Kickstarter Project Update 18: NAMM 2012 QuNeo Debut

Update #18: NAMM 2012 QuNeo Debut

Posted on January 27

Dear QuNeo Backers,

The KMI Team has just returned from NAMM where we had an amazing response to the public debut of QuNeo! Our booth was packed for four days and we were happy to see many of you who backed the project. We recently sent out a survey to collect your shipping info. If you haven't yet responded, make sure you do so soon.

Special thanks to our top QuNeo backers, Craig and Dan who are pictured here with KMI Founder and QuNeo inventor, Keith McMillen. We'll keep you posted on our progress over the next few weeks, and again, we are grateful for your support of QuNeo!

Sincerely-Keith McMillen and the KMI Team

Here is a sampling of the NAMM press coverage that we received and links to videos showing QuNeo in action:

UniqueSquared.com: “This is kind of like that kid in the class who blows the curve for everyone else.” A little while ago a company called Keith McMillenInstruments proposed an idea for something called a QuNeo 3D Multi-touch Pad Controller on Kickstarter.com. When Keith McMillen Instruments proposed the QuNeo, they figured they could get their project underway for around $15,000. Peter Kirn posted the QuNeo Kickstarter over at createdigitalmusic.com and it was all over. When the drive was over the project had exceed their goal post and received over $165,000 dollars in pre-orders. After getting a look at it for myself with Matt over at the QuNeo booth; I can safely say no one is going to be disappointed. The pads’ unique sensitivity was on display in an Ableton set and the potential for what this thing can do is not hard to see. This is kind of like that kid in the class who blows the curve for everyone else. While it is possible that the guys over at Novation could just corner Keith McMillen in the bathroom at NAMM and beat him up, my hope is that this will lead to the next iteration of the LaunchPad being a magical beast. Even if it isn’t, there’s definitely room to drop a QuNeo in next to my LaunchPad. My only disappointment about the QuNeo after actually seeing it in the flesh is that I don’t already have one pre-ordered.

UniqueSquared Award: The Best New Face Award
Keith McMillen instruments are having a hell of a debut. Crocked up or not, this list would be remiss if we didn’t mention just what a welcome addition they are on the
floor. I’m not gonna lie, I’m always partial to any company that caters to me like they have done with the QuNeo. However, I have a funny feeling that this is just the start for a company that had such amazing success as a Kickstarter startup. I love seeing companies in this phase and then looking back on it a decade later. It’s easy to forget that so many names who are established now were the new kids only a decade ago. Remember those whippersnappers with that Ableton thing?

Gizmodo: Ravers Will Love This Psychedelic Music Machine
The 251 candy-colored lights on this MIDI controller are your trippy spiritual guide to the experience it, man.

Dubspot: Keith McMillen’s QuNeo
The QuNeo “3-D multi-touch pad controller” has been on our radar for a few months now, with Dubspot artists such as Thavius Beck endorsing the product from SoftStep creator Keith McMillen. The QuNeo differs from other controllers on the market by way of pads that can read pressure, velocity, and location when pressed, giving an extra dimension of musical expression. It features 16 square pads that provide 127 levels of Velocity response with X-Y location, 2 rotary sensors, 9 touch sensitive sliders and switches in a low-profile design that will cost a fair $250 (ships in March). It’s also worth mentioning that Keith McMillen is one of the coolest people we met at NAMM. His website has a quote that says he “walks the line between Steve Jobs and Bob Moog,” and we found this to be a fairly accurate statement. His energy and excitement for product development and solving problems is contagious and we found ourselves taken to different dimensions of thought with him.

Controllerism.com: Keith McMillen QuNeo, “Totally Amazing Piece of Controller!”
The QuNeo is pretty much the only truly innovative piece of controller gear I saw at NAMM. I’ve been waiting for a chance to play with this thing ever since the Kick Starter was launched, and it has definitely delivered. The QueNeo has so many different layers of control on each pad – velocity, pressure, position, etc. – I can’t even visualize how to play it yet. And the fact that they managed to fit all of those features into such a small, bus-powered package is simply mind boggling! I can’t wait to spend some more time with this controller.

