Is anyone still using the KMI QuNeo? I picked one up for a crazy good deal, boxed - I carefully removed all the sticky plastic from the front and back, and am surprised by how responsive those pads are, especially considering the ultra-thin body of the unit. Very impressive craftsmanship.
I have however hit a snag - it has no Ableton Live Control Script that I can find, at least not one that works past Live 9/10. I’m okay with creating a custom MIDI map though, and it’s kinda fun to map key aspects of my templates to it. But man, do I miss simple things like changing the octave (for a drum rack for instance, to access all the cells) without the need to insert a MIDI Pitch device and map that to the QuNeo.
Another bonus though - all those pressure and location-sensitive oblongs and circles make for incredibly fun control surfaces for effects! I wish Akai had gone down this route when designing the APC64, could have given the APC series an edge over the Push 3 in terms of playing effects and modulation in a tactile fashion (MPE pads aside, of course).
So yeah, who is still using KMI stuff? We’re they too ahead of their time? Did they abandon the software for these products too soon?
I still use the keyboard all the time. As you say, really responsive pads. The MPE can be a bit wonky, either too sensitive or not enough, but I’m sure if I played around with the configuration a bit I could get it right.
It was the perfect controller when I had a Blackbox. How did you get the coating off? I’ve just been slowly scratching parts off.
I have two of their keyboards, the cheap USB-C one and one of the older black ones with the gunk that will become sticky someday and the MIDI out. The USB-C one lives in the case with my Synclavier; it’s not the go-to controller for the Synclavier for serious work, but works well when I’m focusing on sound design. The other is a controller I use for both work and occasionally with the iPad; having MIDI out is really handy, even if it requires an adapter.
I like them both enough that If one were to fail — or when the black one gets gunky — If they’re still being made I’d pick another one up. They’re by no means a perfect keyboard controller, but it fits in the “good enough engineering for price” category that I’m really happy with them. I’ve even debated just retiring the black one and getting one of the new red ones that doesn’t have the coating.
I have an original black QuNeo, but I do not use it often these days as it got sticky a while ago. It is a nice device (if you ignore that coating). Also have an older QuNexus which got sticky and I stripped it with isopropyl alcohol, but it was time consuming and the device looks terrible now (although it is nice having the coating removed).
Anyway, KMI supplies a control script for Live 11 with their most recent QuNeo editor (v2.0.1). You can find it on this page:
I picked up a Quneo back in December. Ended up returning it, had lots of HW issues and wasn’t getting anything back from support. The pads were physically tiring to play as well. Would love to have a device like this…if it worked as expected, as I still haven’t filled the drum controller gap this was intended for.
