You may have seen our post last month regarding the custom code we did for Bruce Murphy. Bruce wanted  to match his Moog Voyager’s design by having a black body by finishing his end caps off with a white wash. We liked it so much we decided to make a limited edition Block, dubbed the Winter Edition. This special edition block has a white aluminum body, white LEDs, and hand finished white washed mahogany end caps. We’re offering the Winter Edition block for only $379. As we’ve only made a small run of them they will sell out quickly. We will of course be offering customization on an ongoing basis, but the Winter Edition will save you over $150 on a block. Only available while supplies last at shop.lividinstruments.com

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When we redesigned the Block and introduced the OhmRGB, we added something called expansion jacks. At the time we didn’t have explicit plans for it, but we often found ourselves wanting to add just a few more controls to the controllers, so we put a pin header and two 1/4″ jacks that tap into the controller’s Brain. For DIYers this is an awesome feature. We’ve seen sensors, touch strips, joy sticks, and extra faders connected for totally customized controls. We did intend to eventually release more plug and play devices I often referred to as “side cars”, like the one in this video. Well we’ve finally released these side cars in the form of our XPC Expansion Controllers.

The first three devices are available now. These sleek and portable controllers easily connect to the expansion jack of your Block or OhmRGB and greatly extend the possibilities of control. Housed in an anodized aluminum body, these controllers are a perfect match for your Livid device.

The 4K2JS has four rotary knobs and two Playstation style XY joystick controls. This one is a lot of fun to pick up and play with in your hand.

The 8F controller give you eight more high quality 30mm faders.

The 4K4F controller has four rotary knobs and eight really smooth 60mm faders.

All of these devices are available now from our online shop.

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With the addition of the expansion jacks on our block controllers you can add all kinds of analog controls to your existing setup, for very cheap. I’ve made a few tutorials so far, and here’s another one showing how to connect a SoftPot touch fader to it. I’ve often thought about ways to integrate the sides of my controllers with some kind of expressive interface, and within a few minutes I did so with the block. It is really very easy to integrate these kinds of controls with the expansion jacks to give you additional and totally customizable interfaces. At the end of the video you can see how I integrated my controls for use in Ableton Live. I can’t wait to see the first whammy bar addition

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Since we started making controllers we have tried to make them as adaptable, flexible, and open as possible. We’re always looking for ways to expand our product line, not simply replace it with a new product, giving our controllers the kind of refinement our users deserve. We are pleased to announce the addition of expansion jacks to our block controller. These expansion jacks open up a world of possibility to our compact control surface.

All block controllers now come with our expansion module for added adaptability, flexibility and control. Two ¼” jacks allow you to connect Roland-style foot pedals and single analog controls. Put your feet in the mix for additional controls, or experiment adding different sensors and switches. If that’s not enough, you can add up to eight more analog controls with the pin header connection. This provides a direct link into the block’s Brain so you can experiment with touch controls, sensors, accelerometers, faders, rotary knobs, and more. Of course, our Builder series BYOB boards can be easily integrated for a totally customized and modular setup.

Here’s a quick video showing eight additional faders and a foot pedal using the expansion jacks. I used two slide boards and eight sliders from our builder series and quickly wired them up to make a sidecar slider module. We’ll be making more examples of uses in the coming weeks so stay tuned to our facebook and twitter pages for those announcements.

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While it has been several weeks since the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, the problems are far from over. Nuclear disaster, piles of waste, destroyed landscapes, ruined industries, and chronic power shortages are part of daily life in a country that has taught us all a lot about modern life in the past decades.

As electronic artists, the ingenuity and artistry from Japan has touched us all, so we want to help out in a time of need.

We’re putting up some special edition block controllers for auction. Hand finished japanese bamboo wood sides, and red LEDs make these controllers one of a kind. We’re donating ALL proceeds (that means if the controller sells for $1000, we donate $1000) to the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami relief effort by the Red Cross, so the more this gets out, the more we can raise in these auctions!

We are only making 2 of these limited editions, you can view the auctions here:

Auction #1
Auction #2

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