Lemur 4 coming soon

Liine have Just dropped a teaser video over at their YouTube page with the tag line "Lemur 4. The learning curve is about to drop.".

I brought Lemur the day it was released for iPad but I have to admit I don't use it as often as I should. It's an awesome controller when coupled with your DAW, but to really use it to it's full potential you need at least a basic knowledge of coding. By the looks of this teaser that's all about to change. Hopefully well see a simpler template editor as well as some brand new features. Check out the video below.



Lemur is available in the AppStore for £34.99, it's not cheap but if you're looking to turn your iPad into a feature packed touch screen controller then it's worth the hefty price tag.

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Ableton announce Live 9 and Push

Ableton has always focused heavily on the live performance aspect of music and as a result there are already some really cool dedicated controllers out there; I’m talking about the Akai APC series and the Novation Launch Pad. Although these controllers are designed to work directly with the Ableton Live software, they don’t really take full advantage of everything that Ableton can do.

Along with the recent announcement of Live 9, Ableton revealed their latest venture into the hardware controller market. Push is a dedicated controller that integrates directly with the Ableton Live software. This hardware/software hybrid approach reminds me of the highly acclaimed Maschine controllers from Native instruments.

The only downside that I can see is that Push is huge; I can’t really see it sitting comfortably next to my laptop like my humble MaschineMikro does at the moment. However, even with its large size I would still like to get my hands on one and see what it’s capable of.

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First Thoughts: Maschine Mikro

Ive had my eye on Native instruments Maschine controllers for a while now, and it's been quite some time since I've treated myself to a new piece of hardware gear. The only thing that was stopping me from getting my hands on the Maschine before now was the fairly hefty price tag. When Native Instruments announced the updated Maschine MK2 I saw that various online retailers were selling off the original Maschine and Maschine Mikro at an unbeatable price.

The Machine Mikro was the one that I ended up buying, at only £150 it was a no brainier. It would have been nice to get the bigger Maschine controller but I was on a budget so I went for the cheaper option. Even though I went for the older Maschine hardware controller, it included a free upgrade to the 1.8 version of the software. This gave me access to all of the brand new features including; time-stretching, new effects and a free copy of their awesome Massive synthesiser (which I will probably talk more about in a future post).

The main reason that I brought the Maschine Mikro was because I've been thinking of putting together a live set. I wanted a small (ish) midi controller that would be robust enough to carry around in a laptop bag as well as fitting in nicely with my home studio set-up. And that's exactly what I've got, the Maschine controller is a solid piece of kit that looks like it can take a fair amount of punishment. The pads are tough but extremely playable and it's small enough to sit nicely by the side of my computer in my studio.

I've had the Mikro for a few weeks now and I can safely say it lives up to all the hype. It's quickly become a vital part of my main studio set-up as well injecting a little more creative flair into my production workflow. Using pads to program drums and percussion parts just feels a hell of a lot better than using a standard midi keyboard.

The Maschine software has also opened a lot more doors for me. Since I mostly use Propellerhead's Reason as my main DAW I've been missing out on using VST instruments and effects in my productions. Now that Maschine has provided me with a suitable VST host I can once again take advantage of the vast amount of VST instruments and effects that are available.

Of course this new addition to the studio has greatly influenced how I go about creating music. Before I introduced Maschine into my set-up I would work almost completely within the boundaries of Reason, with the exception of creating a few sounds and loops using hardware gear and iPad instruments. Now I find my self starting out in Maschine, creating a few loops and getting the general feel of the track down before I even load up Reason.

The Maschine Mikro controller has definitely been one of the best purchases I've made in a long while. I've not really had the chance to test it out in a live situation yet, but once I've built up a performance worthy set I'll be sure to put it though it's paces. But as a studio tool the Maschine really holds its own and it has very quickly become one of the most important aspects of my creative workflow.

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Lemur for iPad, quick jam session.

I love the new Lemur iOS app. I'm still learning but here's a short video of me messing around with one of my custom templates.

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First opinions on Lemur for iOS

So yeah, I couldn't help myself. I brought the new Lemur app by Liine. For me, the original Jazzmutant Lemur was the perfect controller, I wanted it so badly but unfortunately the original hardware version was a little out of my price range. The other day I posted here on Voltage-Controlled that Liine had just released an iOS version of Lemur.

