Simon Kemper, CEO of the German company Endeavour, let us know that the price of their Evo multitouch keyboard has been reduced to $199.
The Evo is a keyboard controller that connects to a computer via an Ethernet interface, and that communicates via MIDI, OSC or our own in-house protocol with synthesizers, sequencers.
Each key on the Evo is equipped with a sensor that allows it to read finger position on a certain area of the key surface. Thus, every key offers, in addition to pitch and velocity, an additional level of polyphonic data input that can be used for continuous control of independent notes. So every key can be used as a fader, controller, a pitch-wheel, a mod-wheel or a button.
Here’s a demo of the Evo prototype in action:
Additional information on the Evo is available via the NDVR site.
Never buy from this guy , i paid a full price , it never worked , i’d send it back for repair and never gat it back .
I tried to contact that guy and he never answer emails or phone calls , and didn’t gave me any news .
I paid for nothing . it is not a honest company
Patrick Mimran
Well, that’s unfortunate 🙁
I was thinking about contacting for a demo unit for a review on controllerism.com
It seems like a more affordable/traditional Haken Continuum
…maybe they’re just a little overwhelmed with work or something
hope you get your keyboard back!
i had a simiilar experience. when the product was very new they asked me to program a synth for it in maxforlive. they sent me a unit to work with but this one was faulty from the beginning. he said he can send me another one but then he never answered again, which was a real bad move from him as i was programming and patching for weeks and in the end it was all for nothing. i never heared from him again…..
btw. is the feel of the keys still so rubbish? i couldn`t believe it at first touch. at that moment i was used to a pretty cheap keyboard but the evo was just the most ridicolous keys i ever had under my fingers
Unfortunately, my experience was the same. I have a few keys that just don’t work, and I never heard a thing from him about repair, despite multiple attempts. I figure I’ll undertake some work on it myself, but it’s just not that good of a product. I have a new Seaboard Grand, now…and I’m just going to stick with it.
This is also something I am very sorry with. To let others know. I am in contact with Oopfoo and we have found a solution to solve this. This is something our company and especially I am really after.
I am very sorry how this has ended. In the beginning we asked you to help us since we were looking for some max patches. I then told you that we the only thing we currently can offer is a PROTOTYPE unit. We also handled out a Serial-Number for Max/MSP+GEN Version 6. You agreed. I have archived my E-Mails. But I absolutely don’t want anyone to argue about our company. I have a special offer for you. Look at you inbox!
I should report that Simon has offered me a replacement unit. I am sorry that my only interaction with him was in a public forum, as it is not my policy to be overly negative about a product without giving the manufacturer ample chance to respond. The out-of-band nature of email and the Internet is a sorry replacement for face-to-face communications and positive interaction between people.
simon, I am interested in purchasing your keyboard if it is still available. I noticed your website was down. Can you contact me please?
Proves?
thanks for the insight from an actual customer.
The votes down will be from him and angry fanboys who’s didn’t break, who feel like they work for him without a paycheck now because they bought something. Just like gaming fanboys.
Shower me with your downvotes ass-achers
Such butt
Much hurt
So Fanboy
I don’t have an opinion on the product either way, but that’s the kind of post that makes me wish I could give more than one thumbs down…
so butt
much hurt
Many cares about votes on snob site.
This looks like it could be very nice – I hadn’t come across it before – but the comments above seem negative. Has anyone had a postiive experience – (not a fanboy 😉 ) ?
This might be very useful to control things like Animoog, Magellan, Nave and so on. But only it if works well. So, any pluses here? Anyone?
Despite the negative comments, I’m taking the leap and trying it out. At this price, it’s less than a Novation controller… and I’ve gotten burned with those, sometimes a big disappointment. Point being, this looks like a YMMV scenario. I’m willing to take a chance. I just ordered it.
rjd – I just want to echo the request for you to post a review – appreciated in advance.
will-do.
I don’t have enough experience with or knowledge of them to form an opinion. At best, the NDVR guys are unorganized. At worst, they make commitments they have no intention of following through on. Still, if they are trying to liquidate their inventory to make some cash, it’s probably ok. I think I’d rather buy from them through some kind of safe-proxy (eBay?). Just to have recourse if something goes wrong.
please everyone that is taking the plunge report back here and tell the rest of us how the quality is and how the controller works as soon as you get your hands on it. ….. thanks
will do.
The keys would have to be the ‘dry’ touch / easy-to-slide type of material, to allow for easy sliding action.
Often I have moisture, oil etc. on fingertips which make of a sticky slide; much like on my iPad screen, until I clean both screen & finger-tips!
OR – if one operates in an air-conditioned room where the air is dry.
… What do the keys on this board feel loke?
