Gregory Taylor

As you may have noticed, I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about step sequencers. 

I expect that an image of a particular step sequencer pops into the head of everyone who utters the phrase “step sequencer” out loud (Go on… try it!): Your very first step sequencer. The step sequencer you’re wondering about perhaps porting to Max/MSP. The last step sequencer variation you saw popping up on maxforlive.com. That step sequencer named after Euclid. The step sequencer that’s in your Eurorack setup right now. The step sequencer you wish you could afford….

You get the picture, I hope. While I wrote Step by Step with the somewhat abstract goal of trying to communicate how Max users think about large-scale projects and think with Max, the choice of the kind of project to approach was easy - everybody loves step sequencers. Since the book’s appearance, I’ve gotten all kinds of questions about things I didn’t put in the book, too (that’s what follow-up books are for, after all). But there’s one thing I really didn’t put in the book that I’d like to talk about here: examples of really cool approaches to sequencing that are a bit off the beaten track.

I’d like to introduce you to one of those sequencers that definitely fell into the “sequencer I wish I could afford” category for me, and turn you on to a beautiful Max standalone application implementation of it: The Klee Sequencer.

First hint of the awesome? Naming the sequencer for the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee. As Scott Stites, the sequencer's creator, tells it in his entertainingly written Birth of the Klee Sequencer:

Romeo Fahl built a version of this shift register sequencer and named it the "Klee Sequencer", using the word "Klee" as a play on words combining my reference to programming the thing being like "molding clay" with the similarity of its innate abstraction to the work of the artist Paul Klee (which is, of course, pronounced "clay").

 And yeah - if you know Paul Klee's work, it's an inspired bit of naming, indeed.

So what makes the Klee Sequencer different? As Scott Stites describes in his introductory guide to the device, the difference has to do with an insight that’s straight-ahead to someone with a background in electronics (or programming), but maybe less so to the rest of us:

Instead of thinking of a step sequencer as a counter, think of it as a pattern of ones and zeros that correspond to individual steps. Instead of counting through the sequence, you trigger it by taking that pattern and rotating it to the right (or left) and using the pattern to select which event to trigger.

Here’s a simple pair of Max patches that demonstrate that difference. The left-hand example cycles through a set of steps to generate a note offset to create a sequence, while the right-hand example creates the same output by cycling through a pattern of ones and zeros to generate the note offsets.

Hardware and software engineers use the term “shift register” to describe that principle, and that’s what’s basically at the heart of the Klee sequencer. The crucial insight behind the sequencer lies in the idea that you can use the shift register technique to generate more than one event at a time by modifying the pattern of ones and zeros, and then sum the offsets associated with each step in the sequence to create interesting and complex sequences.

Note: Lots of Max programmers use the Max bucket object when they work with shift registers (and I'm sure that lots of them could share versions of the above patch that are bucket-centric with you. I invite them to do so, in fact). I use the zl rot object instead because it lets me do two things that aren't that easy with the bucket object: I can rotate my register backward (by setting the step for the zl rot object to a negative number), and I can also "count" through the register by different numbers than 1 (again, by setting the step value for the zl rot object to something other than 1).

Here’s a Max patch that demonstrates how it works:

Cool, huh? Of course, this simple example is working with note offsets rather than the control voltages associated with the Klee hardware sequencer. And one of the other reasons for the Klee sequencer's fabled status is that there are a myriad of wonderful variations that can be generated by building out from this simple example. If you'd like to get a sense of what those features are now that you've got the basic idea, here's a great video that covers some of the sequencer's features:

If you’re like me, you probably finished that video and started wondering about spending a little quality patching time.

You’re not alone. In fact, someone’s already done all the heavy lifting: Dan Nigrin has - in cooperation with the Klee sequencer’s designer - created a kick-ass standalone version of the Klee which is not only faithful to the original, but also extends it in some interesting new directions.

A little judicious clicking around on Dan’s website would suggest that he’s just as interested in variations on the traditional step sequencer as we are. In addition to his standalone version of the Klee sequencer, you’ll also find Max-based versions of RYK’s M185 Step Sequencer, along with CycliC, a really fascinating sequencer developed in collaboration with Mutable Instruments’ Olivier Gillet. 

Here’s what Dan had to say about his experience with the Klee sequencer:

When I first stumbled onto the Klee, I was thoroughly fascinated by it, in reading all the documentation I could find, watching online videos, etc... - but I found that I kept asking myself how I would effectively use it in my studio. The hardware Klee sequencer works with control voltages, and I only had a few voltage controlled synths that I could use with it. That would have been fine, but I kept thinking about clock sync with other MIDI gear, etc... - in short, although I was sure it would have made a great addition to my studio as a control voltage-based unit, I kept coming back to the fact that I needed a MIDI version of it, both MIDI sync-able as well as MIDI note transmitting. I read through a few posts in the Electro-music.com forum about these issues, and saw that some people had created the ability to integrate MIDI into the Klee (or at least ideas for such). But then it dawned on me that I could reproduce most of the Klee's functions in software, which would allow me to get that MIDI integration I wanted!

Although there was mention of some software-based Klee sequencers on the forum, none were available in a format that worked for me; they were built for a Nord Modular G2, for a ComputerVoltageSource module, for the Numerology program, or for the ChucK programming language. No regular old Mac or Windows applications that I could use with the rest of my MIDI gear. So I decided to build it myself.

The result is Dan's implementation of the Klee sequencer. It's an impressive piece of work - a well-documented standalone version of the Klee (updated to version 2.3 just this week, with some nice new features added) available as a tire-kicker's demo, supported by video tutorials covering topics from basic functionality and new Klee features specific to the Max implementation, to more practical matters like syncing the Klee to Ableton Live. It's well done, and well worth your attention, either as an addition to your software toolset, or as a source of ideas and inspiration. Check it out!

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Klee_examples.zip

This is a brief demo of the key features of the Klee Sequencer.

Klee Sequencer Tutorial Demo Part 1

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I’ve been thinking a lot about step sequencers recently, and about different approaches to the idea. I’d like to introduce you to one of those sequencers in its hardware and software incarnations - Scott Stites' Klee sequencer.

softwarehardware-overview-let-us-praise-the-klee-sequencer

Had only heard of the Klee on various forums but never anything much in detail. Now I know what all the fuss is about, very cool sequencer.  Looking forward to trying out the software version of it...that built version eventually, I hope. :D 

Thanks for the kind words. There are a large number of YouTube videos out there from people who just got their Klee or were using it in the studio (in Eurorack and other formats, too) that really didn't give a very good idea of what was actually being modified when the person on camera was flipping switches or moving faders or dials, although it's clear that they were having a pretty good time. It was great to find the Noisetoys video, since it ran down the controls in nice detail - so all I had to do was to make my simple Max example and pair it with the YT video. Win-win. I hope it brought things about this interesting sequencer into focus.

