JazzMutant Lemur Reborn As An iPad App (First Look)

Liine Lemur App for the iPad

Liine has announced that the JazzMutant Lemur has been reborn, as a $49.99 multitouch MIDI/OSC controller app for iOS.

The announcement is something that has seemed inevitable, since we first discussed the iPad’s music applications & since the relatively inexpensive tablet killed off the hardware Lemur controller. Still, the announcement means that the Lemur – a device that was priced out of reach of many electronic musicians just a couple of years ago – is now affordable to many musicians.

Here’s the official Lemur app intro video:

The Lemur app can control DJ software, live electronic music performance software, studio production software (DAWs), VJ software, visual synthesis software and stage lighting.

We’ve got specifications, along with introductory videos and more, below.

Check out the details and let us know what you think of the new Lemur app for iPad!

Lemur Tutorial Videos

Here’s a set of tutorials that cover getting started with the Lemur app, connecting Lemur to a PC or Mac, using WiFi MIDI with Lemur, loading and editing Lemur templates, using OSC and using Lemur with USB MIDI:

Features:

  • Objects – Fader; Multislider, Range; Multiball; Knob; Ring Area; Switches; Pads; Custom Button; Container; Breakpoint; Leds; LemurMenu; Monitor; SignalScope; SurfaceLCD; Text
  • Physics – The behavior of many Lemur objects can be affected by powerful and easy to use physical models which can make your controller bounce, rebound and oscillate. Make your controller come alive.
  • Scripting – If you’re the type who likes to get their hands dirty then there’s a powerful scripting engine inside Lemur. Harnessing this power will allow you to build extremely dynamic templates.
  • Editor – The Lemur editor, is a cross-platform (OS X/Windows) interface builder. It allows you to create new Lemur templates or edit existing ones. The drag & drop interface makes it easy to use.
  • Connectivity – Simply connect your iPad/iPhone to your laptop over Wi-Fi and make the connection! Lemur also supports CoreMIDI allowing you to use hardware interfaces such as Alesis’ iO Dock or the iConnectMIDI or class-compliant USB MIDI interfaces (with a camera connection kit). You can control up to 8 computers from one iPad with Lemur.

Lemur for iOS is available now in the App Store for US $49.99.

39 thoughts on “JazzMutant Lemur Reborn As An iPad App (First Look)

      1. Hey I agree, the original Lemur was over priced in comparison to what we have now a few years down the line in the form of the iPad and other tablets. My point I made with the smiley face at the end 🙂 was that it wasn’t now costing $50 for a JazzMutant Lemur, it was costing $650 to get something ALMOST as good as the original Lemur. Yes I haven’t discounted the fact that you can do other things with your iPad.

    1. iPads are available for around $500 in the US – but you’re right about taking the platform cost into account.

      You could make the same argument about a $100 virtual synth, though. Most people are going to run it on a $1000+ computer, with a $500+ DAW. So, you could argue that a virtual synth costs you $1,500 to run…..

  1. Just got this one and I’m still reading manual and fooling around with editor software. This one is really cool system. Maybe a my Little Phatty will be the first one to get a new user interface 😉

  2. Tvirus

    Yeah, standalone would work better,

    And they should make it more proprietary and expensive, while they are at it! I hate being able to use devices for more than one thing!

  3. I’ll be curious to see what some of you guys posting come up with in terms of usage. Please Post some videos when you get it going.

  4. Also. It would be nice to have something configurable like this with the ability to load/handle on board sounds. Probably see this around iPad 4 Era.

  5. Two questions por favor:

    1) anyone try this on original iPad yet? Is it useable?

    2) are there a ton of bugs? Could I gig with it tomorrow? (figuratively)

    Absolutely love this blog and community.

  6. @Capitalism:

    It seems to be usable with my original/old iPad and I haven’t found bugs yet.

