Expressive E Touche - Sonic Lab Presentation

We had a visit from Expressive E - they showed us their Touche controller, which allows you to transform physical expression into MIDI CC and four channels of CV control.

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[davidlewis]

I have a disability in my right hand. I have always wanted an expression controller on my right when soloing a sound. Fab!

[dcashley]

This and a Moog Subsequent-37 and I doubt I'd ever leave the house. Amazing.

[jamesvoos]

Just got mine today! As a guitar player, this finally introduces the kind of expressivity I am used to with the guitar!

[simonhmackie]

I should not have watched this. Now I really want one.

[aipsong]

I bought it, and it is fabulous for my modular - real sensitive contact with timbres

[ivikansostudio]

the guy is a master of marketing, of music theory and he knows what is doing. one of the most cool presentation i ever seen. ps. the device is game changer and pretty useful. price of 400 usd is even correct for the age we're livin' in

[chebtamer]

This video will never be an old one for me!
It’s full of awesomeness ❤

[Edwardball]

I just get the feeling this is a game changer for expressively playing any synth. Amazing amount of customisation and I know there are people knocking that the software is Mac only but I'm sure they will develop out for other platforms. This is a massive undertaking to get everything sorted for things like this at launch, software synths, hardware synths and CV! They sound like they are still developing hard for it so that's good enough​ for me. I want one! Going to see what damage it can do on my Vostock and Erabus!

[thearrayprojectmusic]

Very impressive device, great presentation by a modest but very talented guy. That CV gate trick with the response curves is cool.

[japolloproductions]

This is very informative, and a game changer. Thank you

[maxmartinez]

This makes all your synths into a Roli Seaboard

[LesterBrunt]

After years of music production buying all sorts of gear I have found out that expressiveness is the most lacking in almost all electronic music compared to acoustic instruments. It doesn’t matter if you have a 3, 000 dollar synth with 5, 000 dollars worth of plugins if you only have note on note off articulations, maybe some lfo on the pitch or cutoff.
That just doesn’t compare to for instance a violin. The amount of articulations there are for 1 note is massive. Short, scratchy, short and stratchy, very short, plucked by the left or right hand, thick, thin, tremolo, wide or narrow vibrato, warm, thin, soft, loud, short or long glide, no glide, legato, and lots more that I don’t even know. And a good player can switch between all these techniques between the notes and even during the notes.
You can do all this with automation but to me that is such an unpractical and tedious way of making music. That is like 2 hours of drawing lines with a mouse to get the same thing you can do in 30 seconds on a real instrument. I can do a drum track on a real kits in 1 take and it will have incredible nuances in the loudness, the balance, how it progresses over time. Like when you are deep in the pocket you are making all kinds of lines with incredibly subtle ghost notes, subtle accents, locking with the bass, playing with micro timing, etc. To make a midi drum track and draw out all those velocities would take you days.
Something like the touche really fills that gap. Wind controllers are also amazing. Even some crappy init patch will sound good with the right articulations. Articulations is where it is at.

[RoboticusMusic]

Funny, I was just looking for an XY MIDI foot controller kind of like what the Zoom guitar multi-effect foot pedal has. I realized if I used an XY or even XYZ MIDI gyro controller Velcro'ed to my foot I could achieve the same effect sort of. Then this video showed up, literally uploaded a few hours after my brainstorm. I could probably adapt this to be a foot controller, but I think it would be great if they created an XYZ foot controller that was optimized for that purpose, as this looks like it's best for hands.

[XMetalChefX]

I'm a metal guitar player and my jaw dropped when I saw the video and for this and a violin

[beefdlo]

I might get one after they've implemented all the stuff that he says they're working on...

[janminor]

I am not a keyboard player and for sure won't be able to use this convincingly, but the thing is quite fascinating and I somehow like to have it anyway... I guess you have to practice some time to make really good use of it.

[hakonsoreide]

I've been using a Linnstrument over the last few years, which is great, but there are aspects of how this works that makes me think a Touché would suit my style better, together with a normal MIDI keyboard. An Osmose would have been ideal, but that's definitely out of my budget range.

[wildaudiosociety]

you didn't touch ;-) on the max for live plugin?!? oh well, I'm sold. Just order one in a open box sale :-) I could see myself getting a second one.

[mCKENIC]

Been jonesing for this since the NAMM announcement. Hoping to use it for Eurorack, standalone HW and AU plugins. Please, please, please make the software work with 10.8 (or even Windows 10). I'd really like to try Lié too. I'd already be playing with one by now if it did! Thanks Nick & thanks Arthur!

[martennilsson]

I hope you soon will be releasing the app for windows, then I really would consider buying it.