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Expressive E Touche


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I figure the Touche deserves it's own thread. Anybody using it? Anybody plan to?

 

A new Touche SE product has been introduced, at a lower price point and having USB output only. It would be of interest to those of us who perform with software instruments. Sonicstate video here:

 

[video:youtube]iaC3Q3-dRWQ

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I spent an afternoon at Control Voltage in Portland this summer, and tried out a lot of stuff, including the Roli Seaboard. The Touche was the only thing that I really was gassing over after this trip, it was just so simple to use and expressive, and it felt great. Very interested in the new version.

Turn up the speaker

Hop, flop, squawk

It's a keeper

-Captain Beefheart, Ice Cream for Crow

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Phil Silvers! I hadn't noticed the resemblance. What a great show. Nick Batt should be proud. Being on the other side of the pond he possibly doesn't know about his famous doppelganger.

 

OK, I ordered a Touche SE. Hard to resist at this price. Let's see how it does ...

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So . the Touche SE showed up and as promised here is an initial mini-review.

 

First off, unboxing is like unboxing an Apple or Sony product, the attention to detail and careful design comes through right away. Its very well constructed and inspires confidence as you sit it in front of you and get ready to play. All I have done so far is connect the Touche to the accompanying software (LIE) and play a few presets, which have been programmed in UVI Workstation. This process was completely trouble free. Later I will try it with other soft instruments and possibly hardware synths.

 

The ready to play sounds are very well designed for the Touche. So far, its a blast to play. So what do I think of it? There are many generalist videos on the web such as this one .

 

[video:youtube]8GlvGu_399E

so let me focus (as you likely will) on the question of what can we do with it?

 

First off I would compare Touche to a) an XY pad and b) to the Nord Pitch stick.

 

a)The front and back shiftings are like an XY pad. Thats an unfair comparison in a sense because those two shiftings are light years more controllable than any pad. In that sense perhaps the better analogy is to the volume button on the Ondes Martenot. (Except that you get two of them and you can do a number of things you cant do with the OM button.)

 

b) The left and right shiftings are like a Nord Pitch stick. They are sprung similarly, and it seems you can set wide pitch ranges while still hitting smaller ranges accurately in way that would be impossible with a Pitch Wheel or Pitch Paddle. There is only one issue in this regard: Although it's sturdily made, the Touche is barely heavy enough to stay still with extreme left-right shiftings. It doesnt slide all over the place, but it does seem a bit vulnerable if you rely on friction. You might have to step up to velcro or a semi adhesive pad to keep Touche in it's place in the heat of battle.

 

One other concern which might arise in live performance: Where do you place it? Because of its intricate mechanism, Touche wants to be on a level playing surface and for now it is sitting on a table-top style keyboard stand to the left of my 88 key keyboard controller. This would typically require an L shape, which isn't desirable for all stages and gigs.

 

The Touche reminds of when I first got a breath controller. At the time, I was afraid to rely on it, and as my technique improved I got comfortable enough to use it for live gigs and to rely on breath for 99% of my dynamics on a given patch. I imagine the journey with this device will be similar, though quicker because slapping a surface is quite intuitive for keyboardists. Even the typical alternate hand syncopations (paradiddles and their ilk) that comping keyboardists play, can have rich musical results with Touche.

 

Touche isnt really needed for a cover band, or roots music or jazz fusion. Pitch wheel and pedals will do fine for that IF what you want to do is what other keyboardists have already done. However there are two contexts in which I think it will be particularly awesome: the first would be any small ensemble which requires fine control of volume and timbre such as an instrumental trio. Here, the subtlety of the Touche would allow you to play alongside acoustic instruments without always being relegated to the accompaniment role. The second would be in the studio for orchestral or electronic polyphonic sections. In fact, it should be considered a requirement for the latter imo. It evokes brass, wind, string and vocal sections with ease and musicality. Thus far, I enjoy Touche most when playing polyphonic parts. Even though your voicings are restricted to what one hand can grab.... the internal voice movement seems very lively with Touche. No, it's not Poly AT and it's no Haken Continuum, but surprisingly, it nods in that direction, and makes you conscious of voice leading, which has not been a hallmark of how synths behave. I am now beginning to think about expressive poly synths more than I am about monophonic Moogs. Hmmh... More to come.

