For this month’s tech round-up James Trigo looks at a new tactile controller from Opho, DJIT’s portable cross fader, the Mixfader, and a new app from the makers of Touchable.
How you interact with your software is an important part of music making and creativity, and with the amount of controllers multiplying day by day, manufactures are keen to make theirs standout. One that’s caught our eye this month is the Keys by Opho. Combining simple design with intuitive gesture control, the Keys has a lot to offer. First it’s two octaves, all be it with buttons rather than keys, but if you want to add more octaves, additional Keys can connect wirelessly. It’s fully MIDI compatible with iOS, Mac, PC and Android and it’s back lit keys (buttons) light up, providing an excellent way for beginners to learn to play. But for us it’s standout feature is the use of proximity sensors to control any mapped midi parameters with various hand gestures, making it an excellent performance tool too. Ready to pre-order now from the Opho website at a sensible $88.
Carrying on with the controller theme, DJIT’s Mixfader is probably one of the smallest. Providing just one function, the Mixfader does exactly what it says on the tin and is the first connected DJ crossfader enabling you to mix and scratch with your smartphone or tablet. It’s not quite ready yet, but visit the edjing website to sign up for news on it’s release.
The latest apps from the developers of Touchable, are looking to integrate your iOS device better with your Mac. The first app Midimux, enables you to control all of your iOS apps with a MIDI controller via your Mac or vice versa to control connected hardware instruments. Secondly Audiomux hopes to provide low-latency audio streaming between your iOS app and Mac through the popular Audiobus app. This will effectively make use of the apps on your iOS device as a kind of plug-in. Costing $6.99 on its own but if you buy it as a bundle with Midimux you get both for $9.99/£7.99. To see how it works, check out the video below.
