We reported on Erae Touch, a new MPE-compatible expressive MIDI controller, back in April, and now it’s finally landed on Kickstarter.
This is billed as ‘a MIDI 2.0 Polyphonic Expressive Controller’, and it can operate in a variety of guises. An 18-inch ‘semi-soft’ silicone pad - think a big version of one of ROLI’s Lightpad Blocks - Erae Touch can be a keyboard, a keygrid, an XY pad, a 64-step sequencer or an arpeggiator, while buttons and faders are also supported.
As you play, you can control multiple parameters for every note - polyphonic aftertouch is supported - giving you lots of expressive options. Musical playing techniques such as glissando, portamento, vibrato and pitchbend are all under your hands, and you can also set the scale that you want to play in.
For those who’d rather play on a grid than a traditional keyboard, an isomorphic layout is supported, and Erae Touch can also function as an Ableton Live controller.
Setup and customisation takes place in the companion Erae Lab app, and Embodme says that it has plans to take the Erae Touch in new directions in the future. It connects over USB-C or via MIDI on a mini-jack, and ships with a copy of Audio Damage’s Continua synth.
We’re hoping to get an Erae Touch for review soon, but you can order one now for €586/$689 via the Kickstarter page. The funding target has already been reached, so you can expect delivery in February 2021.