Resident Advisor: Keith McMillen QuNeo
“There is a lot going on under the covers.” Keith McMillen, the creator of the SoftStep and 12 Step foot controllers showed off his new drum pad controller, which he calls the QuNeo. At first glance it doesn't look like much, with no labels and a pretty standard layout of pads, faders, and buttons. There is a lot going on under the covers,
though: Each of the QuNeo's pads send velocity and continuous pressure info as well as x-y location, and there are multi-touch sensitive encoders and strips that (according to the demo guys) have more resolution than most timecode vinyl. The data can be sent via MIDI without needing a driver, or the QuNeo can be switched into OSC mode and transmit via an intermediary application. Top it all off with the fact that there is multi-color LED feedback on every control, and the thing looks great for $199.

Digital DJ Tips, NAMM 2012: Our Top 5 Picks of the Show-Keith McMillen QuNeo. We can’t wait to review this one. It’s an iPad-sized, practically unbreakable, thin controller with one lead out of it. It contains dozens of rubberised, multi-backlit controls: These are touch-sensitive and each control contains lots of sensors so depending upon where you touch it, it can trigger different Midi signals. Furthermore, each control has red, green and yellow LEDs for instant feedback of what you’ve touched. As an object, it’s gorgeous. It may be flat, but the pads and “sliders” are raised or lowered to make it tactile, and they feel lovely to use. It may be plastic, thin and cheap (US$199 or thereabouts), but it’s professional and designed to last (think Launchpad but utterly shrunk. You’re only a quarter ofthe way there.) As a concept, it’s mind blowing. Keith McMillen has pedigree in designing innovative musical objects, but this is its first DJ-oriented controller, designed to work with Ableton Live or Traktor (although it will be fine with any Midi DJ software). It comes with an overlay program that lets you map controls from your software to its functions, and when you’re happy, you can click a button to “upload” the mapping to the unit. Then, you plug it in to your computer and it works straight away with the software you’ve mapped it for. Really slick. We can see this one unit being used as a mixer, pad controller, pair of decks, effects controller and loop device, and anything else you want to map to whatever buttons you have left over, all in one. The best bit? It looks amazing in use! The “channel faders” can be programmed to act as VU meters, flashing, green, yellow then red for peak. The pads can flash in sequence to the beats or give you feedback on how hard you’ve hit them. It will fascinate your crowd when they stare into your DJ box to see what you’re doing, or you can hold it up and show them. It may be pocket-sized, but it’s going to make a big impact in the DJ box. It’s truly original, and for that it deserves the success we think it’s got coming.

About.com/Home Recording-NAMM 2012 News: KMI QuNeo, “This is seriously a cool piece of gear.” Keith McMillen Instruments has announced the release of QuNeo, a multi-touch pad controller for electronica producers, live musicians, DJs, and anyone else with a need to have a fully programmable, touch-sensitive pad controller at Winter NAMM. The size of an iPad, QuNeo offers 16 trigger pads with 127 levels of Velocity response, combined with X-Y location and various levels of pressure sensitivity. Rotary sensors and multi-touch sliders add to the awesome tactile features, but most importantly, QuNeo comes with it's own development kit and API to allow users to "hack" their controls however they want. Pretty cool! While primarily designed with electronic music-making in mind, the QuNeo could be used for multiple purposes in the recording studio or during live sound reinforcement.

Sonicstate.com-The KMI QuNeo, “flexibility on another level”-The QuNeo is a multi-touch pad controller the size of an iPad. We've heard loads about it through YouTube teasers and previews, but we've not seen it in the flesh... up until now. The QuNeo is composed of 16 trigger pads, 2 rotary sensors, 9 multitouchsliders, and a host of switches. It works with USB, MIDI, or OSC, but the coolest part is that you have access to the development kit and API to hack the QuNeo and create your own response code to the sensors. That's flexibility on another level.

1. David Elliott on January 27
  
  Congratulations! That's excellent news for your company. Looking forward to using the QuNeo.

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Funding Successful

This project successfully raised its funding goal on January 9.