The block has two sliders, eight knobs, and extra buttons.
In MLRV, I modified several data controls with sliders and knobs. That’s why I call it Block edition.
Enjoy!
This post was submitted by soolee.
I made my first controller in 1999 out of plywood, a hacked computer keyboard, and anything else I could find at the time at my local Radio Shack. It looked pretty sad and I used it to run visuals using Director and I called it the Editar.
A year later I made a newer version of it with plexiglass, added MIDI, started using Max/MSP (with a little help from nn and Nato), and renamed it the Viditar. Shortly after this Wired piece I hooked up with Peter to help with the software, and met Travis at a show while opening for Stone Sour in Houston, and Livid was created (in theory at least). We started making controllers together at that point but simply for my performing, and in 2003 we officially started Livid. After a few years of prototyping and software development we built up our own manufacturing shop in Austin, Texas where we make everything with the same kind of tools and care you would see at a guitar manufacturing shop.
We are very pleased to announce the birth of block, our latest product in our line of real instrument grade control surfaces. Block is the little sister of the Ohm64 controller, housed in a compact ‘block’ and fits into a backpack. I actually did a demo last weekend in Brooklyn at Moldover’s release party and put it in my backpack with my laptop. Block will be available Nov 1st for $399 USD. More details here.
We recently launched our Ohm recycle program. It is a bit unheard of in the music products business to upgrade past units to the latest model’s features. We figured “hey what the heck”. We realize our users appreciate our controllers as not being disposable so we figured they should not be left out of the fun!
After a couple weeks of getting conversion parts fabricated by our shop robots (commanded by humans). We just started receiving Ohm classic controllers and recycling the bodies to accept the new Ohm64 controls. It requires a custom faceplate and that has the outline of the classic faceplate but the inside cutouts of the Ohm64 controls. We also do away with the classic midiboard and back panel board and replace it with our new talk back enabled MidiUSB all in one board.
Here are before and after pics of a super sweet Red ohm Classic owned by user Diego Medina that that we just recycled.
The recycle program is extra rewarding for me. It is like a reunion with my babies after they left the nest. It is nice to spend some time with them and see how they are holding up in the harsh world.
Before:
After:
Thanks to the dot com era, the term branding has almost surpassed “b2b marketing” to become the lamest word in business. If you are in marketing, well just take a cue from Bill Hicks. Seriously though the term comes from livestock branding, a means to identify ownership that dates back to ancient times. I have always liked the way a brand looks especially on wood, so in 2003 when we made our first “production model” controller called the Tactic, we made our very own Livid brand. This is the very same brand we use today. Travis cut it out of Brass and steel (brass on the brand because is heats up a lot faster) and we started branding our instruments. Six years later we still brand each and every controller. Travis actually does it himself by heating up the brand with a torch and pressing it to the back of the controller before it goes into the finish process. Here is a video of Travis branding a batch of controllers. I really had to bite my tongue on the cowboy jokes here.
As you may have noticed, we have leaked our new Ohm64. It is such a relief to be able to finally show the world what we have been working very hard on over the last year. We just couldn’t resist.
My job as hardware designer is to not only design and build the controllers but to build and run the machines that make our parts. Our philosophy at Livid is to keep as much of our parts fabrication in-house as possible. This allows us to have more quality control, reduce costs to the end user, and make parts fabrication virtually on demand.
When you get an Ohm controller you are getting a handmade instrument that we make from parts that are rough cut by machines that we make. That is a lot of making and it is exhausting!
In the coming months we will be talking a lot about how and why we do what we do. We are not a big corporate company who gets everything made over seas, is completely proprietary and secretive. We want to open the doors and let you have a look around.
Let’s talk faceplates
As you may have noticed our faceplate requires a lot of cutouts. There are generally 3 methods for cutting a faceplate out of sheet metal:
Waterjet – This is a $200k to $500k machine that cuts through metal with a high powered concentrated abrasive water stream. The waterjet cuts very clean and precise. It can also cut about 5 at a time. Since it is cutting with water, you don’t have to worry about heat and deformation. But it is expensive. Really hard to build as the base of the machine holds all the water and re-circulates it under very controlled conditions. I wish we could afford one of these.
Laser cutting – It turns out that you need a VERY powerful laser to cut sheet metal. This can easily be a $200k machine new or maybe $50 – $100k to build if you can find a laser head. The good thing is that once you get a good laser head the gantry (X,Y,Z movement) does not have to be very sturdy just very precise. The down side to lasers are that they get the metal very hot and you have to worry about deformation. For our faceplates with so many cutouts it is doubtful that they can be effeciently produced with a laser. Plus it is expensive.
Milling machine – These machines use a mill head and a bit to cut the metal. They are much more economical, you can buy a decent machine for $10k. It is also very possible to build your own. That’s what we did! It does create heat but it is easy to control with a $200 flood coolant system. The downside is that the gantry needs to be very sturdy and minimal wobble or what is called backlash.
Now with our new metalbot we are cutting 6061 aluminum in .063″ thickness all day. Just to break the misconception about Livid having some crazy mass production, a faceplate takes about an hour to make. Yes that’s right: 8 to 10 a day. If orders get out of hand I will just have to build more robots!
One of the big downsides to the machine is that it is very particular about what alloy of aluminum it cuts. Alloys such as 5052 and 3003 are very gummy and melt when you cut, leaving a very messy edge. When we were designing the Ohm64 we really wanted to go with pre-finished anodized aluminum. Anodizing is like a clear coat. It has to be pre-finished because we have not found a consistent or cost effective way to put a nice texture on raw aluminum before going to the anodizer. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find the very good machining 6061 in pre-finished sheets. Perhaps someday we will have our own waterjet and use the readily available pre-finished 5005 or 5052. Until then we have found some very cool metallic powder coatings that will be just as nice and durable.
Next week – Ohm 64 circuit board design and assembly using our pick and place robot.