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You are welcome. :thu:

 

I hope to try Touche out with Mainstage next. Nobody on the internet seems to be posting about using Touche with Mainstage which might reflect differences between various user markets. Initial indications are that Touche will have some challenges mating with Mainstage, since (when using LIE, which is a VST wrapper) Touche plays only VSTs.

 

There might be some work arounds to discover. I'll keep you posted.

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Initial indications are that Touche will have some challenges mating with Mainstage, since (when using LIE, which is a VST wrapper) Touche plays only VSTs.

 

Got Touche working with Mainstage. This concern was unfounded. :thu:

 

Use case1: If you are playing third party instruments (e.g. Reaktor) from your Mac, make sure you have downloaded the VST version. Allow Lie to catalog your VSTs. Then run Lie from within Mainstage, and Lie "wraps" the VSTs for you. Your mappings and scalings are done within Lie, which is sitting inside a channel strip, just like a Logic instrument would. Your 3rd party instruments can thus be run through all your Mainstage busses and effects and they can be layered or split with Logic instruments within the same patch.

 

Use case2: If you are playing Logic instruments (e.g. Alchemy, EXS24, etc.), just map Touche's four CC's (16 through 19) to onscreen controllers in Mainstage. Your mappings and scalings are done within Mainstage. Lie is not involved.

 

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  • 2 months later...
I don't use soft synths so, anyone using it with Hardware sytnhs?
Stage 2, C2, NL2X+TC Pedals, P08+Tetra+H9, P12+TC Chorus D50+PG1000, 2 Matrix 1K, Proteus 2K, TX802, Streichfett, Drumbrute. Guitars:G&L Legacy, Asat X2, Ibanez Artstar AS153.Bass: L2000, SR1200&2605.
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Initial indications are that Touche will have some challenges mating with Mainstage, since (when using LIE, which is a VST wrapper) Touche plays only VSTs.

 

Got Touche working with Mainstage. This concern was unfounded. :thu:

 

Use case1: If you are playing third party instruments (e.g. Reaktor) from your Mac, make sure you have downloaded the VST version. Allow Lie to catalog your VSTs. Then run Lie from within Mainstage, and Lie "wraps" the VSTs for you. Your mappings and scalings are done within Lie, which is sitting inside a channel strip, just like a Logic instrument would. Your 3rd party instruments can thus be run through all your Mainstage busses and effects and they can be layered or split with Logic instruments within the same patch.

 

Use case2: If you are playing Logic instruments (e.g. Alchemy, EXS24, etc.), just map Touche's four CC's (16 through 19) to onscreen controllers in Mainstage. Your mappings and scalings are done within Mainstage. Lie is not involved.

 

I just ordered the Touche today as an X-mas present to my self (hey, Ive been a good boy. Mostly). Glad to hear it works within Mainstage. I really look forward to playing with it!

Turn up the speaker

Hop, flop, squawk

It's a keeper

-Captain Beefheart, Ice Cream for Crow

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I just ordered the Touche today as an X-mas present to my self (hey, Ive been a good boy. Mostly).

 

Lol, nothing wrong with being Santa.

 

I'd really love to hear what you think of it. It seems like a new instrument to me and is capable of huge expressiveness, but it takes a community to pull together a vocabulary of expression.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the Touche on Monday, and have had a few sessions playing with it. I'm actually going to use it on a gig tonight, I have a low-key free improv show with my trio and it feels like just the place to play with something like this. First impressions are that I am really impressed! Thus far, I have only used the presets included with the software, mostly the included UVI Workstation patches and the two add-on patch libraries, Helium and Mercury, that are currently included for free upon registration. I'm planning on eventually programming my own patches. I got the full Touche version, not the SE, so mine has both MIDI and CV capabilities, but thus far I haven't explored those. I do have a fair amount of modular gear, both Euro and 5U, and I look forward to integrating the Touche into those.

