A new and rather strange looking controller is in the making – The QuNeo from Keith McMillen Instruments. QuNeo, Multi-touch Open Source MIDI & USB Pad Controller
It looks a bit like a toy, but taking into consideration what Keith McMillen instruments normally produces it is absolutely a project to follow.
Tactile Pads, Sliders, Rotary Sensors and Switches
Each of the 27 pads, sliders and rotary sensors are pressure, velocity, and location sensitive. Even the 17 switches respond to how hard you press.
LED Light Feedback
A remarkable lumination scheme combines variably diffusive elastomers with 251 multi-color LEDs providing visual feedback that is immediately responsive and delightfully informative. Man and machine are coupled through light, feel and sound.
Trigger Pads
16 square pads provide 127 levels of Velocity response. And X-Y location. And continuous pressure. For each pad. Times sixteen.
Rotary Surfaces
2 rotary surfaces allow you to scrub, trigger, stretch, pinch and play phrases and sound files, manipulate continuous controllers and more . Each rotary sensor measures angle, pressure and distance from the center.
Multi-touch Sliders
9 touch sensitive sliders can be mapped to fader and effects controls. LEDs within each slider act as VU meters or remind you where you were. Multi-touch lets you select a length between two fingers to set stereo locations or filter resonances. Tapping a slider can mute or toggle any track or function.
Switches
The switches are located in smart groupings to select samples, fader banks, and transport controls. Each of the switches can scan up and down through files at speeds variable with your touch. Great for quickly locating that perfect fill or telling your looper you really meant it.
The Size of an iPad
QuNeo is the size of an iPad and can fit in iPad accessories such as mic clips, stands and more.
Class Compliant and Open Source Development Kit
QuNeo works with USB, MIDI or OSC and will communicate with your favorite music software environments right out of the box. More advanced users and programmers can use the development kit and API to create their own code to respond to QuNeo’s sensor data. Hack away to control your world in ways never before possible!
It’s currently a Kickstarter project and that means they need to reach a certain amount of money in donations before even starting to produce the QuNeo. We will donate!
QuNeo is fully designed and prototyped and will perfectly compliment SoftStep and 12 Step, our innovative foot controllers currently on the market. We are reaching out to you on Kickstarter to raise the funds for tooling and production to make QuNeo available ASAP.
QuNeo is a different species of pad controller for electronic musicians, DJs, VJs and DIY hackers. While it covers all of the functionality of other pad controllers, QuNeo adds the power of touch recognition in other dimensions.
Link:
QuNeo from McMillen Instruments
QuNeo Kickstarter project
