Ableton Forum

from wikipedia

Musician Brian Crabtree created the first "monome" device in 2005[6] after his discovery of Max/MSP[7]. Crabtree conceived a device that would use an open grid of buttons in order to allow for greater diversity of functionality over differing musical software applications. Many fellow musicians requested such devices from Crabtree after become familiar with the initial device. Crabtree, together with his business partner, Kelli Cain, created an initial run of multiple devices a year later (2006)[8] as a convenient way to meet the requests of these musicians. The company arose organically, over time, after demand for the device increased.

* 40h (no longer in production)
o May 2006; 400 devices
* 40h/se (no longer in production)
o June 2007; 16 devices
* 40h kit
o June 2007; 100 devices
o November 2007; 100 devices
* two fifty six
o September 2007; 100 devices
o August 2008; 100 devices
* one twenty eight
o December 2007; 100 devices
o May 2008; (number not available)
o January 2009; (number not available)
* sixty four
o January 2008; 100 devices
o January 2008; 100 additional devices
o October 2008; 200 devices
o January 2009; (number not available)

Brian (tehn) was an art student, he got into max and saw the grid object (IIRC that's the name). a friend of his showed him electronics and he built a button box that mimicked that max object.

he took it around with him to different places including MakeFaires. more and more people asked him for one, so he made 100 of them. at this point in time this was HUGE for him and a LOT of work.

the next run were the SE edition, which he donated the money to charity, he thought he was done with the whole thing.

I heard of them around this time, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. personally I contacted his site about making my own, he wasn't sure if he would do a kit or not. finally he released a kit, meaning no enclosures to make, no soldering, just ordering parts (imagine how much cash that is to lay out.)

now more and more and more people are clamoring for more monomes, at this time he started working on developing more models, all the while he was juggling ordering more parts and finding ways to mass produce the boards.

that's more or less where it sits now. just a guy who made a device that people wanted for their own. it was never intended to be a business, it's a folly of his, which he has worked diligently to follow very idealistic business practices from donations to Green causes to local sustainability. oh, and he sells them at a MUCH lower cost than he could, his price point is the cost of production and a modest mark up.


then they got into the hands of d0uche_bags like t1mp's friend who just don't get it.


/this is me ranting, you're cool zebra, I like your posts.

@tone, @beat

Yeah, sorry gents. I was getting a bit carried away and digging a deeper hole with every post.

I've got nothing but respect for Brian and Kelli and what they do.

that's exactly what the forum is for.

it has to only be a matter of time before someone 'takes over' for tehn and churns these out regularly. the board layout, software files and parts list have been published on their site for years. IMO nobody's doing it now out of respect or they're finding their own way to do it, like with Arduinos.

TBH there's money to be made by competing with monome for customers.

Loop - more funny photoshops please!

I think the APC40 is going to cover it for most people, at least for my needs. Plus it does a lot more, but I guess the argument there in favor of monomes is bigger grid sizes.

But I also feel given the popularity of the monome and I'm sure the popularity of the ACP40, some large corporation is going to scoop up the large grid concept, improve on it, and wipe monome off the map like the abacus. Sure there are plenty of Apple-ish monome fanboys but there's an even larger percentage of people who wanted one but didn't get one because of either availability or pricing. Those people would jump on a competitive product in a heartbeat.

I respect what the monome peeps have done and their ethics (or whatever) but this kind of reminds of when the mp3 format was created, was offered to the major music industry and they said "no thanks". Now look where they are. You don't have to aspire to world domination but if you already have a product and proven demand and track record why not see about taking things to the next level. Good intentions don't pay the bills.

At the very least it can be said that creative people are financial idiots with their head buried in their craft.

@ Tone
@ beats


Yeah, because they are so open about everything it's almost like they are inviting someone to step in and make these on a slightly more mass-produced level. I'm not saying Sony or a huge corp, but certainly someone like Kenton - who already make a slightly boutique product with the Killamix mini. I can't believe it hasn't already happened. It's an anomaly. You already have 2 or 3 step sequencer apps for the iPhone, and HUGE interest everytime someone starts talking about creating one. I was serious about the gizmodo.com stuff. There's been several step sequencer articles there (including a few for the monome) and people go nuts with interest.

Amazing that someone (besides Yamaha with Tenori-On) hasn't started already. In fact, I believe the APC is the closest anyone has come under $500 range, right?

