OK, so you want a monome. monomes are built in small batches, so unless your timing is very fortuitous, you won't be able to buy one 'off the shelf'. You have several options.
1) Wait for the next batch. 256s, 128s, 64s and kits are available on a rotating basis.
I was needing one of these just a couple days ago; a full keyboard and touchpad in a handheld configuration. I have a VNC client and iTunes remote application on my iPhone, but, let's face it, waiting for the iPhone to find the wireless network and launching a VNC connection is less than ideal. I can see many uses for this as I frequently find myself held down by a cat. It would be great for media centers, remote control of DAWs, couch youtube surfing, and... hey - what about live performance? Want! $62
Just in time for the holidays, the Bliptronic 5000 LED Synthesizer is in stock and ready for ordering at $49.99 per measure (chain additional units for longer sequences, heh). I give it about two weeks before someone has hacked this into an arduinome.
It is one thing to adapt max patches for maxforlive but it is another thing entirely to construct them so they can handle multiple instances without stepping all over each other by accessing the same data. Then there is the issue of telling monomeserial which instance has control of the monome hardware.
I wanted to make it elegant to use. For example, if you click on a track in live that has a monome application running, that monome application is in focus on the hardware. It is this level of integration that makes maxforlive so appealing. So, now you can run as many obos, polygomes, stepfilters, or automatorgators as you like, and the monome switches between them effortlessly. Once you have everything set up, you can save your project for later recall.
So think about what you have here just with obo - an endless MPC or a super burly tenori on.
I never intended for anyone to use polygomé by itself, I always envisioned it as a small piece in a larger context, but that context didn't really exist before. The alternative is to create an application that is sophisticated enough to be a complete system unto itself. Some applications went the monolithic route which necessitated function rows, chording and pages which made the experience a little more impenetrable. I saw the same thing happen with moving fader control surfaces for daws where they tried to do everything from the control surface. People soon discovered that editing plug ins on a small LCD window is actually a step backwards, regardless of tangible controls. Same thing with the monome.
Now with maxforlive, monome apps can be simpler and you can pipe together the functions you need. So, instead of on application being a clip launcher, floor wax and a desert topping, it can do _one_ thing, like a plug in, and the user can select which functions are needed for the task. It is a level of functionality granularity I think the hardware is well suited for. If the apps are simpler, then the need for function rows and pages is reduced (now shifted to live) and the applications themselves become easier to adapt for all sizes of monomes. The five maxforlive apps I have work on the 64, 128 and 256 without having special versions for each type.
I'm getting very close to releasing this suite of monome maxforlive plug-ins. I have to back port some of the features I introduced in obo to the others, and clean up the UI of polygome.
Earlier this year, I offered obo which was a Max version of the popular tonematrix tool. I've adapted obo for use in maxforlive, added monome 128/256 support (not required for operation), 16 pattern memory, edit while play, copy/paste patterns and a scale generator (whew). Here is a video.
As this video involves screen capture, I recommend viewing the video in full resolution at the video's youtube page (vimeo only allows one HD upload per week for plebeian customers, booo), and enable HD. Otherwise, you won't be able to see what is going on inside the user interface.
I don't have a lack of musical project ideas, but I'm curious what you'd like to hear next. I don't consider the results binding, but if there is an overwhelming preference for one kind of music, I'd be more inclined to pursue that direction. If you're not familiar with some of the options, I have posted a page with all my releases available for streaming.
Some of you may recall a step filter video I created for the monome that used the Doepfer vocoder bank as a set of filters. This was somewhat confusing due to the layers of dependencies. The application generated rough envelope data as MIDI. The MIDI data was sent to a Doepfer MCV24 MIDI to CV interface and the CVs from that controlled the filter bank. Why not create the filter bank directly in Max?
So here is a video of a maxforlive monome-controlled audio effect. There is a built-in noise generator to make it easier to design the step filter operation. Then you can process audio from the track. One nice side benefit is you can move the center frequencies and level of each filter, as well as bandwidth of all filters.
As this video involves screen capture, I recommend viewing the video in full resolution at the video's vimeo page, and enable HD. Otherwise, you won't be able to see what is going on inside the user interface.
maxforlive simplifies monome workflow. For example, if you want to use polygomé with a DAW, you must open your DAW software, open polygomé, set up sync in polygomé, set up sync in your host app, set up MIDI output routings from polygomé, set up MIDI routings in your DAW. There is a lot of overhead. With maxforlive, you simply drag polygomé into your track as a MIDI effect. Then you can start playing immediately. There is no setup. Everything is in sync.
As this video involves screen capture, I recommend viewing the video in full resolution at the video's vimeo page, and enable HD. Otherwise, you won't be able to see what is going on inside the user interface.
If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. We stigmatize mistakes, we indoctrinate our children to be afraid of being wrong, thus bludgeoning the creativity out them.
Not walnut, but black silicone over a steel enclosure. I was hoping 'greyscale' meant native LED brightness control, but at this point, it still looks to be on/off. $500, available in January. The enclosure is slightly slimmer than the walnut version. Bus-powered 128s (thanks to the lower consumption LEDs) with tilt sensors on the way. More info here.
