve made under the scopes, scan these, and apply scanned rows of image data as waveforms for synthesis and as spatial trajectories/locations for sounds. Lately I’ve been using color information, applying color space to sound space. For instance the hue, saturation, and lightness (HSL) of pixels becomes azimuth, elevation, and distance. Another way I use these scans is taking the luminance of pixel rows and applying these as time-varying transfer functions for waveshaping. The image then becomes like a distortion effect on a signal passing through it, the image reshapes the waveform.
The recent addition of the microscopes is a return to some earlier work where I used live cameras for real-time graphic sound synthesis. Image to sound conversion has been happening in Quarries all along, but earlier it was only visible in my interface as a type of digital score. While adapting the work for multi-channel loudspeaker arrays, I decided that I wanted to bring back the physicality of using actual drawings and the camera.
The Sensel Morphs are now essential to my set-up. Right now I’m using these without overlays, (though I am using the overlays for other things). On each I’ve mapped out four regions for 14-bit MIDI XYZ. I apply these to synthesis and effects parameters. One of the regions is a quad-mixer between the effects. Pressure is mostly applied to feedback and filter settings. I really love that the Morph does 14-bit MIDI, the resolution is great. Sometimes, I’ll use toothpicks when my fingers aren’t precise enough as instruments.
I use two of the Morphs because there are two synthesis voices, each with the same set of parameters. That logic of two voices carries over to the Faderfox controller. I use it mostly as the layout suggests - like a DJ mixer, though with idiosyncrasies.
I’ve been performing with versions of this particular system since 2016, adding and subtracting different elements. At times Eurorack modules and live sound sources have been incorporated.
Some additional places I’ve performed the work include Cube Fest 2016 at Virginia Tech, BEAST FeAST 2017 at University of Birmingham in the UK, and ICMC 2018 in Daegu, S. Korea - as well as venues and clubs in and around Providence.
When I first met you at the workshop, you were just starting to introduce multi-speaker, spatial audio into select classes. Now you have progressed to having a dedicated, multi-channel, multi-speaker system called The Spatial Audio Studio in downtown Providence. RISD is not really known as a music or sound production school - it’s more concerned with design and the tangible world. Why is sound, and spatial audio in particular, an important part of “design?” How does the invisible world of “air pressure modulation” fit into a curriculum that has produced architects, sculptors, and fine artists?
Our new spatial audio studio at RISD features a 25.4 loudspeaker array within a purpose built, acoustically isolated room. This allows students to effectively work with a variety of spatial audio techniques, including high order ambisonics.
Sound is a bridge between our majors at RISD. I’ve seen students from nearly every discipline engage sound in sophisticated ways. The sonic arts and sound design have been on the periphery of the curricula for a long time, sometimes addressed within a degree program as it pertains to a specific field: for instance, an acoustics course in Interior Architecture, a sound for screen course in Film/Animation/Video, or a Furniture Design course that partnered with Steinway Pianos. Other times, courses have been available as electives, such as offerings in our Digital+Media Department and Liberal Arts Division. RISD also has a great relationship with Brown University, and students interested in sound have cross-registered for courses in Brown’s Music Department for years. RISD faculty, staff, and students are active in the Providence music community. There is a significant history of musicians and bands emerging from RISD. Most known are the Talking Heads, but later groups like Les Savy Fav and Lightning Bolt also come to mind, as well as musicians like Pat Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem, Phil Puleo of Swans… the list could get quite long.
I think this momentum has brought RISD to the present moment, where we’ve created this new, forward-thinking, sound studio, and have been building up the sonic arts curriculum, specifically in our undergraduate concentration Computation, Technology, and Culture and our graduate MFA degree in Digital+Media.
You asked why is sound an important part of design. I’ll flip that question. How could sound not be important for design? I hear examples every day of choices made in design and architecture where sound was not considered as an important aspect and likely causes negative effects. In fine arts, many students position their work within contemporary practices which can be mixed and multimedia, sometimes installation, sometimes screen-based. Once more than the visual is addressed in their work, the need for education in sonic arts becomes clear.
Most people are probably familiar with surround sound in their homes or in theaters, but you are working with is very different from a 5.1 system that someone might have at home. On top of that, the ubiquity of earbuds and headphones has really put the “hi-fi” experience into the “particular old man” category. How do students take the specialized experience that you teach into the broader experience of daily life? I’m trying to avoid the word “consumer” here.
