Before We Start…
It's fair to say that I haven't been especially speedyin getting this review posted - and a few things have changed that are worthy of note.
Cosmetically, the metal faceplate is now anodised Aluminium, thus it'll match Macbook Pros. And the screws are now countersunk too. Of course, you can also get your very own colour scheme courtesty of this slick designer too.
But is the functionality that has come on significantly too.
Livid are currenty showing off a maxforlive.info produced remote script for Ableton Live. It's completely plug and play - check it out here. Livid have also been busy themselves making templates and scripts for Traktor, Propellerheads Reason and Record, Arkaos, and Cuelux.
Because of the community around the Ohm64, you can be sure that someone will be trying to get it to control just about anything from your favourite software to opening your garage door.
One thing is for sure - the Ohm64 isn't a one trick pony and Livid will most certainly be doing a heap of work to make sure that it's firmy on your purchasing radar and relevat for a very long time to come.
Anyway, on with Chris Cartledge's review...
Introduction
At first, I thought I’d merely been teased – having been informed of the courier’s imminent arrival, excitedly seen the red and yellow uniform ambling towards the door with a very-definitely-midi-controller-sized parcel, and lent a vague squirly line to the electronic signature pad, picking up the brown box to return inside struck me with the unpleasant tingle of immminent disappointment. Having taken delivery of a variety of instruments, synths, and controllers, I’ve come to expect two things: as months pass, the boxes for said equipment get smaller, and they get heavier.
This was a light box.
Fortunately, Livid Instruments’ Ohm 64 bucks the trend – and in more ways than one. The refreshing weight to the parcel is due in part to the frugal approach to packaging, and the omission of copious amounts of bumph, poorly translated multi language manuals, and even polystyrene – the unit is secured by well cut and shaped cardboard – gain Livid environmental plus points.
Look and Feel
The understandable but inaccurate assumption that build quality is directly attributable to weight is a myth that the Ohm 64 roundly shatters. The Ohm 64 smacks of quality from the moment you first lay eyes on it, with its sleekly curved wooden edges, metal faceplate and elegant design. There’s not a hint of a creak or shudder when the unit is moved or bashed by eager fingers, and the rubber feet keep it seated firmly where you place it.
The most immediately attention grabbing ergonomic decision, at the very least to a scratch DJ, is the choice of crossfader cap. A custom wooden design, it’s an indication of the love that’s gone into the design of the Ohm 64, if a little unwieldy for those used to more standard shapes and feels. That said, it’s entirely useable and indeed has a lovely and smooth travel - and were one to so desire the stem is a standard 4mm, ready to accept your choice of replacement.
Staying with the faders, the eight 60mm vertical faders (this time with 8mm stems) have studio rather than DJ styled caps on them, making them less than ideal for fast paced flinging from end to end but at the same time perfect for smooth adjustments. The amount of tension on the faders, is also more suited to studio use, and each fader would probably benefit from some lubricant to ease them off a little for DJ use.
Similarly, the rotary knobs are definitely too stiff, even for studio tweaking. Time and lubricant will probably do wonders though, and the actual implementation of knobs on the device is great. A generous 16 allows for one to accompany each fader and a further eight grouped at the top left of the unit, begging to be assigned to macro controls in Ableton Live and Native Instruments software.
Lending further credence to the assertion that the Ohm64 is more than a pretty face, though, is the realisation that should you wish, you could also look at its design as four columns of three knobs and a fader on the left, and the right hand side of the unit there are four knobs and four faders with the function buttons to compliment them. The trigger pads align perfectly with the faders, but are placed low enough on the unit to allow them to be used without getting in the way of the other controls. The design of the Ohm64 didn’t happen by accident, and there’s very little about the design which forces a certain workflow. Tremendously refreshing.
A final note on the rotary knobs is that they’re simple 270 degree potentiometers. Despite the wisdom in the old adage that less is more and its relevance when setting up a Live control surface – ie. it tends to be better to restrict your mapping to a single layer where possible, with one physical control to one virtual one – it would have been nice to see infinite motion pots, or even rotary encoders, and for the ring of light surrounding each pot to provide visual feedback as to the position of the knob ala the Mackie ‘d’ mixers, for switching between plugins in the studio if nothing else. As it is the rings of light are nothing more than an artistic flourish, which does feel a little like a missed opportunity on Livid’s part… maybe it was a little too ambitious a feature.
The central aspect in the Ohm 64’s design, indeed the feature from which half its moniker is derived, is the 64 button matrix. The buttons are the same rubberised translucent buttons that you may have seen on any number of ‘DIY Monome’ kits- pleasant to the touch, although their depth of motion is perhaps slightly greater than comfortable for feverish button bashing. Their ice blue backlighting provides stylish visual feedback, although with the unit’s two most conspicuous competitors (Akai’s APC 40 and Novation’s LaunchPad) providing multi state indications it’s a shame not to see at least an option for a dim and bright glow. For those unsure, it’s worth mentioning that these are simply buttons, not pads – able to transmit a value of on or off with no velocity sensitivity.
Thoughts about the unit
Livid’s products are all designed by musicians and performers, hand crafted, and the love that goes into them is immediately apparent.
The little touches, like careful milling of the holes in the faceplate to remove sharp edges and prevent your booth/studio turning into a scene from the latest Saw flick (I’m looking at you, Urei), go a long way. I love the ‘Livid’ button at the top right of the unit – Livid suggest it be used as a BPM tap button, but just like the rest of the unit it’s open to assigning however you see fit, and there’s always room for a Big Button in any setup.
All of these things – the hand crafting and build quality that that affords, the driverless, totally free MIDI implementation, the carefully thought out design which allows the device to be approached in a number of different ways – make the Ohm 64 really feel like it belongs to you. The APC40 and Launchpad may have control surface support for Live, get going straight out of the box with auto assign and have a plethora of differently coloured bells and whistles, but in the end it’s the way that the Ohm 64 makes you decide how to use it, rather than dictating to you its demands, that makes it feel like such a rewarding piece of equipment to use. There are plenty of individual things that could be done better on the Ohm64, but when all’s said and done and you’re running your fingers over its elegant curves it feels like more than the sum of its parts.
The downloadable software, a host of open source and modifiable synths, samplers and sequencers, is more proof of concept than genuinely useful - and a little buggy at that (not counting Cell DNA, the commercial and capable VJ software included free with the Ohm64) – but they go a long way towards demonstrating Livid’s approach to musicianship. In these heady, changing times, our attitudes to how we create and perform music are constantly challenged - it is suddenly possible for us to shape not only our performance, but everything from the instrument we use to perform, the sound we play, and the system we use. The end result of this ability is an increase in the artist creating the instrument, as opposed to vice versa, from the end user up to organisations like Livid. And I love it.
Conclusion
If you want a workhorse, something designed for a single job, such as an Ableton Live or Logic or Traktor controller, there are plenty of other things on the market. If, however, you find yourself and your creative urges heavily influenced by all that surrounds you and get inspiration from the rewards proffered from not only personalising and customising things until they’re uniquely yours, but, admittedly, overcoming the shortcomings of a device and truly learning your equipment, I cannot recommend the Ohm64 highly enough.
Want some pretty pictures?