 

But, so far, I am really impressed. Like JerryA says above, it's like a combo of an X/Y pad and the Nord Pitch-stick, but with both rolled into one surface. It's sensitive to very small moves on the surface, and it seems very intuitive to use. A lot of the patches included in it seems geared towards the dance/techno scene, but I've found a dozen or so patches I really like, and mostly have spent the last week learning to play on them preparing for tonight's gig.

 

I can't help but think what Joe Zawinul would have done with this! It really adds a level of expression to synth sounds that I haven't found elsewhere. I'm using it with a Novation SL61 MK 2, and found that if I set the Touche right next to the left cheek of the SL, I can control the pitch/modulation joystick on the SL with my thumb and use my fingers to control the SE. I was kind of surprised that the Touche only sends 4 controllers, forward, back left and right, but with the right programming, the way these 4 controllers interact creates a much greater level of complexity than you might think.

 

I feel like I've been on a quest to find more expression in synth playing since the '80's, and I've used a lot of alternate controllers. I never really bonded with the breath controllers, probably because I've never been a winds player, though I really did try for a few years. Thus far, the Touche feels like one of the best controllers I've played with, very intuitive to use initially, but with enough depth to spend a lot of time mastering.

 

I could see combining the Touche with a Roli or Haaken Continuum to make a really deep instrument. I've tried the Roli, didn't really connect with it, though I've liked some of the demos I've heard. I've also tried the Haaken, and pretty quickly fell in love with it, but the price at the time was way out of my budget.

 

Anyway, in summary, first impression, I'm really digging this thing! Hoping to get some video from tonight's set, I'll share if it's not too embarrassing.

Turn up the speaker

Hop, flop, squawk

It's a keeper

-Captain Beefheart, Ice Cream for Crow

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  • 2 weeks later...
I feel like I've been on a quest to find more expression in synth playing since the '80's, and I've used a lot of alternate controllers. I never really bonded with the breath controllers, probably because I've never been a winds player, though I really did try for a few years. Thus far, the Touche feels like one of the best controllers I've played with, very intuitive to use initially, but with enough depth to spend a lot of time mastering.

 

Thanks for your thorough review and perspective. Wow, you just dived in and gigged with it. Good for you.

 

I'm using it with a Novation SL61 MK 2, and found that if I set the Touche right next to the left cheek of the SL, I can control the pitch/modulation joystick on the SL with my thumb and use my fingers to control the SE. I was kind of surprised that the Touche only sends 4 controllers, forward, back left and right, but with the right programming, the way these 4 controllers interact creates a much greater level of complexity than you might think.

 

What are you sitting the Novation (and Touche) on?

 

I feel a bit limited with the four controllers also. I could see setting the Touche to the left of the keys for fine control and something like an APC20 a bit further to the left ... to do a wide variety of coarse controls.

 

Come to think of it, the four controllers are actually two independent ones (upper and lower shiftings) and two that are in opposition to each other (left and right shiftings), so it's really three at a time (2+1) ... but what fine control of those three dimensions of sound.

 

Hoping to get some video from tonight's set, I'll share if it's not too embarrassing.

 

:thu:

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Just saw that our friend Katsunori at MusicTrack has put out a demo of the SE.

 

 

[video:youtube]Dlp2-iQ2y_E

As usual he has a number of techniques of interest to users including using the internal springs for vibrato at 7.53.

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  • 3 weeks later...

A NAMM update:

 

A new physical modelling plugin called Arche is available. (violin, viola, cello). I think it wants to go through through an amp sim for your favorite Jan Luc Ponty or Robby Steinhardt licks.

 

[video:youtube]3ihLiavmcoU

More here.

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 years later...
  • 4 months later...

Zombie thread alert. Also, good manufacturer alert. :thu: :thu:

 

Expressive E is running a very customer conscious operation. A few weeks ago my Touche SE began developing some weird behavior. Although my particular unit is more than two years old and W-a-a-a-y beyond any warranty, they diagnosed that there was a defect in my unit and replaced it for free. All I did was ship the old one. They are a class act and I wish them well.

 

A lot of our brethren are waiting for their Osmoses and I thought you should know.

 

Jerry

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