In terms of spatial audio, one of the reasons for growing interest is the latest wave in immersive media (360-degree video, virtual/mixed/augmented reality). Sound design and composition can be equal to the visual in creating these immersive experiences. One of the reasons I stress the need to work with multi-channel loudspeaker arrays and not only headphones, is that the experience of sound is not only through the ears. There is a tactility to sonic experience, those air pressure waves that hit your skin and get to your bones. Headphone listening also cuts one off from their acoustic environment. While sometimes headphones are necessary or preferable, loudspeaker listening blends with the sounds of a place. That’s an opportunity.
We don’t know exactly what the future holds for spatial audio technologies. At some future point what seems now novel in spatial audio could become ubiquitous. In some industries the approach to “surround sound” has already expanded quite a bit, as in cinema, theater, and gaming. Eric Lyon from Virginia Tech has a great paper called the “The Future of Spatial Computer Music” where he suggests music specifically composed for high density loudspeaker arrays is still in an early phase and that there is much room for research and innovation. In the computer music field, 8-channel sound systems are fairly standard. Because of this, there are many ideas and techniques to draw from in composing for larger arrays, but there is also plenty of ground for experimentation and new ideas.
Beyond the esoteric, philosophical, and aesthetic challenges and implications of spatial audio, what are some of the technical challenges and requirements?
For sure, there are lots of challenges. One of the problems is how to compose or design for spatial audio when you don’t have access to a multi-channel speaker array. Fortunately one can use spatial audio techniques such as ambisonics with headphone listening. This involves decoding the ambisonic channels for binaural using HRTFs --- adjusting for how sound moves around a human head. Mileage varies, but that approach can be useful when all you have is your laptop and you’re trying to estimate how something will work on more than 2 speakers.
In terms of challenges for setting up a loudspeaker array, there are considerations like deciding on acoustic treatment for the space, the type and number of loudspeakers, and requirements for mounting, cabling, powering. Then, how to get your sound to the loudspeakers - choices to make about audio interfaces and software. With a large array, networked audio standards like Dante and AVB have made set-up and management much easier, and flexible. We’re using the AVB standard, available with MOTU interfaces. These give us plenty of I/O, and the ability to reroute signals in a web browser. With software, there are some considerations. For instance, making sure that you know what the maximum number of available output channels can be, so you are able to address all the speakers in your array. Another software consideration is what spatial audio libraries or plugins are available for your preferred DAW or programming language.
We’ve already touched on the fun parts of your work. I’m guessing that there’s a big challenge to get new ideas accepted in an institution with a long history and legacy, even one that is dedicated to creativity. I don’t want to lead you into casting shade on RISD, but I am interested in some of the challenges and politics of leading change in institutional thinking.
A difficulty is that although one should obviously expect proposed changes to take time and be met with a review process, there can be moments when momentum is lost because other issues take precedence. It takes patience and persistence to get a new curriculum going or a new academic space up and running. There’s no way to do it unless other people agree with your idea and somehow advocate for or join in the work. Development of a proposal has to include revisions based on feedback from administrators, colleagues, students, and other stakeholders. Other initiatives will take priority and might delay things. It’s important to recognize which detours actually get you closer to what you want to achieve. Eventually you reach the point of seeking the necessary approvals, writing and making presentations for relevant committees, and if all goes well, implementing the idea.
When I started teaching full-time at RISD in 2010, I already had the idea to build up the sound curriculum and create a multi-channel studio. To me the need was evident. My office hours were jammed with students seeking advice on sound, programming, and electronics. I had great support from leadership, but I needed to demonstrate the value of this curriculum and the type of space I imagined. So, it became a question of what was possible at the time that could build toward that goal. On the curriculum side I was able to establish new courses; and a group of us eventually created a concentration (which is like a interdisciplinary minor) called Computation, Technology, and Culture. That process took a few years, but the progress was steady. For the space, there were 2 earlier versions of what is now the spatial audio studio. The first was an 8-channel array that we set-up for class sessions, but had to break down afterwards. The limitation of not being able to permanently install the speakers led to version 2, which was a 10.2 system installed in RISD’s former library. The old library had become an alternative presentation space for lectures and performances, and we were able to advocate for some acoustic treatments to the room. This space was a much more developed proof of concept. The challenge was that this venue was in high demand and served many functions beyond our use. By working there for a few years, the need for a dedicated studio became clearer and we were able to show what problems the new space could solve.
What software do you use for composing and sound design?
