http://www.vimeo.com/5138842
In the past, we’ve covered a lot of the innovations coming out of the monome controller project and its vibrant developer community.
This video, though, shows a free Max/MSP patch, monomulator, that lets you use all of the Monome apps with an Akai APC40. With Akai APC40’s selling for about $400, monome hardware, which sells for $500-1,400 and has limited avaialbility, will look a lot less attractive to many.
Will the Monome hardware become irrelevant or is there enough value in its open concept to justify the extra cost?
Related Posts
- Run Monome Apps On The Livid Ohm64 MIDI Controller
- NAMM 2009: Akai APC40 Demo
- Akai APC40 + Monomulator + Ableton Live 8
- Akai APC40 Hacking Guide
- Akai APC40 Unboxing
Tags: Akai, Akai APC40, APC40, MIDI Controllers, monome
18 Responses to “Did The Monome Just Become Irrelevant?”
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It’s not that the Monome became irrelevant, it’s that an independently owned and matured technology has been integrated into commercially mass produced equipment. It’s definitely a win for Monome! Sure, the hand built systems will be collector’s items, but they way that they were made and propagated is a paradigm shattering win for sustainable practices, hard work, creative community, and world wide cooperation.
It's not that the Monome became irrelevant, it's that an independently owned and matured technology has been integrated into commercially mass produced equipment. It's definitely a win for Monome! Sure, the hand built systems will be collector's items, but they way that they were made and propagated is a paradigm shattering win for sustainable practices, hard work, creative community, and world wide cooperation.
apples, meet oranges.
hmm.. interesting..
i posed the same question in my blog and received many many replies..
http://enigmafon.com/2009/05/28/akai-apc40-vs-mon...
The Monome is a hand-made open source piece of hardware with high quality components, real wood and love that isn't mass produced overseas. The software is created by the community. The Akai is a mass produced piece of hardware that now has a plugin to use open source software already developed. Monome is the future of music, and this only makes it more relevant.
I sincerely believe that the people that make the monomes missed the moment to produce more of their machines. I had never the chance to get one and was really frustrated by the drip-dropping of units. So this is a real win for me and most of the people. I couldn´t care less now about wether the monome has become irrelevant, it just has dispeared from my radar. The only thing that´ll perhaps survive is the name, everybody will allways refer to such things as "monome"-like. On the other hand it is a real win for the open source community and I allways find it really fun to see mass-products used in "not-as-ment"-ways… so kudos for the open-sourcer and my condoleances to the monome producers.
This does make the monome less attractive. The APC40 has a much more useful array of controllers, and the price is incredible.
I WISH i could own a Monome. I really do.
But all this "handmade, quality" is just too expensive for me for a controller.
Plus if you go to the website ordering one is just so nebulous. "not yet scheduled". Wut?
I can go buy a APC today.
In a free market, today always seems to win.
Has anyone with a APC tried the software? It could just be smoke and mirrors.
arduinome is still cheaper, for anyone doing DIY
that aside, this was unavoidable. I'd much rather have an APC right now than a monome. Ideal would be APC + Bonome, the RGB DIY monome.
In cas anyone hasnt noticed, the APC is pretty limited availability so far as well….I just worry that the APC40 will become so much like wallpaper that it's going to generate massive yawns wherever it goes, but then it will be down to the music, so its all good I guess…what I want to see is someone switching the Livd ohm64's LEDs out to seomthing other than that mental hospital blue….
Good discussion there, too!
With a monome or arduinome kit you can have a monome for far less than the price of an APC. Personally I'd say that RGB buttons and extra dials and switches detract from the original minimal concept of the monome. It's great that the concept is spreading but the monome is still more elegant than the APC.
the apc and the new ohm 64 especially the ohm make the monome a tad extravagant there is nothing to justify the premium now it has compitition although i still want one because its pretty…saying that the ohm is too….oh well i spent my cash on a apc and when it finally gets here i wont be complaining anymore
Comparison between the monome and the apc40 is inevitable–but ridiculous! The monome is an open source project that invites user development and encourages hacking/coding to create novel applications. If you can't be bothered with the effort of buying one, you're probably not a good candidate for owning one. The monome is also about being part of a community.
The APC40 is a tightly integrated Ableton controller that most people will never hack. It's a superb controller that works out of the box. Of course it's hackable, but it doesn't even match the 8×8 grid of the monome 64. It's great, but heads off in a very different direction from the monome. Got the APC40–love it, but the monome 64 is staying.
How is the monome any more hackable? The APC40 has a lot better array of controllers. There isn't anything that limits it from being used with any software, is there?
Most people just don't understand the concept of a monome …
I bought the APC to run next to my monome and returned it the next day … huge disappointment !
I don't even want to correct these. Please proof your own work, it's an insipid mess of frustrating distractions.
*much