And while it's only briefly mentioned, the Mutable Instruments/Defectiverecords collaboration on the CycliC sequencer is a subtle and amazing piece of work that's worthy of your attention, too.

Thanks for the fantastic article Gregory, not to mention all the super nice stuff you said about my work!

Software/Hardware Overview: Let Us Praise the Klee Sequencer

Along with all inhabitants of The Current Age, Maxistas and their Max for Live cousins are lucky enough to live in a time when the world is full of traditional acoustic and electronic instruments and software versions of them, as well; for the composer and musician, that leads to some interesting new conundrums: should we go physical or virtual? That question has become increasingly broad, too - it’s not just a matter of pitting an upright Steinway or a dual-manual Harpsichord against, say,  their Pianoteq physically-modeled doppelgangers. I’m sure that nearly all of you can name the synth of your choice and rattle off any number of plug-ins or applications that do a magnificent job of attempting to reproduce the physical instrument you name, right? And - most recently - the arrival of initiatives such as the open source VCV Rack project means that we can talk about virtual Eurorack setups.

I'd like to spend a little time talking about software and hardware resources for a much-beloved electronic instrument where it's actually rare to find someone waxing nostalgic for the physical original: the Mellotron.

The Mellotron, like its immediate predecessor the Chamberlin, is an early 1960s-era proto-sampler that used recordings on audio tape as its sound source. The method of production was electromechanical - when you pressed down a key, a piece of tape corresponding to that pitch (it was polyphonic) would be brought into contact with a tape head to play back the sampled sound - sort of a keyboard with a one-shot tape player under each key.

If such a system sounds like it would be complex to design, it was (see the section A Little Background below for more on this). 

If such a system sounds as though it might result in a pretty finicky instrument, um... it was.

If such a system sounds as though it might not necessarily become an iconic sound, it did. In fact, it's one of those interesting cases where the imitation of one instrument or set of instruments took on such a recognizable form that the playback instrument itself - with all of its vagaries and idiosyncrasies - became an object of desire.

That's not a description of the sound of the instrument though - which is almost immediately recognizable in recordings by any number of artists from the 60s on (we can start with the Prog trinity of Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis, step sideways into pop from The Moody Blues, The Beatles and Oasis and on through to Blond Redhead and Arcade Fire. Its iconic sound is seldom mistaken for anything else (with the possible exception of its forerunner the Chamberlin, which you probably know from recordings like Iggy Pop's The Idiot or XTC's Skylarking). 

As a soundtrack to this article, here's a magnificent Spotify Mellotron-o-centric playlist. You're welcome!

I think that nearly everyone I know who ever owned a Mellotron has their own stories, mostly having to do with the physical system. In my case, it's how I first learned what azimuth meant when applied to recording heads and tape, and where I first heard that crumply and darkly garbled string sound that made me crazy back then (my unit wasn't in the best of shape when I acquired it at a bargain price), and then broke my heart when I heard its near relative appear during William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops (funny how things change). In fact, I first thought that that clunk noise that happened when I hit the end of my tape and released the key was something out of whack, too - you can imagine my surprise when I encountered Mellotron samples that included the clunk....

My pal Mike Metlay, who I’ve long appreciated for his particular cocktail of acerbic wit and gear-fu, puts the matter rather succinctly:

The Mellotron? I adore the sounds, but my personal quest is to figure out as many ways as possible to get those sounds out into the world without ever actually having to use the hardware. 

Note: That about sums it up, with two caveats: First (and most importantly), Mellotrons are still being made by the folks at Streetly Electronics, who’ve manufactured the Mellotron since the beginning. Their current version - the M4000 - will set you back bigtime, but the only person of my acquaintance who's been near one just raved about the thing. His opinion was that all of the things that made us crazy as previous owners of the physical instrument have been seen to. - it is, by all accounts, the instrument that any and all of us who've actually owned one wish we'd had. Second, there are physical instruments that seek to retain the sonic quality of the originals but make use of newer technologies that are an option for those folks who want a keyboard instrument. We'll talk about those instruments later.

A Little Background (Rabbit Hole Trigger Warning)

Regardless of what kind of musical instrument you’re talking about - acoustic or electronic - musical instruments as physical objects are all instantiations of arguments about what the best way to translate small-motor coordination-related input into musical output might be. 

Further, the world is full of musicians whose innovations are based in some deep understanding or intuition derived from the study of how it is that a particular instrument does its job. 

To that end, if you’re interested in a little down-the-rabbit-hole time, you’ll find ample food for thought in a little reading up on the history of the Mellotron as a series of engineering solutions. I’d suggest starting with the Mellotron entry in the Engineering Wiki for starters, followed by some quality time with the folks at Streetly Electronics, then off to the French or English-language Mellotron histories on the Candor Chasma site (pro tip: take a moment to burrow into the Fairlight CMI stuff there, too), a visit to the Vintage Synth Explorer's Mellotron entry, and a final stop at , Markus Resch’s Mellotron site.

So - if, like me, you're a lover of the instrument (with or without the experience of having owned one), what are your options for Mellotronics that you can fire up and hook up to Max? 

Alternately, suppose you've run your budget and you just can't afford one of those magnificent new Streetly M4000s? What are your options?

Since I opened this article with a discussion of the Mellotron as a physical object, it seems fitting that we'd talk first about non-virtual versions of the Mellotron. You've got a couple of options.

Of course, the Traditional Values approach (apart from finding a used Mellotron that's not already been snapped up for studio use and trying to whip it into shape) would be a brand-spanking-new Mellotron of your own from Streetly Electronics, loaded with the tape racks of your choice....

(Note: You'll be seeing references throughout this article to "the Streetly tapes." That's a reference to the fact that the sounds that went into the Mellotron came from Streetly, and - over time - they really went into the "sample collection" business as they made custom racks for their famous clients. Many of the products listed here list usage of Streetly's original tapes as a selling point, and that's why - they're the originals.)

