New Arc Controller... thoughts

samurai · Post by **samurai** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:23 am

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2011/01/a ... -crabtree/

What are people's thoughts on this. I'm bring this up, because for me, this sort of product falls into the same bracket as the monome. Not surprising because it's developed by the same person. What I mean by minimalistic units at ridiculous prices. Now while the monome does look interesting to me, I have always been put off by the price.

But the price of this thing is ridiculous. It's $800 for the 4 knob version. $500 for the 2 knob version.

I understand that this is a niche product, as illustrated by the limited numbers being manufactured. But is this product, and in more general terms something like the monome, simply a device that relies more on aesthetics than practicality. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just a different market, for different people.

So beautiful minimalist controller which will inspire creativity or overpriced piece of junk jumping on the minimalism bandwagon to justify cost?

hydrogen · Post by **hydrogen** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:04 am

If the build quality is anything like the monome its probably worth it.

Could be a ton cheaper if it was made in china... but its not.

using both the Monome and launch pad... i'll take the monome any day over that piece of crap. it feels solid unlike the launchpad.

Honestly, I find these products very interesting and they probably have more longevity than any of the 32 knob pieces of plastic. uc33?! i've already burned through a couple of those and they end up in the dump.

I found the demo really inspiring. Don't think i'm in the market for a controller like this, but if I was making more m4live instrument style patches... i'd be all over this kind of device. There is nothing else like it.

Phase Ghost · Post by **Phase Ghost** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:36 pm

I think $800 is a sh!t ton of money for a 4 knob midi controller. I could spend that cash elsewhere for something much more creatively inspirational and functional.

pafufta816 · Post by **pafufta816** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:12 am

michaellpenman wrote:
Phase Ghost wrote:I think $800 is a sh!t ton of money for a 4 knob midi controller. I could spend that cash elsewhere for something much more creatively inspirational and functional.
agreed that mark up is insane

i'm sure it costs him that much to make these, and i bet they'd last forever. but if i had $800 i'd buy some other sh!t way before i'd consider one of these.

these products are for audiophiles who simply have too much money to spend.

hydrogen · Post by **hydrogen** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:15 am

Phase Ghost wrote:I think $800 is a sh!t ton of money for a 4 knob midi controller. I could spend that cash elsewhere for something much more creatively inspirational and functional.

I think its expensive but The fact is that this is NOT a 4 knob midi controller. its got 4 high resolutions knobs with a full set of LED Rings around them, then a USB cable to connect it to another device.

Really, this is unlike any other product out there. This type of controller has the capacity to produce way more musical results than any other standard 128 step midi controllers.

I found the demo to be really inspiring... http://vimeo.com/19039646

Phase Ghost · Post by **Phase Ghost** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:00 am

It IS a 4 knob midi controller. Granted, it's probably the nicest on the market. Still, it's a 4 knob midi controller for 800 bones. The software is what makes this thing tick, not the hardware (much like the monome).

I have potentiometers running into my sequencer's firmware that read 1024 steps per sweep (they're about $1.10 a piece). It's not midi, but it's still 1024 steps from end to end. That's 4x what this thing can read.

Not trying to bring the monome crowd down or anything. If Max/Msp is your game, this may be just what you're looking for. Otherwise, I'm not sure this is the place to drop $800 on new gear.

hydrogen · Post by **hydrogen** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:22 pm

Phase Ghost wrote:It IS a 4 knob midi controller. Granted, it's probably the nicest on the market. Still, it's a 4 knob midi controller for 800 bones. The software is what makes this thing tick, not the hardware (much like the monome).

but its not a midi controller... if its anything like the monome its just a serial to USB interface... and like you said its the software that makes the thing tick.

These aren't potentiometers either, encoders are a bit different... and I don't think i've used an encoder that has 256 steps per sweep. I'm wondering what the encoders on the pocket dial or bcr2000 range at.

Phase Ghost wrote:Not trying to bring the monome crowd down or anything. If Max/Msp is your game, this may be just what you're looking for. Otherwise, I'm not sure this is the place to drop $800 on new gear.

... You are spot on with that one for sure.

I'm curious... what sequencer are you using btw?

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:38 pm

Monome are good guys. I think the very last thing that their products are, are overpriced devices with high profit margins. I would bet a dime that people would be surprised at how much they make on each device. I don't think they made much money out of the Monome, certainly not as much as the Launchpad, who didn't even invent the idea in the first place. Making products does not favour the little guys one bit. I'm glad that Monome are still moving foward innovatively.

These products are not for audiophiles with money and no sense. They are for people who are prepared to invest the time required to get the best out of these devices... i.e. making your own patches for MaxMSP and being inspired by the patches shared by Tehn and the community. When your launchpad dies (which it will do), and Novation tell you which way to go fck yourself, you might think differently. And when the guy with the Monome /Arc is still using it in 5 years with his own inspritational patch, and is still using the same version of MaxMSP, you would think differently as well.

Anyways. I saw a video they did with the device... very interesting and made me feel happy that people are doing good things with computers, but with clever interfaces.