Currently in the spatial audio studio, for DAWs it’s mainly Reaper and Ableton Live. For audio programming: Max, Pure Data, and Supercollider. There’s also a host of plugins and libraries for spatial audio including: Envelop for Live, packages from ICST and IRCAM for Max, Ambisonic Toolkit for Supercollider and Reaper. I’m excited to see what students will do with the Sensel Morph in this space. I think the innovator overlay will get a lot of use.
In my own work, I primarily use Max and Pure Data.
How has this toolset evolved over time?
I started using Max when I began my graduate studies in computer music in fall 2001 at Brown University. People were already using Wacom digitizing tablets as an interface for Max, and I quickly adopted them in my performance practice. Coming from a visual arts background, the action of drawing as a gesture made a lot of sense to me. With the Intuos 2 tablet, you could independently track the position, tilt, and pressure of multiple pens and the pressure sensitivity was very high. The downside of the Wacom tablet was that eventually I’d break a pen and it was costly to replace. So, I started to look for older tablets that people were discarding. I scored a bunch of old 12x12” serial tablets, the Wacom UD-II, and at one point had four of these going at the same time. But with these the resolution wasn’t as good as the Intuos line; and I continued to break pens. Eventually I’d run out of them.
I then tried various trackpads. At the time, multi-touch was available with the iGesture Pad from Fingerworks. Then Apple acquired them and provided multi-touch trackpads on laptops and released the bluetooth Magic Trackpad. With the “fingerpinger” external, you could get the data from these. I’d often use two for performances. Another development I incorporated was multi-touch data from iPads, sent wirelessly over OSC. The multi-touch aspect was exciting and not relying on a stylus was a plus. But, the trouble I’ve always had with these as interfaces is the wireless aspect. Inevitably I’d lose connection in the middle of a performance. Usually because a battery shook loose or some random interference. I really needed a wired connection for robustness.
The Sensel Morph came just at the right time for me. It solves problems I had with earlier interfaces and provides new capabilities. I’m glad to be able to use the gestural vocabulary I developed over years with similar interfaces.
Below is a performance using one Morph and the iPad, before two Morphs were integrated into the setup. Beware of volume levels! This is not top 40 music, but pushing the boundaries of sound!
As a teacher, you get to see a lot of new ideas and manifestations of sound and technology design. What are some of your favorites and works that surprised you most?
There’s a lot! A few recent alums come to mind.
Rosa Sungjoo Park created an installation that involved multichannel audio where the speakers were transducers hidden within wooden sculptures arranged around a room. In order to hear the piece you had to put your ear to the wood, which in turn forced your body to move a certain way in relation to the sculpture. A sort of dance emerged as audience members moved between the pieces.
Will Urmston worked with the Web Audio API to create a piece performed by the audience using their phones. It was a nice way to think about spatial audio, with the number of speakers being variable and the speakers being small and frequency-limited.
Savannah Barkley made several immersive sound works that explored hearing and touch, one featured a sculptural cymatics piece, another explored the capacitive properties of plants. These were stunning, interactive experiences.
Cassidy Batiz made her own 8-channel cube array with 2x4s and car speakers for Sonus a performance that used ambient light sensors to determine parameters for sound processing.
Michael Moyal created a skateboard with a sleeve you would slide your phone into. Called Skate And Play, the phone was running MobMuPlat (which you program with Pd). With some sensors added as well as GPS and accelerometer data from the phone, he generated a real-time ambient soundtrack for the rider over bluetooth headphones. It was a really ambitious project and he put it all together in the span of a few weeks.
]]>Preview Audio:
Get the Nate Hendrix sound pack for free from the Sensel store. Keep up to date with Nate and get his links on his Soundcloud (be sure to check his wide-ranging album "Venus" from last year!).
]]>
Superbooth is a three day extravaganza of all things synthesizer. Held at FEZ-Berlin, a children's museum and recreation building built in 1979 by the GDR, it maintains it's socialist 70's chic and sense of large-scale community. However, when filled with the world's inventory of patchable synthesizer and electronic music curiosities, DIY workshops for the solder-curious, and a rotating cast of small yet amazing musical stages, it is a perfect place for Europe to get to know the Morph!
Display Week is a decidedly less artistic tradeshow. Filling the massive Los Angeles Convention Center, It is where the rubber meets the road, and companies and people gather to figure out the broad problem of how to make screens work for everything from VR to cars, your pocket to sport stadiums, the coatings on top to the transistors below, and beyond. Among the curved displays, AR, transparent displays, and other future designs, we setup some special demos to prove our superior touch technology can not only integrate into displays, but make the experience far better.
