Just came across yet another MPE controller. I don’t think it looks particularly playable though.
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I’m the same opinion.
On the other day I’ve said; king of the look alike keys joystick is the Eigenharps.
The layout seems to be not completely unlike a hex-version of what I use on the Eigenharp Alpha. Good to see more lower-cost expressive instruments entering the market!
But it imho also shows how far ahead of it’s time the Eigenharp Pico was.
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Interesting idea. Did they make up their own damn pitch layout AGAIN? or does it correspond to anything else in the universe? I would have thought they’d have at least tried to do a Jankó layout or something…
3 semitones between joysticks, I’m sorry but WHAT?
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Looks like a naff copy of the Striso. I expect it was developed independently, but I don’t like the look of it personally.
The walnut one might be OK.
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Think it’s the west european chromatic button accordion layout. Or like a Bayan, mirrored at the x axis. I have a three course button accordion - almost like an accoustic version of my Alpha, it’s cool 
(Well, hex instead of grid and three instead of five courses, but it’s close)
So here again, “full MPE” consists of pitch bend and pressure?
I mean, the spec does present CC 74 as optional, but I feel like the word “full” sets a certain expectation.
(Whatever. I usually disable that anyway.)
I think it’ll prove useful to a lot of people as a DJ controller. Assign four FX to each joystick, and you’ve got yourself a powerful glitch machine.
Also good for visual artists, probably.
I could see programming a game where the player has to maneuver 32 characters onscreen, independently of each other. (I can’t see selling a lot of copies, though.)
I mean, any situation where you have a ton of parameters that you generally want resting at zero, or at 50%, a collection of joysticks could be the right interface.
Controlling a synth, probably not.
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I actually own one. It’s surprisingly intuitive and fun to play. The joysticks are really easy to use. I’m not a gamer, but it’s very natural to play. The layout is different than the Striso. It’s like a button accordion. It is isomorphic. Unfortunately it looks like the company is gone, but if you ever find one used, I think it’s worth considering.
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I use it exclusive to control synths.
Thanks for the feedback. I tend to assume these Kickstarter instruments stay around but it’s definitely not always the case. I’ll add this to the watch list.
Yea I don’t know what happened. I believe the creator was a student who started the company with a professor. Maybe they didn’t plan to expand. Basically one day the website completely disappeared. Either way, I have a lot of fun using it and it was pretty affordable, so I’d still recommend it.
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Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster, etc.
Here’s a quick record of my experience with this product (and the company).
I sprung for the wood one in the Kickstarter because I wanted to support the company and it looked a lot nicer than the plastic unit. It arrived came with a detached USB port (failed solder and/or a dab of glue that had come loose) and a mechanical problem that would practically guarantee that the USB port would detach again (the back was thin, weak wood and not braced so all but the lightest pressure bent the main board). After lots of fiddling I was able to play it for about 30 seconds–enough to determine that I really liked the design and interface.
Long story short, I let them know and a month later they said they had a replacement unit ready for me with a strengthened enclosure. I shipped the original unit back to them (after some delay on my end). Six weeks later, I heard that they received it, had scheduled delivery for the replacement, and would send me the tracking number. That was early July. I’ve written them five times since then and have heard absolutely nothing; I don’t know if the replacement unit is on its way, got lost in transit, or never existed in the first place.
As a human being, I’m worried that something bad–like, life event bad–took the company down, and I hope that everybody’s OK. As a customer and supporter, I’m extremely frustrated. Since I didn’t have a unit when the updated firmware was released I didn’t download a copy; even if the unit shows up someday, I’ll have to depend on the kindness of strangers who kept it around, unless I’m able to get in touch with Philip.
I’ll update here if I ever get my unit, or even hear from them. I hope they do release a production line as my extremely brief experience playing with it suggested that it was a really nice and very portable expressive controller.
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Wow! I never even thought about the fact that something might have happened to him. It was weird how one day everything online just disappeared. Please do keep up posted.
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@jaygalfo–I definitely will! Hopefully everybody’s intact on a personal level and it’s just the ordinary craziness of running a small business in a global pandemic.
Companies come and go but it would suck if this idea never goes anywhere. It really is a good one. Did you end up grabbing the one firmware upgrade before the site went down? AFAIK it just upped the scan rate of the joysticks.
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Positive update: I just received an EXTREMELY nice and very prompt email from someone else in the company, and I should have some clarity on what happened with my unit quite soon. It sounds as though everyone’s doing OK personally, which is a relief. Will update further when I know more.
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Thanks for sharing and glad to hear! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to update the firmware. I’m hopeful that they will be back, but if not the device still functions perfectly. I actually didn’t get notified about the firmware update and only found out about it after the site went down. Thanks again for keeping us informed.
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Further good news–my replacement JV-W took a very long, very slow trip around the world (with an attempted delivery with no notice about halfway through). Sounds like ordinary chaos stopped the tracking number from getting sent; totally forgivable for a small company finding its footing. Nothing dire! I’m trying to work out more reliable shipping arrangements now and it should be inbound shortly.
@jaygalfo, I’ve also asked after the updated firmware, which I’ll encourage them to post publicly somewhere if the web site isn’t going back up. If they don’t, I’ll happily send you (and anyone else here) a copy.
No update on company plans, I think they’re still figuring that out.
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@gc3 That’s great news that it’s on it way! I hope you love playing it as much as I do. Thanks so much for the firmware offer. Hopefully it’ll be back online.
Thanks again for keeping us posted!