Since we're (finally) considering cockpit complementing looks as being an important feature for our gear - no matter how much we rationalize it, it's simply the ultimate truth - those of us who own the SL have to admit we got a little bit frustrated seeing that our X/Y pad could just as well be round shaped for holding a glass of wine (at least we'd use it for something) and that the mid range keyboard has better looks for alien exploration. I think they've clearly borrowed some ideas from their launchpad and went for a combo with this thing: the new pads are responsive even for people who don't hit them with hammers, they have light coding which is great for live usage of Live and two wheels illuminated - like the UltraNova synthesizer. Considering we don't really use the pads (unless for on/off like buttons on software stuff and Live), we don't use the x/y either even for placing a glass of wine (even though maybe there's some square shaped glasses that will fit in there. for more information on this subject search the novation's user forum)... If I was to buy one today, I'd probably go for that thing except, of course, for the midi functionality. The only aspect where the SL is still the king to be dethroned. This new one from them, LaunchKey (the name confirms that our alien travel aspirations have been heard by Novation, making Access probably the brand that reads this forum the less, probably, but we're getting somewhere here for sure...) kind of confirms their new tendency for dedicating their products to generic midi usage, specially controlling software, and nowadays, most specially Ableton Live - that's been gaining momentum for a while now and is probably the biggest growing market for dedicated controllers at the moment.
So, what do they have to say for people like Rob, here, that has invested in creating a huge collection of alien artifacts for dissecting the hidden frequencies from parallel dimensions? Not much, the midi functionality is (still) there in the SL, even though it's clearly not their main focus - and the manual bears witness to this promptly. If we think about it, the whole market seems to be with one foot on completely inside the box stuff, or weird controllers for software and on the other we have the analogue nostalgia with the new spring of analogue mono synthesizers hitting the market.
Ok... Not bad. But, why do I feel like there should be controllers made with synthesizer fanatics in mind: with great knobs (I do mean great), layouts that remind us of the best and most tweakable beasts and, perhaps, innovative performance features like those present in this little devices we talked about here. Plus, of course, great Midi connectivity with ease of use in mind - and the glass holder with the right shape the next time, please. If it works like that, it could be replaced by a toaster to, I mean, we need our cheese sandwiches while we're listening to those mad sounds we just did in loop, right? More so then we need to press this thing like we're killing an ant on the garden table (and would we need to press it this much for that? nope!). so... midi controllers need to get better, we enjoy the flashing lights, it makes our rooms look cool for sure, gives a new meaning to our electricity bills and all of that...
|