If you still long for the physicality of the instrument, check your budget and start saving. While you're doing this, you might want to have a look at this extensive Mellotron M4000 review from the folks at Sound on Sound, who had a chance to woodshed with one for an extended period of time. It's the kind of review that some of us faithfully read Sound on Sound for.

In the digital realm, you've got a few options for keyboards (and rack mount units) that preserve the original Mellotron tapes in a system that involves digital playback of stored samples. Over at mellotron.com, Markus Resch at mellotron.com has been manufacturing the Mellotron Mark VI since 1999 and the Mellotron Mark VII since 2005 (they are both still in production), and continue to support Mellotrons and Chamberlins with parts for the refurbisher (tape frames, motor controls and other spare parts). 

What's more interesting to me has been Markus' move into hybrid Mellotron instruments that combine the original Samples with a streaming digital playback system. As you might imagine, his instruments are somewhat more portable, and you're not likely to knock the tapes out of alignments by dropping the 'tron on your foot. His Mellotrons are available in three different sizes and formate, from the deluxe wooden-keyed Mellotron M4000D , the Mellotron MINI, and the Mellotron MICRO. Resch paid a visit to Westlake Audio and talked about all three of these instruments in considerable detail in this video - I think it'll be a great help to figuring out which one might best suit your needs. Oh - and there's a rackmount version of the M400D, too.

You may know the Berlin-based Manikin folks for their Eurorack modules or the Schrittmacher Step Sequencer they created in collaboration with Klaus Schulze. They're Mellotron fans, too. Their digital version of the Mellotron - the Memotron - comes in two flavors - a keyboard and a keyboardless module. If you'd like a more complete rundown on the instrument with particular attention to its sample contents (they not only provided some of the material for the G-Force M-Tron Pro, but they also include the Streetly Tapes as part of their Sound Collections for the instrument, too) I'd direct you to this review on Sound on Sound. I had a chance to play one at a recent Superbooth, and it's a really nice physical instrument to engage with.

Finally, it's useful to stop for a moment and consider whether or not anyone's treated the sounds of the Mellotron as something that can be mapped onto an existing sample-playback keyboard. While there were some earlier instruments that went for cloning Mellotron timbres, things for current instruments are a little thin on the ground. If you're an owner of a Nord however, you're in luck. There's a wonderfully complete Mellotron Sample Library in their archive for your downloading and playing pleasure.

Those physical instruments may well be interesting, but lots of us are all about the virtual - apps or plug-ins we can plot onto our laptops and haul off to the gig or drop into our favorite DAW.

As we begin this part of the journey, I'll quote my fellow Mellotronista pal Mike Metlay once again:

The most important thing to note about the Mellotron is that the various digital equivalents are primarily differentiated from one another by the content that comes with them. Every company that makes a software Mellotron does so with access to different master tapes, so as a result, a truly comprehensive library is nearly impossible to find. Currently the best one out there is M-Tron Pro by GForce, but even it is not complete… They did the original MTron, which had some samples that have since been blocked by their copyright owners and are no longer available.

as a result, you can end up buying six or seven different products in order to try to get everything you need, and still come up short. Nevertheless, a fair number of the available choices have all of the famous ones that people want as a matter of course.

As we enter the virtual realm for Mellotron applications/plug-ins, the motherlode for me is, as Mike suggested, G-Force’s M-Tron Pro. It’s the follow-up to their original M-Tron instrument, with the addition of dual layers, half-speed capabilities and subtractive synthesis filters to extend the instrument. This extended set of controls is all properly MIDI-mapped (which should appeal to the Max user out there interested in generative Mellotron mayhem), as well. You can find Sound on Sound's recap of its features here.

As a plug-in user, I ran through the list I'm about to give you, and fell I ought to be honest up front: my go-to instrument (with a sidetrip I'll describe briefly in a minute) is the M-Tron Pro full stop. The deciding factor for me was G-Force's support for additional sample banks. The add-on sample banks expand the instrument in terms of timbral choices (the Streetly Electronics tape archives are being released in increments, each one providing interesting new choices and a variety of what my colleague Darwin Grosse would certainly not describe as "crap presets." So My M-Tron Pro app includes not only a hefty set of traditional Mellotron libraries, but also a variety of the instruments near and distant cousins  - the Chamberlin, the Birotron, the Optigan, and the Orchestron, too (pro tip: if you're a string synthesizer afficionado, you might want to check out G-Force's Virtual String Machine and see if any exotic string synth you can name isn't listed).

In addition, there are a few apps out there that include a nod to the most iconic Mellotron sounds as part of their libraries - the Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2.5 library includes a pretty nice subset, as does the MOTU Electric Keys package. They sound good, but we're doing a deep dive into the larger and more expansive Mellotron-based resources out there.

When it comes to audio plug-ins, it should come as no surprise that here's where you'll find the most options in terms of cost and features. The M-Tron Pro runs as VST plug-ins, but there are a host of other options. 

I'm going to try to stay close to dual-platform offerings (so you won't see any of the SynthEdit-based offerings for Windows, of which there are a handful out there - most in 32-bit, which doesn't help the Max 8 user) Let's take a quick look at a couple of them (I may have missed one or two plug-in options, so don't hesitate to let me know what I've missed). One great source for the Mellotronista is made possible by the ubiquity of Native Instruments' Kontakt - I'll be looking at a couple of Kontakt libraries here.

Let's start with my favorite freebie: the Leisureland Mellotron for Kontakt is based on a set of Mellotron samples that aren't in any sense of the term "cleaned up." There's no comforting blanket of EQ, the tape rack is wonky here and there, there are crackles, and it sounds like a really really cleaned up version of my old Mellotron from back in the day. If audio verité is your thing, this positively rules.

While I'm personally a die-hard M-Tron Pro user in more ordinary setting, my own artistic practice finds me with Hollow Sun's very snazzy (and recent) NewTron Bomb III in my performance rig. The recent upgrade adds the double/layering abilities I love with the M-Tron Pro, but - since it's a Kontakt instrument, it's got one other thing that I love (something that may not matter to you at all): I love that I have the ability to take a really nice Mellotron and throw it in with Kontakt's microtuning features so that I can use those timbres in my non-western tuning-based work.

Finally, the folks at Puremagnetik have a couple of wonderful Mellotron offerings, too. Since they're also available as Max for Live Packs, I'm going to describe them below in the next section.

