24 thoughts on “QuNexus Smart Sensor Keyboard Offers Multiple Types Of Control”

1. Sorry, but the Nord sounds great and the toy sounds terrible. The control seems to be just velocity/aftertouch, and when it’s used in the video the ugly piano sound gets uglier. The expressiveness of the Nord totally overshadows this product in every way. I’m sure it will be great for laptop musicians who want to add a little more expression to their minimal setup, and perhaps that’s what should have been in the video to highlight it’s best features – price, size, better than most other controllers of this size/price – (but not better than any solid hardware like the Nord).

   1. How does it sound terrible if it doesn’t make sound?

   2. ehm… I think both sounds come from the Nord.

2. It’s hard to tell. That player didn’t quite seem at home with it, and the example sounds weren’t so musical. Still, I think this could be a cool alternative to all the feature limited micro controllers out there.

3. I’d love to see a bigger version of this to be played with mallets.

   1. It does exists, look for Midi Mallet, or Mallet Synths

      http://i.imgur.com/H4xA8.jpg

4. IMHO The vestax pad1 blows this out of the water by a long shot. Very responsive nice feeling pads compared to what I felt on that the previous controller from this company. The Rainbow looking one.. QU-neo or something like that.

   This doesnt even have MIDI out or a screen to assign CC#s from the hardware, or an xy pad or roll function. Is made of plastic compared to heavy solid sturdy metal. and the vestax pad 1 is only 40$ more.

5. i think everyone is missing the point. yes i agree the demo sounds were definitely not the best choice, you are getting polyphonic after touch along with velocity sensitivity, as well as front to back control. last time i checked there aren’t any midi controllers, workstations, etc out there with the same capabilities as this…within the same price range. i think it’s a marvelous accomplishment by the whole McMillen team and would make a great addition to anyone’s setup. oh let’s not forget to mention it does cv out as well.

6. It would be much better to play violin, cello or even classical Spanish guitar sounds on this machine rather than these types of sounds…. Maybe it’s best to see it as a type of “ONDES MARTENOT” with that type of expression, which also the Yamaha GX1 used. I think keys should have the vibrato effect like on a violin or cello! It would be interesting to see…

7. For some reason, the latency of the control bothers me a lot in the video. For the production version, they need to make their control a lot more sensitive. Otherwise, it won’t justify their price tag ($150)…

   1. perceived latency could potentially be a video sound sync problem. what bothers me more is that some notes seem to fail to trigger, at 0:14, 0:24, 0:31, 0:40, 0:47 etc. right before it says ‘haven’t you always dreamed of this level of control’ :S

      however, it’s probably a prototype unit. I’d be inclined to judge it more on specs at this point. maybe the pressure sensitivity is set too stiff

      1. ^__ this

8. The poor man’s Haken Continuum?

9. I should admit I made my other comment based on other videos I’ve seen of this device, but the presentation here is really pretty weak.

10. I didn’t know Napoleon Dynamite played keyboard!!! Awesome!!!
    The thingy seems nice, and even though I’m bored of controllers I hope this kind of technology will work with tablets.(Super portable rig that fits in your pockets)

    1. HAHA We were both making that comment at the same time. Just noticed that.

       1. Nice one.
          I guess you have good taste 😀

11. I’m just glad to see that Napoleon Dynamite has good taste in synths. 😉

    1. God daaaamn that is Napolean Dynamite!!!!

12. Rats. Death to weak demos. I see intriguing gear crop up almost every week, but with rare exceptions, they tend to bite. The audio fidelity is often crappy, the range of sounds displayed is usually limited and the players tend to be more earnest than virtuosic. Its as if the companies live in bubbles. How about a tutorial on making demos for your products that fire people up instead of creating annoyance, or worse yet, a MEH reaction. Its not fair to what are often well-conceived tools. Don’t send an engineer to do a showman’s job AND vice-versa. (Bows to every technician who has helped me to preserve my stuff.)

13. BTW, *this* demo isn’t too bad at all. The guy clearly has some chops and while the sounds were a bit buzzy, no sweat; I readily saw what the unit will do. That’s better than many demos manage. I think this will be seen in a lot of rigs, especially as a lead instrument. Its impressively fluid.

14. Hi All,
    It seems we can’t satisfy! At KMI, we try to make interesting, well built, and inexpensive controllers to help everyone perform more expressively with electronics. We hope that our users/customers like the products we make, and we usually get a very positive response!

    I’m sorry people have problems with the sounds in this video– the mix and sound design decisions were made with the intention of providing a clear example of playability when listening on a laptops speakers. Because this device is a midi controller, synth sounds can be designed/chosen by the user, so QuNexus can be set up to “sound” like whatever you’d prefer!

    As for performance– the Keyboardist had about 10 minutes to “learn” how to play on our only QuNexus prototype. I’m impressed as to his ability to play the board! Also, as far as latency goes, youtube may have messed up our audio sync.

    If you have questions or comments, e-mail [email protected] and I’ll set them straight.

    Thanks,
    Matt @ KMI

15. I’ve been tempted by the QuNeo and I’m certainly interested in this too. I could see this feeling much more natural and expressive for my kind of playing.

16. (Clarification – more natural an expressive than a standard keyboard + knobs, for my style of playing)