Intuitive Instruments (formally Dualo) has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of the Exquis, an expressive MPE controller that features a hexagonal isomorphic keyboard, MIDI In/Out, CV/Gate out for controlling analog gear, and a variety of configurable controls.
Exquis features 54 expressive pads, 4 clickable endless knob controllers, a touch slider & 6 configurable buttons. The pads give you continuous per-note control over pressure and pitch. The Exquis application – available for Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Linux and Raspberry Pi OS – is designed to be the perfect companion for the keyboard, as well as a MIDI-compatible DAW.
The Exquis is available to project backers starting at about $155
*Note that crowdfunded projects involve risk, which is documented at the project site.
As of October 13th 2022, MOD Audio UG is the official owner of all assets from the insolvent MOD Devices GmbH. The new entity was co-founded by Gianfranco Ceccolini and Andreas Umland.
The new MOD Audio UG focuses on the MOD Dwarf foot pedal for the guitar & bass audiences. Former devices – MOD Duo and Duo X – continue to be supported. The company says that it also is committed the fulfillment of still outstanding crowdfunded units from the MOD Dwarf campaign that happened in early 2020.
During October, the team at MOD Audio is working on bringing the cloud services of the platform back online – namely the Plugin Store and the Pedalboard Feed. Relaunching their production supply chain, MOD Audio plans to ship the MOD Dwarf again to dealers and crowdfunding backers in November.
Developers or Ardour – an open source digital audio workstation (DAW) – have release v7, an update that they say introduces major new features for the software, as well as substantial internal engineering changes.
Ardour 7 introduces Ableton Live-inspired Clip Launching, MIDI editing improvements, support for Apple Silicon and more.
Clip Launching
The biggest visible change in Ardour 7.0 is the arrival of “clip launching”, similar to the workflow pioneered by Ableton Live. Clip launching lets you experiment with combinations of various loops and one shot samples, with all sounds appropriately time-stretched to fit the tempo map of the session, and start/stop quantized to the groove.
In addition, unlike some other DAWs, MIDI clips in Ardour can have 16 MIDI channels, and every clip can have its own patches (sounds) assigned. You can use multi-timbral MIDI files for various effects, including layering or “true flams” (same note, different channels),
With this release, only Ableton’s Push 2 surface can be used as a controller to control cues, but the developers say that future releases of 7.x will bring support for Novation Launchpads and other devices.
While Ardour’s clip launching behavior was inspired by Ableton Live, there are differences, outlined on the Ardour website. Find out more on version 7 at the Ardour website.