I did say that I was going to wait a while before I brought the Lemur app but obviously I had a moment of weakness soon after and brought it. Now I'm in love with it, it's something that I know that I'm going to use a lot and when I say a lot I mean a LOT. It might have quite a high price tag for an iOS app but I can tell you, if you're serious about writing/performing electronic music then it's most definitely worth it.

I'm going to be writing a proper review of this thing soon and maybe posting a few YouTube videos of me messing around with it but for now I'm still learning about the editor and familiarising my self with it.

But anyway, here's a pic of the first custom interface that I made with the Lemur app.

Lemur is available from the app store now.

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It's here! Lemur for iOS has hit the AppStore

That's right the legendary multi-touch controller has finally hit the iOS AppStore. Lemur is available to download onto your iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch for £34.99.

The original Lemur hardware controller was used by many artists including: Daft Punk. Björk. Nine Inch Nails, Deadmau5. M.I.A., Justice, Hot Chip, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Orbital, Richie Hawtin, The Glitch Mob, Matthew Herbert, Joris Voorn, Stephan Bodzin, Modeselektor, Alva Noto, Richard Devine, Gui Boratto, etc.

£34.99 is a bit of a hefty price tag for an iOS app but you have to admit that this does look pretty awesome. I think for now I'll stick with TouchOSC for now but I'll definitely be considering an upgrade to Lemur in the near future.

You can get Lemur from the AppStore here.

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iPad2 / Unofficial Camera Conection Kit / Horizon Synth

Those of you that have been following the news section on the main Dan303 website will know that I have recently brought an iPad2.

One of the coolest things about the iPad is the ability to connect USB midi devices to it using the Camera connection kit. On the official Apple site the camera connection kit costs £25 so I automatically began looking for a second hand one. Not that I’m a cheapskate or anything, I just can’t really justify spending £25 on something that I won’t use all the time.

While searching eBay I noticed quite a lot of unofficial camera connection kits (The ones with both USB and SD slot on the same adapter). I wondered if this unofficial kit would handle the midi devices as good as the Apple one. I had a quick search around Google and asked about it on the Korg Forums but there seemed to be little information about it. All the videos on YouTube seemed to use the official connector (or at least one that looked similar) so I couldn’t really be sure. I took the gamble and paid £5 for the unofficial one from eBay, if it didn’t work then I wouldn’t have lost much.

The kit came in the post today and as soon as I got the opportunity to try it out with my Korg NanoPad. The kit worked alright, it handled midi perfectly with zero latency.

However there were a few problems that I noticed. When I tried attaching my 25 key USB controller it gave me a warning that the device required too much power and the iPad couldn’t handle it (I got this message even when I has the controller connected to the mains). Another issue that I saw was that when I had the NanoPad connected it would occasionally show a message saying that the device was not recognised but when I clicked ok the NanoPad worked fine. The unit itself is a bit flimsy; it’s made out of cheap plastic and seems a bit stiff when connecting to the ipad.

Overall I saved £20 (which isn’t a bad thing in my eyes) but if you’re looking for something that’s tough and reliable for gigging with your iPad then I’d recommend getting the Apple kit. If you’re just looking for something to mess around with or to occasionally connect your iPad to your home studio then by all means buy the cheap one, You’ll save yourself £20 (to spend on apps or a few beers). If it breaks then you can always just buy a new one.

Anyway, below is a short video of me playing the new Horizon synthesizer for the ipad using my Korg nanopad. This synth sounds amazing; the supersaw waveforms (first found in the Roland JP-8000) give it really powerful and aggressive sound. Get it from the Appstore now while it’s half price. =]



Update: I just found that my Korg R3 synthesizer works fine as a midi controller for the iPad. It also works as a midi interface. I’ve currently got the iPad connected to the USB of the R3 which is then connected to my Focusrite Saffire 6 interface (midi in and out). This means that I can sequence and record instruments on my iPad using my laptop.
It seems that the iPad will only recognise certain usb controllers. If you’re an iPad user that’s looking to buy a midi controller then I recommend that you do a bit of research and find out which controllers will work.

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