Please raise your hand if you'd be surprised to know that there are no native Ableton Live instruments for Mellotron lovers (Author notes a tentative hand or two raised by those who probably thought that having a Kontakt version would obviate the need for anything else and then thought better of it....). That's right - you're in luck. That blank instrument space in your CryptoProg Live set or that unspoken-for .amxd device in your MSP patch is in luck!

Let's start with something free: The nice folks at Sonic Bloom have a couple of free sets of Mellotron-based Live Pack bundles for you! Each pack contains a Simpler preset as well as three fully macro-mapped Instrument Racks (one of them always includes controls to add that all-important reverb). You can listen to samples of them and download the the first Pack here. 

The offering must have been interesting or fun or in demand, because they doubled their good karma by offering a second free Pack that focuses of Mellotron choral voices, too. You can listen to samples and download that pack here.

Pure Magnetik’s Microtron packages contain Mellotron 400 samples. There are four versions of them available as Live Packs - three available directly through Pure Magnetik, and one through Ableton:

Microtron Pack 1 contains Mellotron 400 Brass, 8 Voice Choir and String Section samples.

Microtron Pack 2 contains Flutes, Cellos, and octave Recorder samples.

Microtron Pack 3 contains Mellotron 400 Clarinet, French Horn, and Glenn Miller samples.

All three of these are combined in the deluxe Microtron Pack available on the Ableton website.

As I said before, the Puremagnetik Mellotron instruments are available as Ableton Live Packs, Kontakt instruments and as instruments for Logic 9 and above. I expect that as a Max/Max for Live user you’ll be more interested in the Live Pack version for dropping into your Live set or loading as an instrument hosted in an .amxd object. Quite reasonably priced, and they also show up on sale now and then.

Are you one of those hipsters or Luddites who wouldn't be caught dead with a computer on stage but not sufficiently wealthy to afford those physical instruments? Never fear. How about something for your iPad?

Lest you think I'm talking about a feature-reduced "fun app," I should point out that the last time I snuck backstage for a peak at the King Crimson stage layout, I discovered that their Mellotron was an iPad app. No, really.


The app (and my hands-down iPad Mellotron pick) is the Mellotronics 3000HD. Nicely priced, in-app purchases that let you customize your virtual 'tron to exactly the set of tapes you want, and the famous Streetly Tapes as the source? What's not to love?

And if you've got a little more scratch, there's the chrome-and-whitewalls-with-reclining-leather-seats-soft-as-butter M3000 Ultimate Edition.  I'm pretty sure that this is the iPad stuff that the Crim hit the road with. Sure sounds good out in the audience....


So - you want access to just a pile of sample Mellotron stuff for your own devious MSP ends? For this one, there's only one destination: the extensive library of free Leisureland Mellotron samples. We all - all of us - owe this guy a pint, a least. One of the features of the set I particularly like is that the creator makes any EQ decisions on our behalf when sampling the instrument banks - that way, you're free to adapt and filter them to your heart's content as you work.

And yes, this is the same precise set of samples that the free Kontakt instrument uses.

So there you have it - my official ranty Mellotron brain dump. I'm sure I've left things out, in which case you can bring us all up to date. 

MellotronM4000.jpg

Beyond things like the Stradivarius or the Les Paul, there are iconic electronic sounds, too - and perhaps no sound quite so iconic as the Mellotron. Here's a rundown of the instrument in its current forms, along with resources for the stage, studio, or bedroom-based Max user.

softwarehardware-overview-let-us-praise-the-mellotron

 nice list! for me the most important bit of the mellotron sound is missing from most recreations - the effect of tape drag on the motors: when you hold down more than a couple of keys on a real mellotron the resulting drag on the main motor lowers the pitch of all the notes slightly. this adds a bit of pitch variation that thickens the sound a bit and also forces the player into a lighter playing style - slurred arpeggios instead of held chords, etc

Nice article! For me the most important part of the mellotron sound is the tape drag: the more notes are held, the more drag there is on the main motor, and the lower the pitch sags. This adds a lovely detune, which sounds magical through delay, but more importantly, it changes the player's playing style - a lighter touch works better, so for example instead of big held chords you need to play slurred arpeggios.

I've attached a max for live device that does this: load the leisureland samples into an ableton sampler, make sure pitch bend is enabled in it and put this device before it in the channel.

"That light we see is burning in my hall.
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary* world."

(Portia, Merchant of Venice Act V Scene 2)
* I prefer Shakespeare's original "naughty world," which is a trace of an etymological shift of the word naughty, but everyone knows this line from Willy Wonka, which uses a more contemporary gloss

I should like to thank Gregory for the quotes. It's good to know that my particular brand of snark and pedantry has at least a small fandom.

I should note that the behavior James mentions above, of pitch drag due to an underpowered motor, is one of those characteristics of the Tron that some players consider vital and others consider only horrific. If you think you can't live without it, then don't buy the new tape-based Trons from Streetly or Mellotron.com -- they feature massively overpowered motors and rock-steady pitch, as well as modern digitally controlled capstans and transports that ensure playback without jamming or miscues.

Miscues? Enter a chapter of the Tron story that Gregory had no space for in his article: the original Trons, before the comparatively road-friendly M400 described above,  were even more complex and fiddly beasts... they didn't just have 3-track tapes with single sounds, they had spools of 3-track tape, with a new sound beginning every few feet, so a given machine could actually play back multiple sets of 3 sounds. The problem with this mechanism is that on top of all the M400's problems, it was also trying to shuttle 35 spools of tape to an exact start point in a matter of a few seconds at the press of a button. This massively multiplied the machine's chances of something going horribly wrong. The modern designs combine the size and shape of the M400 with the spooling of the older models, using digital control to ensure that you don't get sounds that start in the middle or glitch or grind or....

Another bit of behavior that real Trons have, that's only been emulated on Markus Resch's digital Trons and is not present in any software version anywhere, comes from the fact that the tapes need a moment to rewind after the keys are released, and a rapid retriggering will cause the tape to play from the middle (assuming it doesn't just jam or snap, that is). I do miss this capability, and I'm surprised that no one's built a rewind-time script into any of the Kontakt instruments, nor has it yet been added to M-Tron Pro (although I can hope) or to the Omenie iPad Mellotrons Gregory mentions (less likely, as the appeal of that beast is its extremely simplified UI).