Moogfest, like Superbooth, presents electronic music makers, companies, and performers in a four day festival in Durham, North Carolina. No longer a tobacco economy, the only smoke you're likely to inhale is the "blue smoke" coming from an ill-advised connection in one of the synth-building workshops. With a greater emphasis on concerts, and a smaller gear expo than Superbooth, Moogfest attracts a more casual fan. That still gave a lot of people the opportunity to check out the Morph amongst the ferns, guitar pedals, synthesizers and MIDI controllers. We were also excited to find the Morph an important part of Moog’s Geert Bevin preset the Morph as an important part in a Mobile Music setup!
NIME is an academic conference that gathers researchers, students, professors, and artists pushing the boundaries of music with the aim of creating New Instruments for Musical Expression. Sensel's Peter Nyboer and Alex Grau started off the four day conference with a workshop that put the Morph in people's hands to try out the API, Max object, and the Overlay Designer to see how quickly a New Musical Instrument can be Expressed! We also setup a demo table and had incredible conversations with all the attendees.
In a crowd that takes bespoke custom instruments very seriously, we were pleased to find that most were very impressed with the Morph. And it wasn’t just demos - Rhode Island School Of Design’s Sean Greenlee performed his piece in the Virgina Tech Cube (134+ speakers!) that used a custom interface with the Morph API. We’ll be sure to get more details from him soon. We've got a few pictures below, but check out the extensive coverage from our friends at Cycling '74 - Gregory Taylor dug deep!
Not as fun to look at as Superbooth, but universal access takes a lot of planning!]]>
Swapping overlays is one way to keep you in the flow of your music, making sure your fingers (or sticks!) have the right controls underneath, without taking up a bunch of space. Installing our script for Live gets you even deeper, giving you immediate control over a tracks clips, overdubbing, effects, and navigating your session view with incredible ease.
In short, we've kept all the incredible playability of the Morph, and added production-quality workflow to the mix. Don't just "push" - tap, smack, stroke, glide, and hit with the incredible dynamic range of the Morph!
Want to learn more? Watch the tutorial below to get all the details. Checkout and Download the script from our store, and, if you prefer the written word, check out our comprehensive setup and use guide to learn all about it. We also include some great new percussion sounds in this set, so you'll be glad to have it.
]]>But we weren't done. Remember this sentence from the Kickstarter campaign?
We’re developing a simple web-based drag-and-drop interface that will go live when the first batch of devices ship. With this interface, you will be able to design your own overlay without having to do any coding. You will then be able to print them on paper (for use with the Innovators Overlay), or 3D print the overlays yourself. Pretty cool, huh?"
That does sound cool! While you've seen tons of improvements in the SenselApp and the firmware, building on what we shipped from the Kickstarter. Now, we're ready to release the Overlay Designer with our public beta.
Here's how you get started. We've wrapped all the Overlay Design functions into the SenselApp and firmware updates. So all you have to do is download the latest SenselApp to update it, and from there, update your firmware to 0.16.74 from within the App.
Once you've updated, you can use the Innovator's Overlay to layout controls by drawing shapes and moving them to the right place on the sensor. If you don't have an Innovator's Overlay, you can put the "No Overlay" into Innovator's Overlay mode. When you want to attach MIDI, Keyboard, Game, Mouse, or other commands to the controls, you just switch over to Map mode and send it to the Morph.
When you have tested and are satisfied with the controls, you can print them to a piece of paper and put it under the Innovator's Overlay. Or...even more magic...print it with a 3D printer. That, of course, will take a bit more tweaking and time, but no doubt some of you will make some amazing creations.
This is a really new idea and we feel will lead to incredibly rapid prototyping, creative projects, and amazing new concepts in creative control of computers. That's why we are calling this a beta - we want to see what you do with it and what projects people make. That's why you'll see the new "Feedback" button. Click this and tell us what you think is good and what could be improved.
Read more in our comprehensive documentation and follow people's work in our forum.
]]>We recently got our hands on an Arturia Microbrute. This really simple analog synth is usually used to make bass lines and melodies. But with the right tweaking, we found we could make some really great drum sounds.
We set up templates and drum racks for Bitwig Studio and Ableton Live (9 & 10) to make it easy to get into your creative flow. We've also added custom effects chains so you can dial these sounds into your own mix. Finally, each DAW features some deep bass presets, making this a complete set for finding a new groove. For those using other software, we have the raw samples available too.
Head over to our store to register and download the samples.