I recently purchased the Novation Remote 25 LE MIDI controller keyboard to use with Apple Logic Pro 8 on my Apple MacBook Pro. Out the box it was easy to plug in, with only a single USB cable, the device is powered and operated via the cable. It can also run of several penlight batteries.
It has been a while since I last created music on the computer and back then I was used to programming all my music notes by hand… which sucked, but offered some really controlling features. The experience for me in using a MIDI controller keyboard and Apple Logic has been liberating.
I have no previous experience with MIDI controllers etc so I cannot really offer a full review and further to this I have no real idea how to use all the knobs etc on the Novation Remote 25 LE. This particular model comes with 25 keys and loads of knobs to twiddle, along with the tradition pitch bending joystick and what seems new is the touch pad which is much like a track pad on a laptop. It also features an LCD screen that displays information.
I have yet to succeed in programming the knobs for the Novation Remote 25 LE to work with Apple Logic and there is no real support from Novation’s Website – Obviously they also haven’t figured it out. Overall the device does come with built in templates, or control surfaces for popular audio applications, although in my case a version old, as it does have a template for Apple Logic 7.
What is important is I plugged my Novation Remote 25 LE in my laptop, fired up Apple Logic and it worked. The pitch bender works and the octave buttons along with the actual keys of the keyboard. Now I am not sure if this is a software thing, or a MIDI controller thing but although the keypad is pressure sensitive as in how hard you hit the keys, I find they are not all that great for soft or delicate playing… but perhaps I need more experience here.
Overall the Novation Remote 25 LE has been a great addition when working with Apple Logic and I think it is an affordable price for anyone interested in home audio production. I am wondering if anyone has considered a MIDI guitar?
I came across this website today which describes itself as:
VisualComplexity.com intends to be a unified resource space for anyone interested in the visualization of complex networks. The project’s main goal is to leverage a critical understanding of different visualization methods, across a series of disciplines, as diverse as Biology, Social Networks or the World Wide Web. I truly hope this space can inspire, motivate and enlighten any person doing research on this field.
Some really great examples of information breakdowns. Check it out.
I recently purchased an Apple Magic Mosue as I needed a cordless mouse for on the go.
Traditionally like all Apple products, the Magic Mouse is well designed and has an awesome finish. Although the mouse looks like it does not feature a button it hides a normal left click and right click but its best feature is that the entire surface acts as your scroll.
I was naturally skeptical about it being as useful as claimed, but having used it now for almost a week I am pretty impressed with its functionality, design and intuitiveness. Usually I have found mice that add extra functionality only become these expensive white horses.
The Magic Mouse is blue tooth and works flawlessly with my MacBook Pro with one of the nicest features it adds to your experience is in the scroll. When you use the mouse and with the latest OS updates when you use the mouses touch scroll you get the same kind of inertia feedback that was first introduced on the iPhone OS.
What a pleasure it is to flick through web pages, or browsing iTunes or even your computer files with this kind of added ease of use.
My only real complaint is I felt they could have made the Magic Mouse slightly bigger. The weighting is perfect but I feel that it is just slightly to low and thin. One does easily get accustomed to it. Bear in mind this mouse is a working mouse and actually can’t really compare to lets say my Logitech G5 which is in a class of it’s own.
The Mighty Mouse is the perfect mouse to use with OSX mainly due to the multi-touch functionality it adds. It is also the perfect mouse to use with a lap top because of it’s portability and size.
