Lemur Controller Feedback Please

smartabletonuser · Post by **smartabletonuser** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:17 am

It's expensive. It's definitely pioneering. Wisdom had tought me to never buy the first generation of anything.

Does anyone own a Lemur? Has anyone used it?

I'd love to hear some feedback. Especially from Max/Msp users.

Clearscreen · Post by **Clearscreen** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:08 am

i'm curious about this thing too. especially seeing it can now do midi via software translation apparently. have you downloaded the editor program? i've had a play with it and it looks the business! i have to admit i'm waiting to see if it's as good as it seems before i'll drop that much cash on it!

smartabletonuser · Post by **smartabletonuser** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:30 am

This is really only the beginning. So you might want to hold on to your $$$.

I bet within the next year we'll start to see some serious competition with the same concept. I know of a guy at MIT developing a controller where you move shapes around, like chess pieces. Unfortunately, I forget the link.

Funny thing is, I personally know people that have been making touch sensitive controllers for years based on Miditron and all that. Strange it's only starting to surface now.

neomodo · Post by **neomodo** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 5:16 pm

I've seen this puppy in action a little bit - The Cycling '74 folks take it with them everywhere they go just so they can see the wide eyed gazes from people. I haven't seen it working with Live but what I did see impressed the sh*t5 out of me. It is one versatile mofo - it would take some getting used to but I witnessed no problems. My gut tells me to wait a year or so and something like it will surface at 25% of the cost that will get me just about everything I could hope for. Sad but twue...

buzzcock · Post by **buzzcock** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 6:21 pm

The only thing Lemur really has going for it is its multi-touch capability. In every other respect, a touchscreen monitor is better since you can interact directly with the GUI of the host and plug-ins, without having to set up anything, or look away from the screen.

A multi-touch capable LCD monitor would be the best of both worlds, if it existed. I have been researching this for a while to almost no avail, as there is little information on Multi-touch touchscreens. Seems that 3M owns a patent, and makes such a screen for casino gaming applications, but there is no consumer version available, nor does any computer operating system support this interface (so far as i know).

nordmach · Post by **nordmach** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:35 pm

Guys are you talking about this?
The AudioPad?

Check it:
http://web.media.mit.edu/~jpatten/audio ... ar-web.wmv
http://web.media.mit.edu/~jpatten/audio ... ll-web.mov

computo · Post by **computo** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:44 pm

I think all the nay-sayers here, probably, havent even seen or used the Lemur.

Cycling74 doesnt do ANYTHING half-assed, and I KNOW they wouldnt jump on the controller bandwagon, without knowing exactly what was coming.

To me, it looks amazing. Anything that works with Max, can be made to work with live. But this device seems to far exceed the concepts in Live, so I think, once you have your hands on it, that you'll want to design your own interface. Thats the point. It seems pretty stupid to suggest a touchscreen for real computer screens, because that just puts us all back to square one: Some guy with a computer.

With Lemur, you are a guy and his unique, customized controller, and there is a LOT to be said for that.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:44 pm

there's a cheaper version of Lemur that is based on a video projector.
It is also multi-touch

not in commercial production yet

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/index.html

computo · Post by **computo** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 10:46 pm

it sure LOOKS cheaper.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:17 pm

I would buy a projector-based system if it was cheap, or cheap-ish. That lemur doesn't really have the right ... "it" for me. I don't know, maybe it's because it's so small? It isn't all that different from seeing a guy with a wacom board...

I guess I like big gesture-based systems. So a big(ger) projection would be a lot more appealing to me.

siddhu · Post by **siddhu** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:43 pm

Guys,

I've seen the Lemur in action for the first time last October in Paris when I met with the CEO of the company.

They are a small group of highly dedicated music guys (a bit like the Abes) and are totally focused on quality.

The Lemur uses a special type of display that is super bright and rugged so you can use it in full daylight. It is also built like a tank - totally rock solid so it's no plastic m-audio/behringer type of product.

Yeah it's pricey but you get what you pay for. Just think a Xone 92 is $2000-$2500 So is the Lemur really that expensive!?

It's is a serious piece of kit, think Allen and Heath, Technics, Clavia, or Machine Drum. You really have to hold this puppy in your hands and use it and suddenly you see the light.

Personally I'm saving up to pick one up because it has absolutely NO limitations on how you can configure it, and once you have a Lemur you really don't need anything else. For me it IS the ultimate controller.

BTW: A lot of high profile artists are picking them up so expect to see a Lemur being used at a club/show/festival near you soon!!

Clearscreen · Post by **Clearscreen** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:52 pm

In every other respect, a touchscreen monitor is better since you can interact directly with the GUI of the host and plug-ins, without having to set up anything, or look away from the screen.

who needs the GUI? one of the things i like about the lemur is i could set up 32 faders and 64 buttons (with clip/use names) usably on screen (try out the jazzeditor - it gives more of an idea of what you can do). give me a few banks set up like this, say one for each song/track for example and why would i need to look at live? everything relevant would be there on the lemur in front of me.

as it stands i run 2 effects busses into a master effects bus and i have to keep switching views in live to see where the samples at or which effect is running at what level etc. and lets face it, thats a really simplified setup for when i'm supporting a dj and i'm still switching views pretty much constantly. thats why i like faders instead of knobs - i know where they're at without looking at the screen.

and by the time you use the physics engine and start playing with multiball and whatever else they come up with, i'm definitely interested. the price however.... thats another matter!

robtronik · Post by **robtronik** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:11 am

I was just reading about it (Because of this thread). It definitely is the business. I just played with the configuration software (which is freely downloadable) and it is like having a mawzer but in software. It really is cool...

HM. I have a Xone:92... I should sell that and one of my CDJs and get this thing.... BUT, I would love to know how the MIDI implementation (that was just added via the software interpolating it) works with Live. If it works (and someone can confirm), I'm going to buy one of these things. The sofware based configuration rocks.

Ideally, it should be natively supported in Live via OSC. I've already added a thread in the suggested features section for this. To have it natively supported in Live would probably send their sales through the roof.

rob.

Clearscreen · Post by **Clearscreen** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:21 am

you're right, OSC should be native to live... hopefully soon!
as far as the midi implementation goes, i've not been able to figure it out either. all i know is you have to have the jazzeditor running and it translates for you. i've got no idea how to link it to a control or a port, i was wondering if i was missing something obvious. at the same time though, they haven't provided much info on the midi implementation, but i guess it's only just been released.

buzzcock · Post by **buzzcock** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:54 am

computo wrote: It seems pretty stupid to suggest a touchscreen for real computer screens, because that just puts us all back to square one: Some guy with a computer.

Hey, I'm not trying to dis the thing, it's just doesn't really fit my needs. Perhaps the Lemur is great for performance and looking really cool, but a touchscreen would be a handy interface for streamlining workflow in a studio situation. To each his own (or maybe both).

So as not to offend, I take back "In every other respect..." from my previous post.

Lemur Controller Feedback Please

Lemur Controller Feedback Please

The truth about the Lemur