Ableton Forum

The Lemur may look cool and futuristic, but the fact of the matter is that with the current rate of technological innovations for multi-touch screens the Lemur will be obsolete in the next year or so. I mean, once laptops and desktops have multi-touch operating systems, there will be no use for an external interface when we can manipulate paramaters that are right on the screen, am I right? Even now there have to be some multi touch panels that will reflect the computer screen image and manipulate it with multi-touch. I'm thinking kind of like a Wacom tablet, but one that you can use all 10 fingers on and you're not limited to the one pen.

So I've done a bit of research, and here are my thoughts on what I've seen so far:

http://midimeek.blogspot.com/2008/03/40-diy-lemur.html

- This guy has the right idea with the Max patch (how did he get it to look so much like the Lemur?). I can't get his patch into edit mode, so I can't figure out how he has this set up. But rock on, this shows that once we can make our own custom patches like this and can access them via our own touch screen solution, who needs an overpriced Lemur? I would just want to see a multi-touch solution without having to wear an awkward glove.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_pHkF3 ... L&index=69

- This video is getting a little bit closer to what I would want from a touch screen. But still no multi-touch. It seems that the missing link is a good affordable multi-touch screen. All the programming can be managed with Max/MSP, so no need for the Jazzeditor software. As far as I know all the objects from the Lemur palette can be found in Max. The API feature is great too.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/17/lux-mult ... -for-os-x/

- Finally, I found what would be the ultimate control surface. This thing blows the Lemur out of the water. When you can have this level of control over the OS, and all of your applications, the Lemur looks like an etch-and-sketch! If only this level of technology was available in a Lemur-size device, we'd be set.

Conclusion:

So, with these three different ideas, I think we could easily recreate the Lemur's interface, and even expand upon it without being limited to the Jazzeditor palette and a tiny black screen. The only question I have is if there's any reasonably inexpensive way to piece together an interface of this kind. I know that both Mac and Windows are working on incorporating touch screen control into their next laptops and desktops, but is there any kind of peripheral device available now that would do the same thing?

Please add your thoughts and comments.

Thanks,
Grove

talk to dj grobe. the conversation may be a little bit confusing

Alhough your " scum-bag Frenchies " comment was quite uncalled for and makes you seem not worth the time taken to post this, keep an eye on Sensomusic Usine. Multitouch will come soon enough and then you can be happy.

i quite like them scum-bag frenchies , they've always been very nice and helpfull to me. i've had a faulty motherboard in the beginning and they switched the unit in a couple of days with a smile. since then i've had zero problems except with my own competence in programming, but the guys from jazzmutant don't mind helping out when i'm stuck. been happily lemuring and dextering for a year and a half now ...

so by all means give us a shout when your diy solution is ready and can do what the lemur/dexter and jazzeditor can do, my guess would be that by the time my lemur is obsolete and your diy thingy is up and running it'll be 2 or 3 years that i've actually been multitouching midi and osc instead of wankin of a foul mouth in some forum

knock urself out boy

I apologize... That was way out of line, considering I've only been waiting 4 months, haven't heard anything but lies and misinformation from Jazzmutant, spent a fortune on their product, and the icing on the cake is that I just found out that the earliest I will know anything won't be until October. What kind of professional company keeps their customers in the dark this long then slaps them in the face with an additional 3 months of wait time? I appreciate all of your suggestions so far. You'll have to understand that I was a little ticked-off yesterday when I wrote this post, but all I'm trying to do is get some positive input on an alternative solution.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,

G