At Superbooth 2018, Budapest-based Intech Studio introduced Grid, a new system of modular MIDI controllers.
Not only are the Grid modules modular, but you can re-arrange them on the fly, and they’ll adapt automatically to their new context. They’re also designed to fit in Eurorack modular synths.
this is where I’ve been waiting for Roli to go.. happy someone is finally doing this.
My thought exactly! 🙂
Very clever stuff !
Very good ideas, very well thought, very good to see these promising developments from young people. Compliments, and expecting big and good future for concepts like this. Good luck with it!
Hoping for an interface module to “real” midi hardware with midi plugs, and multiple midi output routing!
i’d grab the fader block for sure, i love that it has a wire (USB) i dont mess around with wireless or blue tooth stuff. it would be nice if you could tell the module which midi CC’s you want and write it to the controller, that way it stays and there’s no need to assign in each new session of Logic for instance.
it’s cool but I wish it wasn’t standard controls – like if they had some things like joysticks, xypads, ir sensors, roli type keyboards, touchstrips, etc I would be totally jazzed, otherwise it is kinda useful but I don’t see a lot of upside over just a decent controller, I already have controllers with pads, knobs, grids, etc.
There’s probably room for expansion. If their campaign succeeds and sales are good, I’m sure they’ll come up with new modules with various functionalities.
I hope so because if they do I will most likely be in on it.
Are motorized faders too much to ask? Or, if too expensive, these strips from the NI Maschine Jam? If you are at it throw in some encoders instead of pots. With an LED ring of course.
Do you know the Behringer – BCF2000 ?
There’s been so many attempts at this, but they all seem to fall down due to price. Physical UI/Controls contribute soo much to how music/sounds are made, and we’re always stuck with mapping sub-optimized controls (not enough controls, wrong controls, 1/2 the unit not used, multiple units, etc.).
The only way this is going to work is if someone (Behringer? A new line of controllers to replace their REALLY old ones) that can produce in volume to keep costs down.
The ultimate would be a totally LEGO approach like http://special-waves.com/ but this one seems to have just turned to vapor… Pallet has some modular stuff, but it’s WAYYYYY too expensive for what it is.
So unless you can wire/arduino up your own shit, we’re still stuck… 🙁
Agreed. Specials waves and Livid Instrument had similar ideas, they both ran a crowfunding campaign that both failed AFAIK. Sad because it really is a great idea. This one with the magnet snapping is really promising, I truly hope they’ll succeed. Gonna back them up defo anyway.
are these finally class compliant?
Nice design!
I’m not a buyer because the first thing i look for in a controller is that the controller is always in sync with the software it controls and shows that some how. Like when you have a rotary controller it should be an endles controller with a led indication of the current software state, and even better it shows what it controls on a little display.
+1000… My other pet-peeve, especially in iOS world is the total lack of relative midi mapping (i.e. 63=-1 65=+1) so that you can use endless encoders that don’t have indicators, but you also don’t get snapping/jumping… No idea why the entire iOS music dev community refuses to offer relative mapping as an option… FaderFox’s stuff and even Arturia’s MiniLab both use/can use rel mode… But even Arturia’s own IOS stuff doesn’t use the rel mode their hardware supports!!! So frustrating.
Thank gods!