Speaking of the iPad, by the way, if you have a few dollars to spend and an iPad or iPhone laying around, a Japanese developer does make an app called Manetron, which features the unpolished sound of his own personal Tron and eight different sounds. It's primitive compared to the Omenie, but way cheaper.

For my part, I never want to work with a real Tron again. I do love the sound, passionately—it's perhaps my favorite electric/electronic instrument ever—but I find the convenience and portability of software perfectly capable of satisfying my Tron jones. Your mileage will naturally vary.

There is this nice Pack on gumroad, don't know how it stacks with the other options, but it is cheap and sounds pretty nice (to me).

For Kontakt instruments, I'd say that the single biggest difference for any reproduction of an instrument has to do with whether you want your samples (in this case, the Mellotron) dry or wet. I much prefer those sample sets that don't decide how to process the sound of the instrument for me, or force me to do something like reverb removal. 

That said, I realize that this is a personal decision, and that this particular package sounds just fine. Your mileage may vary.

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Software/Hardware Overview: Let Us Praise the Mellotron

Cory Metcalf

I started using the Doepfer Pocket Dial and Fader back around 2000, and I’ve had a fondness for a good external controller ever since. There is something magical about moving the parameter space away from the mouse and keyboard and into the physical that opens up a completely different creative space. A couple of years ago I started developing a performance for my group, Noisefold, based around particle feedback systems. It was a case where the right kind of controller and mapping could either make or break the whole thing. The system was a complex web of feedback parameters with tight data thresholds. The really interesting aesthetic spaces were located right at the fringes, so there was a lot of risk, but also reward. With a few settings in the sweet spot, we would uncover an amazing array of aesthetic possibilities. But move a knob just a degree too far and it could instantly collapse in on itself or dissipate out into virtual space. This meant charting out a long series of cues to make sure controllers were in the right position when moving into new sequences. What we really needed was a whole bunch of infinite rotation pots. If I had only had the Midi Fighter Twister. 

At first glance the Midi Fighter Twister from DJTechTools might look like just another in a growing pool of knob controllers. When you look a little closer, you will find what I think is one of the most flexible knob-based controllers available anywhere. Every aspect of the thing seems well considered. Each of the 16 knobs not only has great action and feel, but is highly customizable, multi-modal, and can provide a meaningful range of feedback with the built-in LED’s. It even includes one of their shielded audio-optimized USB-B cables. With a tiny footprint of only 6 x 6 x 2.5 inches and weighing just over a pound, it’s a very portable and powerful USB controller that would find a happy home in any Maxer’s arsenal. I’ve been playing with it for about a month and have been very impressed by how feature rich and flexible it is and also how good and solid the thing feels. 

With 4 banks of 16 configurable knobs you get 64 unique controls, each capable of 2 streams of cc data and a switch function.The encoders are all “endless” (to use DJTechTools’ lingo) or infinite rotational pots, meaning they have no fixed rotation points. The action on the knobs is nice and fluid, but also stable enough that I don’t experience any data jumps when I let go of the knob or accidentally brush the next one over. The knobs themselves have a pleasant rubbery quality, making them easy to grip and feel under your fingers. (They can even be removed and replaced with custom colors). Output wise, there are two main modes: The “responsive” mode allows you to sweep through the midi range in the standard 270º arc of a standard fixed pot, while “high resolution” mode gives more fine-grained control. In addition to the primary rotary function they can also be pushed to act as toggles, triggers or parameter resets, or depressed and rotated to send a secondary stream of control data (or switch from one resolution mode to another). There is also a detent mode, which sets a small deadzone around the 12 o’clock position, making it easy to return to the center value of a parameter without having to search for dead center. Additionally there is a feature called “super knob” that allows any number of knobs to share a control value across only part of the encoder range.

A ring of 11 LED’s around each knob indicates the current value, with a few different display options. I particularly like the blended bar display, which fades the LED brightness up as the value gets closer to the next section giving a more fine-grain view of the data than I’ve seen in other devices (for example the Novation Nocturn). 

The bottom of each knob has a wider RGB LED bar that can be set to any of 128 colors that span the spectrum. Different colors can be set for the pressed and unpressed states, or the colors can be changed dynamically using Midi messages. Both the ring and bar support dynamic brightness control and different pulse animations over Midi. As a performer I love the idea that I can change colors on the fly or at preset changes to help guide me through a complex series of cues. They can be bright enough to stand out clearly even in broad daylight, but can be dimmed or turned off so that they don’t dominate the stage.

The left and right sides each sport 3 buttons. These can be configured to change banks on the device and/or send midi note and cc messages out, so you can synchronize bank changes with patcher events or trigger state changes without interfering with encoder mappings.

For my needs I found that the Midi Fighter Utility provided by DJTechTools is completely adequate. It is cross-platform, simple to use, and exposes everything, allowing me to tweak things to my heart's content. A key feature is the ability to edit multiple knobs simultaneously, which saves a lot of time. Configurations can be saved to file and loaded up easily and the interface is clear. If I had one request to improve workflow, it would be the ability to clone settings from one knob to the other. 

For the tinkering enthusiast, however, the entire thing is open source and available on GitHub.

The user manual gives a clear and complete Midi implementation guide, making working with Max a breeze. Just about everything aside from loading a new preset file from disk can be done programmatically. This includes bank changes and the color, brightness and animation state of any of the LED’s. Various aspects of the control data are meaningfully split up across channels, making it simple to manage and implement in a patch.

Before I got this thing I had really high hopes and am happy to say that it has far exceeded my expectations. DJTechTools have outdone themselves. While a $219 might seem high compared to other devices that look similar on the surface, the Midi Fighter Twister stands out in the crowd. The flexibility and ease of use make it a pleasure to work and play with and the craftsmanship and compact footprint mean it travels easy and can handle the road. I am already certain that this will be a central part of my rig for a long time to come. 

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I started using the Doepfer Pocket Dial and Fader back around 2000, and I’ve had a fondness for a good external controller ever since. The Midi Fighter Twister from DJTechTools is a great and flexible knob-based controller available: a 4 x 4 grid of customizable multimodal knobs with great action and feel that can provide a meaningful range of feedback with the built-in LEDs.

hardware-overview-midi-fighter-twister

Hey Cory! What happens if you keep turning one knob clockwise multiple revolutions? Does it cycle through 0-127-0-127 forever, or does it clamp to 127 (until you turn it counterclockwise)?

I’ve been using one of these on and off for several years. The only thing this misses is live labels. Would be great if there was a little text LED under each knob whose contents could be changed.

