Le Grand Strum Is Perfect for Stringed MIDI Instruments
Le Grand Strum is an innovative new MIDI controller now available on Tindie.
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is the backbone of electronic music production. The standard defines messages that include all of the information necessary for a MIDI controller to tell an output device exactly what sound to make. But many MIDI controllers do a poor job of representing some instruments. A piano-style MIDI keyboard, for example, doesn't mimic a guitar very well and that can make it difficult to make guitar music. Le Grand Strum is a new MIDI controller with unique input elements tailored to stringed instruments.
Le Grand Strum is usable with anything that accepts MIDI input, including regular ol' computers running MIDI software. It has an interesting dual-input control scheme that separates chord selection from note triggering. The chord selection is pretty standard and should be intuitive to most musicians. There is a keypad full of tactile buttons covering a full octave, with major chords, minor chords, and seventh chords. The arrangement follows the same pattern as a piano to keep things familiar. But the real magic comes from the trigger inputs.
Those inputs are touch pads, which the user can activate with a small stylus connected to the unit. The main touchpad looks a bit like a guitar's fret board when viewed from the bridge, so each "string" pad gets smaller as it approaches the vanishing point. Except there are 16 strings. The shape of the touchpad isn't just a stylistic choice. Because the top is smaller, it makes strumming easy. The bottom is larger, which makes it easy to tap individual strings. Two additional circular touch pads aid in strumming arpeggios.
Power comes from a regular 9V battery and there is a 5-pin MIDI socket for output. A mode button lets the user switch between different configurations, which the user is free to modify as they like because Le Grand Strum is open source and hackable. The actual sound will depend on the software you use this MIDI controller with.
If you want Le Grand Strum, it is now available on Tindie for $195. It comes as a pre-assembled PCB with an acrylic base plate and a leather stylus holder.