posted 12 May 2006 12:18            

Thanks...

posted 15 May 2006 10:05            

Jack

posted 15 May 2006 23:27            

But I can imagine controlling Kyma/Max with one would be amazing nonetheless! I still haven't found a controller that I like more than a Wacom tablet, but for more complex setups, the Lemur could be ideal.

Anyway, back to work...

Jack

posted 16 May 2006 10:17            

First brief answers to your questions:

Q. For starters there's the lack of sensitivity to pressure.
A. Agreed. I'd prefer a pressure input.

Q. also limited objects
A. Really isn't an issue. the object are very adaptable.

Q. I'm sorry to say, not amazing customer support
A. I would say this is an anomaly. I have found them incredibly responsive and helpful, dedicated to their product. I'm sorry to hear you have had this experience. Were you contacting JazzMutant (the makers in France) or Cycling 74 (the distributors in North America)? I deal with Jazzmutant.

Q. Basically, I'm wondering how responsive the virtual faders are. That would be the deciding factor for me I think. I mean, I'd like to know what happens if you grab a fader with your finger and frantically drag it left and right. Would the fader follow your gestures 1:1, or would it drag?
A. Very subjective. For me, it's musically useful. It's feels fast enough to work with, especially if you disable the physics. If you get the Lemur you'll find that the physics become this whole other area of control. Latency has been very much improved with the latest full firmware.

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FYI, I'm copying a message I sent to the Lemur list in January, with updates and edits to make it current for this discussion:
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Here are my thoughts on the Continuum, the Wacom, and Lemur as music performance controllers.

A little background:
I use all three devices in conjunction with a Symbolic Sound Kyma system. My desire has been to create a performance system which can maximize realtime musical expressive responses. The goal has been to reduce system latency as much as possible, and to create musical environments that I can dive into mentally and corporeally. I desire very short feedback loops between man and machine. Each of these three controllers brings something unique to this goal. They strongly complement each other. One controller's shortcoming is another's strength...

I rated these controllers with these categories:

Latency: Is there a perceived delay from action (finger contact) to sound output?
Visual Feedback: How extensive are the visual clues one gets to the device's status?
Mechanical Feedback: How extensive are the touch clues one gets to the devices status?
Accuracy: How fine can it go? Does it do what my finger(hand) is trying to tell it?
Versatility: How many "things" can this device do?
Design: How well is the device manufactured, and how well does the design work?
Software: How well implemented is the software?

Each category is graded as Poor, Acceptable, Excellent. And remember my judging is based on it's interaction with my chosen platform, the Kyma system.
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The Devices
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The Lemur was my latest addition. It has replaced a MotorMix fader box that I had before. Of course the Lemur is much more than something like the MotorMix. The Intuos 3 tablet I got about 10 months ago. Support was added in Kyma for this device then so I decided to try it out. The Continuum I got maybe four years ago. It's by far the hardest to "play" of the three but the rewards have been amazing.
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Latency
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Lemur: Acceptable. Responds with a lag similar to some hardware MIDI devices I have owned. More importantly, there is no perceptible latency deviation. Latency has recently been improved with latest firmware update.

Intuos: Acceptable. Responds with a lag similar to some hardware MIDI devices I have owned. More importantly, there is no perceptible latency deviation.

Continuum: Excellent. Very fast, very accurate with respect to the X (left right) direction and the Z (pressure) direction. Less so that the Y (front to back), but still very usable in that direction.

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Visual Feedback
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Lemur: Excellent. The objects are well thought out. This is the definitive visual device! Quick to navigate and to control multiple things at the same time. Easy to see where you last left a controller value.

Intuos: Acceptable. It's a basic control surface. Laying a grid on the surface helps, but of course changing the grid is cumbersome if you need to, so I don't bother with that. Hard to tell when revisiting the surface where you last left the pen.

Continuum: Acceptable. There are markings on the surface to aid one in seeing an equal tempered reference.

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Mechanical Feedback
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Lemur: Poor. It's a visual device. Really requires constant eye contact unless one develops very good finger memory. BTW I like the default pressure value assigned when the surface becomes "active". Very nice.