I just learned of this thing today, and am going to pick one up ASAP, but I'd have to agree that editable labels for each knob would be a great addition, particularly for my intended use as a controller for virtual modular synth gear. I imagine that would be a non-trivial additional manufacturing cost though.

Can't get the internal sequencer to start running. I'm using an audiorate clock and I'm banging (248) 24x/quarternote and banged (250) into the [midiout]

Works on my volca but not on the fighter twister.

never mind I figured it out :P. It starts with a cc message.

Hardware Overview: MIDI Fighter Twister

Tom Hall

My MIDI days stretch back a ways now - far enough that I remember trends and styles coming and going. My very first ever controllers were an Edirol PCR-30 and BCR2000. The Edirol was forgettable, but the BCR2000 is still sought after, albeit bulky. I swapped out the BCR for the classic Evolution UC33e which was - in its time - a classic controller amongst Max users along with the Doepfer Pocket Dial. (This was awesome, but it needed a midi interface and power supply.)

For me, the clear winner for the better half of a decade was the UC33e. I then switched to the Novation Control XL which Andrew Benson covers nicely here.

Recently, I’ve been wanting something simple but with a lot of sliders/pots, plug & play and basically zero config. I was browsing Instagram when the Nakedboard MC-8 caught my eye on my friend Marcas Fisher's Instagram post.

Wow! I hadn’t seen such a neat controller in a while.

With some digging, I was able to find out that it’s made by a Russian company called Nakedboards. Not only do they make this stylish 8-slider controller, but they make another excellent controller in the same size format called MC-24. 

These two pair up nicely, so of course, I grabbed them both!

When they turned up, I was impressed - simple and sturdy. I have no qualms about throwing these into the gig bag and heading off for a show, knowing they’ll be just fine on arrival. Another big plus (and something I’d like to see more makers embrace) is the USB B connector - you know - the big one! 

The reason I prefer this connector is it actually holds tightly once you insert and connect it. It’s going to take a really drunk guy to crash the stage and disconnect this from your computer. In recent times, many controllers have been released with the small USB Mini B and the even more regrettable Micro; while these connections have there places, they’re actually anxiety inducing for me on stage.

Here’s the kicker: these things are zero config. No drivers needed, just plug and jam. Plugging these into Max 8 (see what I did there?), I can hit the Mappings button, move a slider and/or dial and I am instantly on my way.

I was able to map these in a relatively short time, and - realistically - this wouldn't take too much longer in Max 7.

The MC-8 is sleek, with a nice white gloss enclosure and a really excellent amount of throw for each slider. I’m unsure of the mechanical specs for the sliders, but they’re quite smooth, with just the right amount of resistance. What I’m most impressed about is the ease in which I can find these sliders in sub-par lighting conditions. All in all, for $100 you cannot go wrong.

The sibling to the MC-8 is the encoder-based MC-24 and - you guessed it - there are 24 encoders. The MC-24 uses the same enclosure as the MC-8, which means that things are a little tighter to fit 24 pots on there, but nonetheless it's not too cramped. With 3 rows of 8 encoders matching up perfectly with the positioning of the sliders, this means we can pair these two up and have something that not only looks great, by is highly functional. And the thing I like most is that my muscle memory has developed very quickly.

These controllers are built tough, and zero config setup means no hassles. I’d be happy taking them on any project or performance from big to small. A great, cost-effective solution for Max users looking for a trusty toolbox controller.

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My MIDI days stretch back far enough that I remember trends and styles coming and going. That said, I’m always on the lookout for elegant and simple controllers with a lot of sliders/pots, plug & play and basically zero config. I ran across two recent boxes from Nakedboards – they’re a great, cost-effective solution for Max users looking for a trusty toolbox controller. 

hardware-overview-the-nakedboard-controllers

Too bad their "ordering " window is not secure. I'm not entering my info in that. 

Nice! My UC33e  and BCR2000 are still going strong, but it's good to see there are new options. I would like to replace the BCR2000 with something smaller and with endless rotary encoders.

I just ordered. i did not have to put any information into the unsecured order form. I simply submitted my name and email address and they sent me an email invoice to pay through paypal

Why choose these over Novation Control XL? (a genuine question, I'm searching for a good midi controller with lots of knobs.)

And I think MC-24 has 24 knobs instead of endless encoders?

Would be nice to have some real details on these units. What is the throw on the faders? What is the feel on the knobs? Are they all just plastic as they look?

Also, yeah, those don't look like encoders to me. 

knobs <> encoders

USB MIDI Controller with 24 assignable knobs, compatible with PC, MacOS and Linux. You can assign these controls to whatever you like in Ableton Live, or any other major music software. $99 on eBay.  see: ShowBox Mobdro Vidmate 

Oh, and, er, why can't we tag messages as spam? This board needs an upgrade. 

u can only tag your own posts.
#becauseitsbetter

The "insecure" ordering window only asks for your email address and which item you're interested in. Not much worth sweating about.

I own the MC24 and absolutely love it.  Yes, they're knobs, not endless encoders.

I've really tried, but can't see the value in all the devices with controls made for the analog world.  If they don't have endless encoders and *moving* faders– and the vast majority of them don't– then as soon as an assignment changes, they're in the wrong position and cannot be 'picked-up again' with predictability.  As much as I really want to use these things to solve the problem of physical control, they usually end up just being toys. 

I also prefer encoders to knobs in most settings. However in a live situation I found sometimes knobs are more immediate than encoders.

If you want controllers with encoders, I have no hesitation in recommending faderfox's offering.

Hardware Overview: The Nakedboards Controllers

Darwin Grosse

In a recent announcement, Mutable Instruments announced that they were retiring one of the stalwart modules of modern Eurorack analog systems: the Braids digital macro-oscillator. Rather than review a new hardware or software piece, we’ve decided to offer a requiem for this highly influential device - a proper Viking sendoff, as it were.

While Max/MSP users have been able to dive into the intricacies of wavetable synthesis, physical modeling and granular oscillators for some time, the modular world had always been a place of modest technical means. We’ve seen a plethora of options for modulation sources, but few sound generating tools of equal complexity. While a few companies (most notably, Wiard, Synthesizer Technology and WMD) provided oscillators that went beyond the typical four-waveforms-and-a-cloud-of-dust, it was Mutable Instruments and the Braids oscillator that opened the door most broadly to these modern tools. Users were thrilled by the variety of sounds - and new options for generator madness - provided by this oscillator.

