Recording - June 2019 - 34

Sometimes your studio can gain
a lot of creative energy just from
having a new way to interact with
your music. Here's a quick look at
some interesting controllers that
you might find enjoyable.-MM

COOL

CONTROllers

Sensel Morph
Sensel is a multitouch technology developer in California,
whose core technology is a finely-controllable multitouch surface that senses strike force, pressure, and movement from
multiple fingers. If that sounds like all you need to build a
highly expressive music controller, you'd be right-and the
Morph is exactly that.
The Morph itself is a metal tablet that's 9.45 x 6.73 inches in
size, almost exactly the size of a 2017-vintage iPad, with an active surface that's 9.45 x
5.45 inches. At only 0.3"
thick, it fits into any bag,
and it's incredibly sturdy for
something this light-users
report great results playing it
with hands, drumsticks, even
their feet! Its only hardware
control is a power button on
the back edge, opposite the
USB Micro-B connector that's
used for charging and data
transfer. A line of white LEDs
separates the active surface
from the back of the unit.
The active surface of
the Morph is usable on
its own, but you'll generally want to attach an Overlay to it.
Morph Overlays are made of soft, flexible silicone that feels
really good under the fingertips. They fit neatly onto the active
surface and are secured by magnets; each one has its own
color scheme, control layout, and capabilities, all supported by
the surface underneath it.
How the Morph reacts to an Overlay is defined by a program
called a Map. The Morph can remember one Map per Overlay
when disconnected from a computer, and then use it via USB or
Bluetooth. To use the SenselApp software, which lets you create
and organize Maps for each of your Overlays, you need a wired
USB connection to a PC or Mac (iOS and Android coming soon).
SenselApp comes with a variety of preset data types. You
can set up notes, Control Change values, transport commands,
and a set of pre-scripted useful functions like octave shift or turning pitch bend or velocity sensing on and off. You can even turn
34 RECORDING June 2019

Reviews by Mike Metlay and Darwin Grosse

a key or pad or button into a pressure-sensitive joystick thanks
to MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) support.
The Morph Music Maker's Bundle ($279, a huge savings
over buying all the pieces separately) comes with three Overlays, and we spent most of our time with those.
The Piano Overlay has a 2-octave keyboard with a tiny Sustain
bar along the front edge of the unit and 12 function keys along the
top. These keys don't move; they're soft to the touch but not spongy
like those of a ROLI Seaboard, and they respond not only to velocity
and aftertouch but also to vertical and horizontal finger slides.
The Music Production Overlay is a combination MPC-style pad
array and control surface,
with 16 playable pads, eight
dials, two horizontal sliders,
and a tiny 13-note keyboard.
These (and the 8 top-row
buttons) can be assigned
to any MIDI message, and
each pad can operate as
an XY joystick with pressure
sensitivity or played with the
fingertips.
The Drum Pad Overlay
offers a virtual drum kit of
sorts, seven round pads that
can send all of the data types
we've previously discussed.
Uniquely, several of the pads
have a second zone at the edge, demarcated by an indented arc;
these can be used as controllers as well as sound triggers.
Other Overlays include a computer keyboard, video editing
controller, gaming surface, and the forthcoming Buchla Thunder Overlay, recreating a notable alternative controller from the
1980s. Finally there's the intriguing Innovator's Overlay, a soft
translucent sheet with the usual attachment magnets framing a
large rectangular indentation. What goes in there? Whatever
you can design. Using an Overlay Editor program, you can
design control layouts to taste, print them on paper, and slip
them under the Innovator's Overlay to put them into use. Lots of
these user-made Overlays are already available from Sensel.
I found the Morph's touch surface silky-smooth and incredibly
responsive to movement and pressure. The Overlays sit in a
comfortable middle ground between the hard glass of an iPad
and the overly squishy surface of ROLI's Seaboards.



Recording - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2019

Fade In
Fast Forward
Focal Trio11 Be
Eric Loomis—From live sound to Ivy Hall
Test Tones & Metering
Handy Hardware
Cool Controllers
Stellar Soundware
First Look: KRK Systems ROKIT 5 G4
Vance Powell on mixing The Raconteurs' Help Us Stranger
Steinberg Cubase 10
Plug-In Outlet: Puremagnetik Plug-ins
Lynx Studio Technology Aurora(n)
Studio 101. Part 17: Studio controllers
Readers’ Tracks
Fade Out
Recording - June 2019 - Intro
Recording - June 2019 - Cover1
Recording - June 2019 - Cover2
Recording - June 2019 - 1
Recording - June 2019 - 2
Recording - June 2019 - 3
Recording - June 2019 - Fade In
Recording - June 2019 - 5
Recording - June 2019 - 6
Recording - June 2019 - 7
Recording - June 2019 - Fast Forward
Recording - June 2019 - 9
Recording - June 2019 - 10
Recording - June 2019 - 11
Recording - June 2019 - Focal Trio11 Be
Recording - June 2019 - 13
Recording - June 2019 - 14
Recording - June 2019 - 15
Recording - June 2019 - Eric Loomis—From live sound to Ivy Hall
Recording - June 2019 - 17
Recording - June 2019 - 18
Recording - June 2019 - 19
Recording - June 2019 - 20
Recording - June 2019 - 21
Recording - June 2019 - 22
Recording - June 2019 - 23
Recording - June 2019 - Test Tones & Metering
Recording - June 2019 - 25
Recording - June 2019 - 26
Recording - June 2019 - 27
Recording - June 2019 - Handy Hardware
Recording - June 2019 - 29
Recording - June 2019 - 30
Recording - June 2019 - 31
Recording - June 2019 - 32
Recording - June 2019 - 33
Recording - June 2019 - Cool Controllers
Recording - June 2019 - 35
Recording - June 2019 - 36
Recording - June 2019 - 37
Recording - June 2019 - 38
Recording - June 2019 - 39
Recording - June 2019 - Stellar Soundware
Recording - June 2019 - 41
Recording - June 2019 - 42
Recording - June 2019 - 43
Recording - June 2019 - 44
Recording - June 2019 - 45
Recording - June 2019 - First Look: KRK Systems ROKIT 5 G4
Recording - June 2019 - 47
Recording - June 2019 - Vance Powell on mixing The Raconteurs' Help Us Stranger
Recording - June 2019 - 49
Recording - June 2019 - 50
Recording - June 2019 - 51
Recording - June 2019 - 52
Recording - June 2019 - 53
Recording - June 2019 - 54
Recording - June 2019 - 55
Recording - June 2019 - 56
Recording - June 2019 - 57
Recording - June 2019 - Steinberg Cubase 10
Recording - June 2019 - 59
Recording - June 2019 - Plug-In Outlet: Puremagnetik Plug-ins
Recording - June 2019 - 61
Recording - June 2019 - Lynx Studio Technology Aurora(n)
Recording - June 2019 - 63
Recording - June 2019 - Studio 101. Part 17: Studio controllers
Recording - June 2019 - 65
Recording - June 2019 - Readers’ Tracks
Recording - June 2019 - 67
Recording - June 2019 - 68
Recording - June 2019 - 69
Recording - June 2019 - 70
Recording - June 2019 - 71
Recording - June 2019 - Fade Out
Recording - June 2019 - Cover3
Recording - June 2019 - Cover4
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