The Tenori, I believe, is twice that? More?

I would love to see the monome folks perhaps LICENSE out the name/concept/whatever to someone like Kenton. The cost and availability would go down, and the build quality wouldn't suffer that much. At the same time, Brian and Kelli could continue making 'limited run' hand-made versions for serious collectors.

beats me wrote:the argument there in favor of monomes is bigger grid sizes.

the monome 64 is USB powered, which is why I love it, along with the software apps people have made.

there are comparisons, but IMO they're pretty weak, it's like that lame ass thread on the Maschine acting EXACTLY like an APC40, what a fucktard, of course it's not exactly like an APC, they're just kinda similar.

monome on an APC will be a bit compromised as it's an 8x7 grid until you add a row of skinny buttons to make it 8x8. but then you can't use your APC as an APC.

Zebra - you're coming up with these radical ideas on companies making monomes, the rest of us have been discussing that for YEARS.

Tone Deft wrote:monome on an APC will be a bit compromised as it's an 8x7 grid until you add a row of skinny buttons to make it 8x8. but then you can't use your APC as an APC.

But a lot of the cool videos I've scene with the monome 64 they aren't even using all 8 rows, obviously 8 buttons to break up a track makes sense but you don't actually NEED 8 tracks. But I also don't own one so I may not know what I am talking about. Maybe there are some advantages to an 8X8 grid other than it just being symmetrical.

all the monome 64 apps I've used use all 64 buttons, sometimes with pages and pages of uses.

oh, and you're counting on some poor soul to port the apps over to max4Live. they very well could port it as a 7x8 device depending on the app.

bus powered


time will tell, all this APC40 talk is pretty much just pissing in the wind.

Tone Deft wrote:all the monome 64 apps I've used use all 64 buttons, sometimes with pages and pages of uses.

oh, and you're counting on some poor soul to port the apps over to max4Live. they very well could port it as a 7x8 device depending on the app.

bus powered


time will tell, all this APC40 talk is pretty much just pissing in the wind.

Fair enough. You own one and I don't so you would know better than me.

I've just become less passionate about the monomes in either direction and when I see the price that got this thread all worked into a lather I just think of all the other things I could buy with that money and get a lot more use out of them.

Tone Deft wrote:Zebra - you're coming up with these radical ideas on companies making monomes, the rest of us have been discussing that for YEARS.

lol, true enough. I've been lurking for quite a while around here and do recall a bunch of previous conversations along those lines. Ah well.

Just build one. Parts will run you about $150 maybe less. I plan on building an arduinome possibly. If I do I will sell my 64 for list price right here on this forum. I can't imagine charging more than what I paid.

....and no sale. This is a buyers market, not a sellers market - if that auction had no reserve on it, that monome might have sold, but in this economy, there's no way that would have gone for $2400; I'm betting he got lots of interesting (lame) trade offers, though.

JJarvis wrote:Just build one. Parts will run you about $150 maybe less. I plan on building an arduinome possibly. If I do I will sell my 64 for list price right here on this forum. I can't imagine charging more than what I paid.

I think saying this is as elitist as saying "just earn the $2500 like everyone else and pay for it".

Obviously there are very few people who have the knowledge and/or time to competently assemble a Monome 256, or there would be no run on them in the first place.

Kodama wrote:

JJarvis wrote:Just build one. Parts will run you about $150 maybe less. I plan on building an arduinome possibly. If I do I will sell my 64 for list price right here on this forum. I can't imagine charging more than what I paid.

I think saying this is as elitist as saying "just earn the $2500 like everyone else and pay for it".

Obviously there are very few people who have the knowledge and/or time to competently assemble a Monome 256, or there would be no run on them in the first place.

AFAIK only the plans for the 64 are open source, I haven't looked in a while.

it's pretty common for people to make their own boards, maybe not someone of your talent level, but the average Joe can do it. you literally just download the files, send them to a board vendor, and you can get boards back in a week or so.

then it's the nearly impossible task of reading a parts list and finding them in a Digikey or Jameco or whoever's catalog and filling out an order form.

stuffing the board is tough, you can't do it with your feet, you have to use BOTH hands, I know, sounds pretty impossible to me as well.

TBH making the enclosure is the toughest part. there's no easy or cheap way to make a top plate with 64 holes in it.

the arduinonome is completely laid out
http://docs.monome.org/doku.php?id=tech:ports:arduino