In fact, it might almost be more appropriate to think of the Braids as providing 40-odd modes of synthesis instead of thinking of it as a mere oscillator. Want to talk synthesis modes? This thing was a veritable Periodic Table of the Outputs: detunable oscillator phalanxes (JP-8000!), phase-distortion based synthesis like your trusty D-60 or Casio, classic PPG-style wavetables, Sub-Phatty-style waveform morphing, tuned delay lines, and even a little VOSIM in the mix (which brings a tear of joy to the eye of an old Sonologist like Gregory). Oh yeah – it does Ring Modulation and sine waves, too!

And to ice this N-tier cake, you could use the Braids module as a full standalone voice all on its own, since it had an onboard VCA and envelope generator. Look, Ma! No other modules! As you might imagine, the module was economical – for users with limited rack space and limited budgets, the Braids offered a way to generate complex timbres without needing a separate case for oscillators, VCAs, or filters.

But the Braids module was much more than a locus of complexity: Olivier Gilliet (principal designer and owner of Mutable) was able to take very sophisticated sound systems and make them controllable with a minimal set of controls. Each of the synthesis modes of the Braids shared a small number of controls – knobs for timbre and color, an additional FM input with attenuator for external frequency modulation, and a trigger input for syncing the waveforms and triggering some of the physical models.

Brian Eno talks about wanting to have a synthesizer with only one knob – but a knob whose every position produced interesting results. As persons occasionally lost in knobville, we came to trust the two controllable parameters for each of the Braids’ synthesis modes. And in the course of making use of them – either by knob twisting or when using voltage control, we came to respect the module’s design. If you’re familiar with the controls on Tom Erbe’s Erbeverb module, you’ll recognize a similar approach to good design - the control parameters actually mapped to multiple dimensions of timbre or parameters in the algorithm that generate the sound. Regardless of the mode you choose, the knobs were doing something interesting. 

This allowed difficult-to-manage operations to become more understandable, opening the door for many people to dip their toes into wavetables, FOF vocal filtering, physical modeling and pulse generation. In any of these cases, if you found something you loved, it provided a launching board into the kind of experimentation that Max, Pd and Reactor use could provide.

But treating the Braids as a dumbed-down exemplar of technologies is giving it too little respect. It was a powerhouse in its own right, with some of the oscillator types (such as the |_|_|_| pulse train and RING ring-modulated options) being among users’ favorite digital modular oscillators. Combine that generation power with a fat analog filter and a rack of modulation sources, and you could get amazing - and often surprising - textures that used to be unthinkable in the modular world.

The Braids was deep, but not scary – in part, this is due to the helpful amount of material out there from users who took the module into their homes and their hearts. For the commercial synth enthusiast, the Braids Illustrated document is your ticket down the analog rabbit hole - it walks you through the entire repertoire of Braids output and links them to the synths you know and love. 

From T-Rex to Peregrine Falcon: the Evolution of the Braids

In his farewell post, Olivier suggests that  the growth of the digital oscillator landscape has provided more options, or better interfaces, or more controls. He also puts to rest the idea of a “MK II” version of the Braids; it’s clear that he has a new vision for the future of Mutable Oscillators, and I have to admit being both curious and excited for this future.

For you long-time lovers and those bereft at the thought of never having gotten around to putting a Braids in their racks, never fear. The Braids lives on in new and evolved forms. That evolution is, in part, due to design decisions that Olivier made early on in open sourcing his designs. The schematics and layouts for for the module are all out there. There are boards for sale, and several kinds of interesting faceplate designs. I’m sure there are people out there who, for whatever reasons, are willing to part with theirs.

Another feature of the evolution of the Braids - as with other Mutable Instruments products - is the arrival of alternative versions of the firmware for the module. In the case of the Braids, it’s Tim Church’s Bees In The Trees firmware, which only makes a good thing even more astounding, since it adds harmonic modulation, a Turing Machine, and a metasequencer in addition to a second modulator and 2 extra envelope generators. You can grab a copy of the firmware here, and get a good look at what it does in this video.

And finally - an even newer step in the Braids' evolution: The Braids has been ported to Ableton Live. Yes, really. amxd~ here we come!

So let us all praise the Braids, and wait for what comes next. So shines a good deed in a weary world! 

Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother.
And my sister and my brother
Lo, there do I see the line of my people
Back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me.
They bid me take my place among them
In the halls of Valhalla
Where the brave may live forever.

Viking Funeral (from "The 13the Warrior")

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Mutable Instruments announced that they were retiring one of the stalwart modules of modern Eurorack analog systems: the Braids digital macro-oscillator. We’d like to offer a eulogy for this highly influential device.

hardware-overviewrequiem-mutable-instruments’-braids

just a sidenote...i know you cannot name every influential eurorack manufacturer but talking complex digital oscillators you can't avoid talking The Harvestman,imho. Both the Hertz Donut (dual complex oscillator) and Piston Honda (voltace controlled wavetable oscillator). The second one in particular. this also because after doepfer and analogue systems the harvestman was one of the first to explore the digital side of eurorack (long before the current explosion of customers and manufacturers)

Those are both lovely oscillators, but neither of them has been removed from circulation, which was the proximate cause for this piece. Come to think of it, neither product has open-sourced their firmware (although I believe that the Zorlon Cannon's firmware was, at some point, reverse-engineered by an enterprising user).


ah yes, both arguments are true in fact. and yes i remember the guy on MW showing an alternative firmware for using zorlon cannon mk2 as a simple gate sequencer :)

I came across another Cycling74 article making  a similar  eulogy for the Mutable Instruments "Clouds" Module - Another eurorack module I hope to someday add to my extremely humble and woefully inadequate modular beginnings.    I was excited when I read there is a Max version of both these modules. After trying but failing to get any Audio out of the Max modules....   I was very disappointed to learn that the Author's modules only work on Mac OS.  I got confirmation via Email with him (Timo Rozendal) that there is considerable C++ code in these Max patches that have only been compiled on a Mac.   He said he would have have to buy a version of Windows to put on his Mac and set up a development environment to get it ported over properly.   I doubt there is much financial incentive for that happening any time soon.  I would guess the sticky part to porting it back ver  is getting the module to play nice with specificly defined sample rates.

