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Artiphon

DURHAM, Northward CAROLINA — If you're looking for a killer MIDI controller that feels like not just one "real" musical instrument, but many of them, Artiphon could exist your conservancy. The Artiphon Musical instrument one ($399), on display here at Moogfest 2022, is now in "soft launch" mode, but that means much more what information technology sounds like. Subsequently a successful $1.iii 1000000 Kickstarter launch and a redesign a couple of years ago, the company is at present fulfilling its iii,300 pre-orders from backers and has begun accepting orders from the general public — at the fourth dimension of this writing, with a roughly six-week time to ship. We spoke with Dr. Mike Butera, the founder of Artiphon, at Moogfest 2022 and got a chance to endeavour our hands at the Artiphon (pronounced ART-eh-fahn).

The 23.5-inch-long Artiphon Musical instrument 1 looks like the lovechild of a Keytar and a guitar fretboard. It lets you strum a guitar, bow a violin, crunch out a pulsate crush, or fifty-fifty play pianoforte parts. In other words, information technology lets you lot be the entire ring, not just by switching sounds, but by playing each instrument the way it's supposed to exist played. Information technology's a pure MIDI controller; it has no sounds of its own, but it's designed to work with dozens of iPhone and iPad apps like GarageBand in addition to the desktop GarageBand and Logic Pro X, among others.

Artiphon

The musical instrument includes 72 pressure-sensitive keys in half-dozen octaves. It contains an accelerometer; a built-in speaker that passes audio through from any USB-audio-compliant app; a rechargeable battery; a bridge for strumming, borer, and picking; 4 presets; and four user presets. A knob lets you control volume and switch between presets, and there'due south a headphone/mic jack and USB jack that also functions as a MIDI interface like most controllers today.

In practice, the Artiphon is a chameleon. Obviously, the Artiphon isn't going to stand in for a traditional pulsate kit; its pads are responsive, and experience remarkably like those of a quality drum machine if you lay it apartment on your lap or on a table; it divides the entire neck into giant pads on each position beyond all six "strings." In guitar style, you lot can strum or play lead, or fifty-fifty play it similar a slide guitar, and it functions equally a nice bass (though information technology feels kind of like a fretless, even if you're triggering a regular fretted electric bass sample).

Put it in violin fashion and concord it in the proper position on your shoulder, and you tin can manipulate the musical instrument as if you were using a existent bow, including inducing vibrato with your fingers. Butera also demoed the Artiphon for united states of america; he's an actual violin player, and he played a disarming violin solo that sounded as if he had programmed in specific articulations for every notation using a high-end violin sample library; it was that "existent" sounding, even though he was merely playing it live like he would a existent violin, and the app itself was just GarageBand.

Artiphon

We think a controller like this is the polar contrary of something similar the Ableton Push, which is set up in an Akai MPC-mode grid to cue upwardly beats and loops also as private instruments. Push button is a phenomenal controller, but when I reviewed it, I couldn't really see myself using i personally. I've equanimous and recorded music using traditional digital sound workstations (DAWs) for decades using synthesizer-style keyboard controllers. Something similar the Artiphon to me feels more natural than the Push, and lends itself to playing sampled guitar and other stringed instrument parts with much more than realism than y'all'd become from a standard 49-fundamental MIDI controller.

Artiphon

Over the years, nosotros've seen tons of electronic MIDI controllers that attempt to mimic the experience of the "existent affair" as close every bit possible, be it Roland V-Drums, the Korg Kaoss Pad, the Yamaha WX5 wind controller, or scores of increasingly real-sounding digital pianos. The Artiphon isn't for air current instrument players, but it does so much else; I could see myself losing evenings but noodling around with it as a guitar and bass. I'm seriously tempted to order i. Our house has electronic and acoustic instruments everywhere to begin with; nosotros need some other MIDI controller like we need a pet alligator. If you're besides tempted, pre-order yours from Artiphon's site; you lot can get the Artiphon in black or white, while an extra $50 adds a soft gigging example and strap.

Now read: The future of sound and thought at Moogfest 2022