Sensel Morph

The Lounge Other Gear
#66

I finally got my Morph, and it works beautifully as a percussion controller with BFD3. Default velocity curves feel natural for controlling dynamics. That means I don’t have to run BFD as a DAW plugin in order to customize a velocity map. We’ll see how it goes over a few months, but I might very well liquidate my Zendrums.

Using a custom layout, the lack of visual guides is a problem. All I can think of is some kind of press apply material that will peel off cleanly any time. Opaque white, but very thin to maintain the feel. Any recommendations? I don’t think any kind of marker can work because it would need to be erasable while at the same time survive constantly being hit with fingers.

#67

I’d recommend you buy the Innovators Overlay from Sensel and use that, that’s what people generally do.

I’ve seen videos of people using the uncovered pad for an XYZ field, it’s fine for that, but otherwise you need some feedback.

Glad you’re enjoying the Morph. I do too and should do more custom work with it — like in specific using the Max interface that Sensel developed.

#68

I’m concerned about losing the feel of the hard surface. I did get the video overlay–only because it had the most buttons–so I know that the direct hard surface is best for tapping with velocity control. The overlay material isn’t bad–in fact, it’s surprisingly sensitive–but the direct surface is better. I can keep working with the overlay to see how well I can adapt, but I’m skeptical.

There’s another issue: stage presence. A Zendrum may not be as cool as a drum kit, but when you play it, an audience can see your rhythmic movements even when you play it with low kinetic energy as I do. But the Morph (and LinnStrument) playing the exact same percussion lines look almost like you’re not moving at all. I play Zendrum standing up when in front of people, but the Morph on your lap or on a surface? I suppose I could get a second Morph and play them conga style.

#69

Ha ! The video I mentioned with someone playing the Morph minus overlays, that was a really early developer and he had three in some larger frame. Perhaps putting your Morph in some sort of frame (with flashing lights and large font lettering) would give it a presence in performance.

Is there a thin vinyl sheet material, that would stick from adhesive vacuum ? I had toys like that as a kid, that I could stick it on glass and then peal off and reapply. That kind of toy is banned now, with kids eating it.

Keep playing with the Video Overlay, you may find it’s better in action than you might have conceived. That’s the overlay, i don’t have that i‘ve sort of wanted. I love the Buchla Thunderbird, for some free form kinds of uses.

ADDED: What about Contact Paper, the kind with the really weak mastic ?

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#70

I’ve made a Morph map for playing percussion using BFD. It’s got about 45 areas, with a lot of redundancy so that it’s mostly symmetric between left and right hand. Zendrum, by comparison, maxes out at 30 triggers, and 25 on the more compact model that I prefer. I simply put the Morph on top of a wooden cutting board, and it can be fingerdrummed on my lap no problem. Like a LinnStrument, if you played it standing, you could only use one hand, and you’d have to use maybe 20-25 larger areas. But you’d have to come up with some kind of clever design to play this thing standing up. I wonder how well it works with Bluetooth. Latency would have to be under 20ms for percussion.

One drawback is that I can’t get this Morph to send out a MIDI velocity below 30. Even the lightest touch only gives about 33, though I think I once saw 27. I’d have to run it through the DAW and use a velocity mapper, which is exactly what I want to get away from. It has a pretty good feel with its stock maximum sensitivity setting across the range that it does reproduce.

I got a bunch of tiny stickers that I can use to indicate landmarks on my map. Playing while looking at the map helps develop muscle memory, and with 20 areas under each hand in a symmetrical layout (with 4 running down the center), it’s not too difficult. Maxing out the areas to a 7x13 grid would have been really difficult, but there’s no reason to have such a fine grid. I have repeat notes on the LinnStrument next to each other for playing stroke rolls (trills), but of course on the Morph, you accomplish the same thing by creating a larger area. Now I’ll see over time if I can really play it as well as a Zendrum.

EDIT: I see from Sensel’s forum that the Morph’s minimum velocity is way too high by design, around 32. It’s a real problem, and I wonder why they designed in such a shortcoming; I don’t think it was an accident. My LinnStrument designed in a minimum velocity in the low 20’s, I’m told by Roger Linn, after user research. He also told me that velocities below 20 are excluded from usefulness in normally compliant plugins, so they won’t change the sensitivity. But Sensel’s minimum of 32 is too high.

#71

This was a pain in the ass and may not look great, but it is functional. Changing the stickers to match a new layout won’t be fun, and I can’t slide on this without ruining it, so I’m mostly committed, when using it without an overlay, to playing percussion, which is fine. I wouldn’t mind the Buchla overlay.

They should include a package of precut lines and dots stickers, sourced for optimized use with this surface. I hope my stickers don’t leave a sticky residue.

The big blocks under the thumbs are kicks with a crash next to it that I hit with my palm, and the less large ones above them are snares. Two snare articulations to the the side of the snare block and hi hat articulations surrounding it. Rides and cymbals down the center, toms on the right, tom rims and percussion across the top. Extra rides in the leftover thin spaces on the left and relatively larger square in the upper right:

MyMorph
MyMorph1014×529 15.7 KB

MyMorph-stickers
MyMorph-stickers3729×2653 2.42 MB

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#72

Your layout looks fantastic ! I’m sure you are still making adjustments to it, but that is the strength of the “Morph’s method” with the Overlay Designer, you can make adjustments and improvements (more?) easily. Everyone can have exactly the control surface that they want.

An idea that might help you since you won’t use the Innovator’s Overlay. What about just printing the whole layout on a single piece of paper, and then use a Scotch brand restickable glue stick — it’s the same adhesive on a Post-It note — to stick that one piece of paper to the Morph. The feel should be almost exactly the same as the raw surface, and you’d still have some flexibility in changing your overlays.