Hardware Overview/Requiem: Mutable Instruments’ Braids

The first thing I thought when I did a drive-by the Expressive E booth at NAMM this past year was ‘Expression Pedal for the Hand’, but there had to be more to it. After all they had a pretty decent swarm of people around their booth and the sound coming from it was great!

Upon getting home, I did some more research and found that this device was much, much more than your basic guitar style expression pedal. Expressive E’s Touché is a multidimensional controller with a generous range of I/O that covers all bases from modern to vintage platforms capped off with a slick computer interface for even more finite control, and the ability to load/save and modify a huge amount presets onto the Touché, then unplug and go.

Alternatively, it allows expressive input into your DAW or plugins like no MIDI controller I’ve seen before, and - of course - you can use all of that data in unique ways when using it with Max. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Max was involved extensively in the development of Touché. The early prototypes consisted of a Max-based interface combined with an Arduino hardware setup that allowed Expressive E to develop their working prototype and take it out into the field for direct artist feedback before developing the final product.

I have three CV outputs running from the Touché into my modular setup. One is controlling the playback position from within a single sample inside the ER301 module, another of those CV outputs from the Touché is controlling a wavefolder and the last CV input is adding some reverb to the mix after it returns from Max, courtesy of a Clouds module.

The audio output from the ER301 Module is running into the Expert Sleepers ES8, where we’re taking that signal into Max. This is where the Touché excels: Because of its hybrid I/O options, we can essentially control two different devices (Modular hardware system & Max on a computer) at once. I have a granular Max patch setup that allows the same expression input controlling parameters inside the Modular to control grain length, position playback of said grain, and enveloping of the grains. The manipulated audio is then routed back out through the ES8 into Clouds for reverb.

This kind of control setup, with just one controller over a hybrid hardware/software setup is only possible with a few existing controllers out there, many of which run you into the thousands of dollars (see Cirklon) and/or lack this level of expression and finite control.

What’s really impressive though is that the Touché can simultaneously send MIDI over USB, MIDI over DIN and CV at the same time, this controller has the ability to be the glue between a diverse range of hardware and software at the same time. You have an astounding amount of control over the data within the software editor, but you can also remove the top board easily (it’s held on by magnets) to fine tune the elasticity of the pressure from left/right and up/down. It’s this level of refinement along with its solid build quality and wooden-topped touch board that makes this a controller I ‘feel’ like touching (Trust me - I’ve had some controllers that provided great flexibility that I hated touching), not to mention that it’s the perfect talking point when people drop over.

This is a streamlined, multidimensional controller that allows finite controller of hardware, software, or both in unison while still maintaining a humanized feel and shape from direct user input. 

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https://www.expressivee.com

patch notes:

I have three CV outputs running from the Touché into my modular setup. One is controlling the playback position from within a single sample inside the ER301 module, another of those CV outputs from the Touché is controlling a wavefolder and the last CV input is adding some reverb to the mix after it returns from Max courteous of Clouds.

The audio output from the ER301 Module is running into the Expert Sleepers ES8 where we’re taking that signal into MAX. This is where the Touché excels, because of its hybrid I/O options we can essentially control two different devices (Modular hardware system & Max on a computer) at once. I have a granular Max patch setup that allows the same expression input controlling parameters inside the Modular to control grain length, position playback of said grain and enveloping of the grains, the manipulated audio is then routed back out through the ES8 into Clouds for reverb.

Expressive E meets Modular Hardware & Max/MSP

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Expressive E’s Touché is a multidimensional controller with a generous range of I/O capped off with a slick computer interface for even more finite control, and the ability to load/save and modify a huge amount presets onto the Touché, then unplug and go.

hardware-review-expressive-e-touché

Hardware Overview: Expressive E Touché

Early this year I was working with David Stout on a NoiseFold performance centered around triggering particle systems to make real-time animations. While neither of us are really drummers, the piece was very percussive in nature and we started looking for a light weight pad controller that was affordable and portable, but also flexible and expressive. After looking at a lot of different options that were either too limited, bulky or expensive, we found the Kickstarter page for one of the latest devices from Keith McMillen Instruments, the BopPad Smart Fabric Drum Pad. Though it was not set to be released for nearly a year, I put it on my wishlist and have been waiting eagerly for it to go into production. Thanks to the folks at KMI, I finally got my hands on one a couple of weeks ago and have been digging into it.

The BopPad is an incredibly feature rich MIDI drum pad controller. 

While it is markedly devoid of any buttons, knobs or displays and features only one micro USB port, the BopPad is not lacking for complexity. Made using KMI’s smart fabric sensor technology, the 10” pad provides highly accurate data on hit location, strike velocity, and pressure. It features four quadrants, each of which can be programmed to send up to 6 MIDI note values and up to 5 streams of CC data with a latency of only 3ms. Designed to accommodate everything from bare hands to sticks and mallets and can be tuned to work with a wide range of dynamics and playing styles. Weighing in at just about 20 ounces and less than ½” thick, the BopPad packs a lot of power into a tiny package.

You can also get the BopPad Mount, which allows for easy attachment to any 8mm threaded stand, and KMI’s MIDI Expander, which enables interfacing directly to any MIDI compliant hardware.

KMI provides an editor for both Mac and Windows as well as a web based editor that will work with any web MIDI compatible browser. The editor allows you to change everything from the note values and controller streams on each quadrant to the overall sensitivity and strike density of the drumpad as a whole. 

Each of the data streams can be scaled, offset and and even run through algorithmic, exponential, or even user defined tables to get different curves. 

One limitation is that the device can only hold up to 4 distinct presets at any time, switchable using MIDI Program Change messages. However, you can quickly upload new presets from the editor at any time.

In addition to the editors, KMI has made several templates for plug and play testing with Bitwig, Logic, Garage Band and Ableton Live. These utilize the factory presets and do a good job of helping new users make some noise and use the data right out of the box.

The BopPad uses standard MIDI data for all of its controls, making connecting to Max simple. Whether you are designing your own drum machines or synths, or just looking for an expressive and streamlined controller to integrate with existing ones, this thing has a lot to offer. The four quadrants of the BopPad each give you up to 6 notes and 5 streams of low-latency velocity, pressure, radius (both on hit and deviation after the hit), and polyphonic aftertouch, so there’s no shortage of control data to use in your patches.

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Hardware Overview/Requiem: Mutable Instruments’ Braids

Hardware Overview: Expressive E Touché

Hardware Overview: BopPad from Keith McMillen Instruments

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