Jason Hotchkiss of Sixty Four Pixels shared this preview of Le Grand Strum, a new version of their strummable MIDI controller.

Le Grand Strum comes pre-assembled, in a larger format, with high quality 12mm tactile switches and gold plated strum pads.

To play MIDI notes, you hold down one of the chord buttons and touch the tip of the stylus to the strum plate. The contacts on the strum plate are mapped to notes of the chord across multiple octaves and you can create guitar-like strums, chord sweeps and arpeggios by moving the stylus across the strum plate.

Features:

• 36 chord buttons give you immediate access to 84 different chords (maj, min, dom7, maj7, min7, aug, dim for 12 root notes). You can also play sus4, add6 and add9 chord variations (with some limitations)
• The 16 pad, gold plated strum plate has a tapering layout which allows fast chord strums at the top and individual note picking at the bottom.
• Two new circular strum areas duplicate notes from the main pads and allow you to play continuous arpeggios by moving the stylus in a circular motion.
• Multiple chord modes are offered, including stacked triads, guitar chord voicing, “drone” chords on second MIDI channel and scale mapping for playing melodies
• 5 pin MIDI socket for direct connection MIDI synthesizer hardware or to a computer (Using a suitable MIDI interface/USB-MIDI cable)
• Long life from a 9V PP3 battery (7mA current draw typical). Battery not included
• Integral enclosed acrylic base plate with leather stylus holder and acrylic side legs/hand-grips and non-slip rubber feet
• Open-source hardware and firmware and hackable design – with PCB pads for attaching a second stylus and external pads or strings

Pricing and Availability:

Le Grand Strum is available now for £159.00.