Ableton Forum

gomi · Post by **gomi** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:51 pm

i just ordered a lemur

i will disappear from the forums for many more months now!

omg!

C.S. · Post by **C.S.** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:04 am

Congratulations! Just got mine this past Saturday. Still not past the tinkering stages, but I haven't had this much fun since I discovered Live. Now all we need is OSC for 7. Have fun, you won't be disappointed.

NorthernMonkey · Post by **NorthernMonkey** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:09 am

I really really really want a Lemur - tell me honestly, is it worth the money?

C.S. · Post by **C.S.** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:37 am

Depends... do you have the income to blow on a $2500+ toy?
I'm not a serious musician, just a hobbyist. However, I have a good job, and luckily am able to spend like that on myself from time to time. If that's your case as well, by all means... it is worth it.
I'm getting rid of my BCR and Faderfoxes as we speak. The lemur is just that inspiring.

NorthernMonkey · Post by **NorthernMonkey** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:43 am

C.S. wrote:Depends... do you have the income to blow on a $2500+ toy?
I'm not a serious musician, just a hobbyist. However, I have a good job, and luckily am able to spend like that on myself from time to time. If that's your case as well, by all means... it is worth it.
I'm getting rid of my BCR and Faderfoxes as we speak. The lemur is just that inspiring.

Yes, I have the income - what I want to know is how functionally rich it is, can you basically do anything you want to with it? How does it feel when using it, responsive? Or is it just a surface with bright lights that might end up gathering dust on a shelf?

C.S. · Post by **C.S.** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:10 am

The income question was rhetorical

OK, since we are past the price tag.
I might not be the best person to answer your questions, there are some users on this forum with a lot more experience with it than myself. But I'll try.

You can do basically anything you want to do with this beast. The objects (multisliders, multiballs, range, etc) allow you to come up with some pretty unique layouts. For instance last night I was programming some drums with Battery 3, I didn't want to break out the trigger finger. So I created 32 multisliders in a matrix layout to mimic the TF. The higher on the object you touched to the higher the velocity. Then I added a Autofilter assigned a multiball with next to no friction assigned it to the cutoff and had a nice little random LFO going on it. And remember this is only after at most 5 solid hours with the thing. I am making little layouts for how I work... which to me is why this thing is so great, you decide the layout.

It feels great much more solid than I would have thought. The touchscreen must be a quarter of an inch thick. I think with the right case it is road worthy. It is very responsive, there is a subtle friction on the surface. The unit has only flaked out on me once and just required to be turned off and on to work again. However the software feels a little unfinished, but we are only at 1.6.

Some things I don't like: I really wish you could resize ALL the objects, for example the knob (to small IMO). I wish the touchscreen was velocity sensitive (but there are workarounds like I pointed out above).
The forum at jazzmutant is a little quite but the search function has answered all my questions so far.
My biggest gripe is Live's lack of OSC (Live's problem not the Lemur's). I have Reaktor but am finding out quick that the OSC support in Reaktor is pretty weak next to Max/MSP which I am about to purchase for this reason.
If you are only going to use midi with the Lemur you might get frustrated with the real time performance stuff (I can't get the sync right so far with the step sequencers). I have found the Lemur more inspiring for sequencing and such in Reaktor standalone. But if Live gets OSC watchout. All in all I don't have any regrets, and with a couple of months Max work I might not even care about Live's lack of OSC.

NorthernMonkey · Post by **NorthernMonkey** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:15 am

Thanks for that, some good info in there.

queglay · Post by **queglay** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:32 am

I've had my lemur for a few months now. I got it because i just hate mice and keyboards. the device isn't perfect, but i can still say im very happy with it, and if its in your budget then I'd highly recommend it. its a shame the forums are a little dry, I dont know why, but jazzmutant really pay attention to their users, and im amazed and how much this product just continues to evolve after i've bought it.