I’m not surprised by what I’m reading in the above comments.
Seems every German company I’ve been dealing with in the past has similar customer service issues.
I think hese were $1999 when they first came out. That’s quite a drop, so at $199 I was about to buy one until I read the comments above.
A thing of beauty, but potentially a very large paperweight. Love to hear how people get on with them. Maybe they resolved the issues?
If they were $2000, and are now being dumped at $199, I doubt any issues were resolved. I’m sure they’re just getting rid of stock *because* of the issues.
Actually the initial RRP was $499, if I remember well.
no! it was definitely 2000 or maybe even 2200.
Well, prices dropped over time from originally approx €2800 to 1200, then 800/500 (48/24 keys versions) to now 200… This either looks either like they haven’t got their maths in order very well, or they seriously improved manufacturing costs or they just want to get rid of remaining stock… Doesn’t look too trustworthy though…
Well i got mine for 499! Works like expected.
Seems like they could have just sold the lot “AS IS” on eBay. For $200, perhaps some DIY’ers could make something useful out of that nice aluminum case.
In a way, this is making me quite relieved that the “NOTE” never flew. Though I wouldn’t ordinarily say this, in this case, it might have been better (for the consumer) if a bigger synth company bought their ideas. I think the NOTE keyboard built by a Roland or Yamaha or Korg would have been a great thing.
Sounds like a product that is being abandoned. I imagine the Ethernet connection and touch stuff requires a custom driver? How long will that be functional?
Hello, WIth this discussion, i’m searching à little Keyboard sensitive and WIth aftertouch and this Keyboard must work WIth IOS (If possible) and have a between 24 to 40 Keys. Thank’s for your Feedback ? Pady
Two of your better choices would be the Ken Miller QuNexus and the CME XKey 25. Neither feels like a traditional keyboard, but I haven’t had to compromise my technique to play the XKey and its a weird, flat-keyed little oddity. It also offers poly aftertouch, which works well. I can watch the display crank out values when I apply that to my physical modeling synth. I’d never give up my standard keyboards, but its a great secondary tool and fun to use for its own sake. I’m especially loving it for brass, woodwinds and synth. The keyboard is too short for me, but it does Expressiveness in a big way. Give those a look.
Keith Mcmillen QuNexus is fantastic.
@ Nicholas C. Raftis III: I had the highest hopes for the Qunexus, but after seriously testing 8 (!!!) of them I can safely say that at least regarding the pressure and tilt measurements the thing simply doesn’t work: a complete uneven response to pressure applied from pad to pad, and of course from unit to unit. Some pads don’t react at all when pressed at their front or rear end, some jump to MIDI value 127 at the slightest touch. Not one of the eight units came remotely near to what you would expect from such a controller. If I would find one that reacts as expected I would pay five times its current price, but that is very unlikely to happen: I asked a highly professional Synth technician to look at it and hopefully replace the cheap and unreliable pressure sensors (of whom reportedly two were installed per pad) with high quality components (I really was prepared to sink some serious money here), but I was told that there’s no use: In fact the pads are not equipped with individual pressure sensors at all. Instead a single elastic mat which is (obviously quite unevenly) honeycombed with conductive fibres lies end-to-end under all of the pads – no chance for improvement!
P. S.: I wasn’t interested in the Qunexus’ other functions, so these might work, and the thing might be of value for other people.
I just contacted them as I put one on order, and then got worried after reading the comments here. They assured me that they have 30 day money back guarantee. So I am feeling okay about it.
Anyone received their $199 EVO is it a 49 key version & are they reliable?
Anyone got an update??
ps
the order process is just a test order site with following message:
[b]”Store Not Live Test all the features of your store without charging a real credit card.”[/b] 🙄
So no real order even possible.?! I wonder how the (complaining) people even ordered this Evo Keyboard in the first place??
I got an email from them in the middle of March saying that they were having production problems and my order had been canceled (and refunded). They also gave me a $150 coupon. I just checked their website (www.ndvr.co), though, and it seems to be down. Guess that doesn’t bode well.
I sent a query via their website a few months ago & no reply.
This is just a guess, pure speculation, so I am not claiming science here, but it may well be that the keyboards are good, and were probably tested well before shipping, but were never put through shipping tests before shipping. Meaning, no one put one in a shipping box and threw it around the room for a few hours to see how well it would survive actual shipping, which seems to be something that should be done in common sense if you are going to ship fragile electronic items. I have a Crate tube amp that can survive being throw onto a concrete floor from overhead which has been demonstrated by owners on YouTube, and I am sure Crate did exactly such tests before they sold a single one. My guess is that shipping mishaps may be a big contributor to this keyboard’s problems.
BTW, in engineering circles it is called TTD, Test To Destruction.