(You do know it is possible to damage and destroy the surface, though it is pretty rugged it is not indestructible.)

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#73

i had been thinking of trying sets of larger silicon adhesive bumper feet you put under desktop synths etc. - but you are right, Sensel could release a nice set of coloured and shaped (square, circle, strip etc) silicon pads with some sort of 3M postit type adhesive that isn’t too sticky and can be removed and re applied easily to the Innovators overlay …

I wonder is there any such thing as a 2mm A4 silicon sheet with light adhesive back that could be cut

#74

What I used is paper-thin sticker material to preserve the hard surface, which is better for percussion. I must say, though, that the overlay I got does seem to respond about the same. All that matters is that it have very little give and not feel spongy at all.

Brilliant and simple. The glue stick scares me a bit, but it’s crucial that the paper not move or bubble up at all.

Maybe I should get one of the Innovator’s overlays. That thing is a perfectly smooth surface, right? As I mentioned, the overlay I got does seem to respond about the same as the hard surface to purcussive playing, its just that its built-in button are annoying. I might like a totally smooth overlay where I draw some lines on it or glue a paper diagram.

EDIT: Just to mention some things about the layout: my approach is to set things up symmetrically, though I generally divide bass-snare/hat-ride duties between the two hands. The symmetric layout lets me do anything with either hand, which enables me to manage fatigue issues. I consciously try to avoid becoming overly biased to always having a certain hand to a certain thing when it comes to electronic percussion; a real drum kit is a different story. This setup uses up all the articulations on my hardware TD-50 (I think)----which is great----but with BFD, I can’t make use of all the percussion (djembe, bongos, timbales, and tympani) that I add to every kit. On the TD-50, only bongos sound good to me, so using the Morph doesn’t sacrifice anything (except velocities under 32).

#75

Something a Sensel dev clued me into recently - you can place a piece of paper on a Morph that doesn’t have an overlay on it, hold it in place with some tape, and then place your overlay of choice UNDER the Morph. The Morph will register the overlay (you should see the array of lights flash to confirm this), and now you have a piece of paper that you can draw or print or put stickers on to provide some visual indication. Much easier!

The Sensel people themselves have a template for designing and printing out a custom overlay guide, but I haven’t looked out for where to obtain it. I would bet it’s shared in the Morph forums somewhere.

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#76

I’m confused. Why put the overlay under the Morph? Why not just draw the diagram on the piece of paper, attach the paper to the top of the morph, and then play it like that?

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#77

You could do that too if you want. Either works. I prefer the smooth feeling of the completely flat Morph to the feeling of paper on top of the overlay, but do what feels best.

#78

I’d love to find that custom overlay guide. I mean something that will take the layout I made in the app and print it out in exactly the correct dimensions to tape to the top of the Morph.

#79

From some quick searching, apparently you can just use the above-mentioned Overlay Designer and print out a designed template right from there (make sure to switch printing to landscape mode).

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#80

Yes, I use that app. I’ll see if the .svg file it exports will come out of a printer in the correct dimensions.

EDIT: I guess this is the one to try to print out:

TD-50 height
TD-50 height2834×1654 87.5 KB

#81

Oh, wait: it looks like the Innovator’s overlay has a transparent pocket on top so that you slip the design you printed on paper in, and it’s visible while you play the Morph. I misunderstood that, or else I’d have gotten that as my included overlay. I guess I’ll order one of those, and then I don’t have to worry about sticking stuff directly to the original surface.

#82

Don’t use a glue stick — again I said the Scotch brand Restickable Glue Stick. Repeating it’s like a Post-It it has a weak adhesive and only stays with the paper. You could use tape, but this would be better. You should be able to get it at any office supply shop, and it’s cheap.

No it doesn’t have a pocket to slip stuff in. It is translucent. It has an indentation everywhere except the edge, so it is thinner than a regular overlay. You attach your artwork, inside the indentation on top of the overlay and thereby with the magnets in the Innovator’s Overlay (IO) have a quick change custom overlay.

Or if you prefer you mount the graphic face down in the IO and put the IO on the Morph with the bottom facing up. The IO is translucent so very fine detail is blurred/frosted, but this gives a smooth sticky/slippery silicone feel to the surface — good for sliding your fingers and easier to clean.

If you can use a color printer it is nice to have multiple colors to key it up visually for use.

But you can do what you like Blipson — you’re a very determined sort, which is good for an innovator.

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#83

I’ve ordered the Innovator’s, so I’ll see what option works best with it.

yes, ha ha—I’ve been playing percussion controllers for a long time, so I have very specific aims and expectations of what they can do. Your earlier suggestion that I’d be happy with the Sensel is true: it’s a great and simple and affordable idea. I just hope it’s popular enough so that they can produce an mk ii, but I don’t know. And a device like this isn’t made to last as long as, for example, a Zendrum, so if I adopt it as my primary controller, who knows how things will be in five years.

#84

It doesn’t seem so popular around here, but I think that is misleading. I’t’s been very popular with the venture capitalists, as i reported up-thread, which is often all that counts sadly.

So there will be another version with a screen underneath it, i’d assume as a part of a phone or tablet — and if it works as you’d assume they will sell, likely through licensing, a billion of them.

As for a future for the Morph, which is more your point, i don’t know. A larger version would be brilliant. A smaller version that could be included in other equipment, in the way similar to the Morphée is used in the new PolyBrute, would also be a winner in my book. And a standalone version with a screen underneath would be brilliant too.

It’s fine as it is for me too.

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#85

Yes, embedding different sizes of it as control units in gear would be great. A screen version, of course, but what would be the difference between that and an iPad app version? Or perhaps pressure- and velocity-sensing can’t be good enough on Apple devices.

Generally speaking, alternative controllers aren’t too popular around here.