Intuos: Very Acceptable. The pen has a Z (pressure) value that feels very natural. The pen fits the hand well. Could use more Z value mechanical feedback. It's designed to write with, and as such requires a slighter touch.

Continuum: Excellent. A combination of the spring mechanisms and the nylon covered neoprene playing surface makes for a great mechanical feel. The neoprene and springs compress in a predictable and accurate fashion, supplying a wonderful mechanical resistance. This things feels organic. Having this feedback exploits finger muscle memory.

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Accuracy
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Lemur: Poor and excellent. What? well, I find specific finger positioning hard to do. Maybe it's the nature of my fingers. In spite of this the Lemur has all this incredible interpolation physics once you get past the specific finger placements. It's so very cool and so musically useful. That's why it's one controller of three for me.

Intuos: Excellent. Very fine and accurate control. Amazingly accurate.

Continuum: Excellent. A total joy. One can play fifths ala LaMonte Young and through subtle rocking of the fingers dance on the frequency beats. Sweet!

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Versatility
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Lemur: Excellent. Anything you can dream of through MIDI it will do. I've got it sending controllers, NRPNs, Sysex. Very handy! Numerous ways to express values, and built in math so you can scale things, and anything you can't do in the JazzEditor Max will take care of. Can be thought of as a monophonic and/or polyphonic device. David Kiers has updated his Max externals so that one can get direct accurate floating points translations from OSC to Kyma CC's. Works great!

Intuos: Excellent. Directly integrated into the Kyma environment, no MIDI, no OSC. A single pen can send out x, y and z coordinates, as well as two pen buttons as switches or toggles, as well as pen tilt which can be interpreted as xy or polar coordinates. This one is a "monophonic" device. One pen, one location. Can support multiple pens though, but this is something I haven't explored.

Continuum: Excellent. Directly integrated into the Kyma environment, no MIDI, no OSC. Polyphonic control of separate x,y and z values.

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Design
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Lemur: Acceptable. Build quality is excellent. Very cool subtle purple hue to the case. Touch screen has been recessed in the case. I would have preferred a surface mounting that was flush with the exterior case (like a Wacom Cintiq touch screen). Having that makes it easier to do a finger gesture that extends off the side of the interactive surface. A smoother interior edge finish where the case meets the screen would be greatly appreciated. A larger/more pixels screen but I guess that's a cost issue. One's finger can get in the way of seeing.

Intuos: Acceptable. Build quality is excellent. Draws a fair amount of power through USB. pen is very clever. No batteries. gets it's power through radio interaction with the surface. I bit of a drag that one has to pick up a pen to work with it.

Continuum: Acceptable. Very solid and well made. Playing surface feels nice. Needs to be programmed though MIDI.

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Software
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Lemur: Acceptable. Since Kyma is a non-OSC app one needs to connect either via the JazzMutant editor's MIDI translator or through Max. The JazzMutant approach currently is one directional (Lemur to MIDI device). As of May 2006 bidirectional MIDI is in public beta). If you want bi-directionality you'll need to go through Max. I ended up using Max, which isn't too hard to learn. OSC is so simple and easy to deal with (0 to 1). MIDI makes one go through hoops just to make simple connections, and gets messy with sysex, NRPNs, etc. Coincidentally the internal world of Kyma also is largely 0 to 1, so it's a natural for easy OSC usage (that is, easy end-user OSC usage). That's why David's Max external is the way to go. Currently, the Lemur does not support a midi-feedback check, so it's makes it a tricky to work with bidirectional control. This is essential for me, and would greatly increase the versatility of an already versatile box. Naturally, I'd love direct hooks between Lemur and Kyma. My workaround is to send from the Lemur via David's external and to report back to a complimentary controller on the Lemur via Midi. Works fine. The high resolution message is sent out to Kyma for accuracy, and the report back through a midi to cc prototype is 7 bit, more than enough for a visual reference.

Intuos: Excellent because it is integrated directly inside Kyma.

Continuum: Excellent because it is integrated directly inside Kyma.
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