This looks like a pretty good punt for low budget MPE. I’m a bit concerned about the colour variety being the top selling point product page though 
I don’t understand why the hydra synth is being described as an Mpe controller. It’s a normal synth with poly aftertouch. There were keyboards in the 90s with this before Mpe existed.
MPE, both for the synth and controller, were added to the Hydrasynth as of January 2020, with firmware 1.3. The Hydrasynth can do either Poly-aftertouch or MPE, you select between them, in system setup. A nice feature with the Hydrasynth is that MPE inputs are part of the Modulation Matrix inputs, so the control is very flexible.
Check the Hydrasynth manual, or google to read the January 2020 announcement on firmware 1.3.
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What about all the re-releases that ROLLI is doing? Rise 2, the new LUMI.
I wouldn’t trust them until they can actually prove the “restructure” and renaming changed the company…
I mean in the current generation, sorry.
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The Exquis. It’s a hexagonal isomorphic MPE controller, and also a software based instrument on Kickstarter.
( thread )
I added the Exquis from Intuitive Instruments to the controller master list.
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What does MPE mean in this context? Is there some form of x/y input possible per key?
I have the Erae Touch and I like it quite a bit. Very versatile and it can be used as a sequencer if you want it. I like that I can control multiple devices from the same “screen.”
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For the Exquis : Hard to be sure what is delivered with the final product. They say 2 dimensions of aftertouch, pressure and one dimension of rocking motion.
In this direction it is worth considering the Keith McMillen K-Board Pro 4 for this. While the keys on it don’t have vertical motion ( similarly with the Linnstrument ) it does have 5 dimensions of sensing on a conventionally shaped keybed. So that includes both the X and Y dimension motion. It also has the four assignable slider controls right above the keys and a fairly reasonable price at $600 USD.
This should pair up fairly well with the Iridium Desktop as well.
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Hydrasynth is in no way an MPE controller. It does respond to MPE however.
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HS is indeed an MPE controller because with it you can indeed control another MPE capable synth engine. The controller may not have all the physical polyphonic dimensions that you’d expect but that’s matter of definition.
How? If it’s not sending information that is fundamentally MPE, then how is it an MPE controller? How is it any different than Polyphonic Aftertouch?
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MPE is a protocol that is agnostic of any particular controller and many do not utiize all the dimensions laid out in the protocol.
The Protocol though requires particular stuff to be sent on individual midi channels and global sends to go on a particular channel.
So what are the hydrasynths controlling with MPE besides polyphonic aftertouch?
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polyphonic pitch bend (MPE-X): slide notes in theremin mode on the ribbon while playing other unbent notes on the keybed - yes, the theremin is monophonic but all in all it is polyphonic pitch bend because not all notes bend at the same time …
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control one note per channel
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A proper MPE controller is one that can facilitate all dimensions of touch, therefore making full use of the MPE protocol.
Transmitting channel-per-note data alone, while certainly taking advantage of the MPE protocol, does not constitute an MPE controller.
Cheers!
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well, then HS is only an improper MPE controller 
Edit: TBF your interpretation is obviously right.
As a matter of fact, one of ASM’s staff stepped out and said that HS is an MPE controller and in a way I can understand why that person was saying that. Nevertheless, when I had read that for the first time I was also struck by surprise because I would never have perceived the HS in this manner.
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Usually an MPE controller will sacrifice some aspect of the dimensions and the Continuum for instance recommends against sending Note On Velocity and defaults to 127 as a fixed velocity for all notes.
In that sense the Hydrasynth outperforms the Continuum by providing reliable NoteOn/NoteOff velocities for the dimensions in the spec at the cost of some of the other dimensions.
This is semantic.
The Continuum simply replaces “velocity”, typically calculated by key-travel-over-time, with a pressure-over-time algorithm instead. This is because (and I’m paraphrasing here) the original vision for the EaganMatrix (and an ongoing debate in the MPE sphere) was to achieve expressivity without the need for static modulators like LFOs and envelopes. Never mind that the mechanism at play in the Continuum (for which the EaganMatrix was designed) differs from other MPE controllers, and certainly from that of your standard keyboard.
Regardless, the functionality of the Z-axis remains the same, and the Continuum still delivers all dimensions of touch, as would be expected of an MPE controller; albeit by way of a more elaborate set of calculations, post sensor.
So, in this case, Haken’s “recommendations” speak more to the method of synthesis being employed, rather than the MPE protocol itself.
Cheers!
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