    I wouldn’t gig with it until I’ve used it more, but I can say for sure it is far from cheap/buggy alternative it has in iTunes store. I don’t want to name this alternative and get bad karma 🙂

  7. Could maybe someone explain to me the difference between TouchOSC and this Lemur app? At first they seem quite similar, yet there is a big difference between their prices…

    1. TouchOSC is OSC, Lemur natively is MIDI. (Don´t tell me the buggy puredata to MIDI stuff always work for you), also touchOSC do not deals with Script, Lemur does.

      That´s the main differences I can see

  8. no way I’m purchasing something for 50$ that TouchOSC can MOSTLY DO for 5$. liine are notoriously greedy with their previous offerings, unless sponsored by some big name, were way over priced for what the competition introduced.

    maybe 2 years ago.

    TOUCHOSC!!!!!

  9. TouchOSC templates are more rampant and up to date if you check the web. everyone has had an iPad and the people interested in this app already used to it’s heartbreakingly less expensive competition. I can’t find a lemur traktor 2 template, but I found five TouchOSC templates for the updated version.

    Drop the price or loose your a$$

  10. does anybody know if it can control apps inside the ipad itself via midi? i understand it’s compatible with core midi, but this feature would be awesome. i wanna control my ipad synths and not being tied up with a computer or external synth.

  11. One thing that the original Lemur has as opposed to an ipad is the ethernet connection, so unless you’re using the camera adapter and a usb cable you could have a problem with wifi.

  12. I really don´t understand at which audience those “product videos” aim? There is NO music, just bad noises all around the second half of the clip. So – is Lemur basically a noise generator. Come on. Music should still be about “music” and not unbearable noise.

    1. Lemur doesn’t make any sounds, it is only a controller. As opposed to most controllers, where you have to slide a slider or move a knob, the Lemur can also do things like have gravity act on a slider or a ball, or do things like when you “throw” a ball and have it bounce around, all the while sending out the two values xy of the ball’s location to control whichever software you are controlling.

      Also, someone above commented about Lemur being MIDI, which it sounds like it does do over the midi adapters, but it also does OSC wireless, the Lemur hardware was probably the first hardware OSC device to be made.

      And, just to clarify, that was music. “Unbearable noise” is in the eye of the beholder. Care to give us a link to your music?

  13. This week we plan to make a demo vid with the iPad and lemur side by side, both for dj use and for a synth jam. We will also post our Juno patch for use with the free TAL U-NO-62. Just waiting for a break from the real world to sit down and make it.

    -TB

  14. Is this really $50 worth of software? I’ve seen a bunch of apps that already do all this stuff. Feels like a money grab along the same lines as Fairlight.

  15. Wow 50$? I’d love to download this. But 50$ for an app that’s the size of (3mb) it should at least come with a conpanion app that makes connecting easier like their other products. I’ll stick using my tried and true TouchOSC

  16. Uh, why do people make such false statements? Think or research before you put things out into the open. There IS a daemon app that acts as a middle man between the app and the computer. It allows you to handle all connections back and forth. Secondly, TouchOSC and Lemur aren’t really a like at all. I’d love to see TouchOSC do this.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVzDnC-rsoo

  17. Does this work with Traktor scratch pro and if so can someone give links to how to set up. Deciding on this before I part with cash.

  18. I always wanted a hardware Lemur, but couldn’t afford it. There was nothing else like it at the time. Now I have TouchOSC on an iPad, and it does most of what I need to control Live / Logic. I’m now pushed to consider how I’d use the other functionality such as the gravity balls, scripts, etc. BTW we probably all waste more than £35 of our time researching and discussing the purchase 🙂

    1. If you are getting this to use the Mu template with a standard Ableton Live install, be aware you need Max for Live to get it going (which is not the cheapest Live add-on – http://tinyurl.com/6u3jw7b). I don’t have it, so I’ll be sticking to TouchOSC / LiveControl and thinking about how to use Lemur in other ways. Disappointed…

  19. Hey guys, this is the first time I even hear about Lemur, and I just wanna know how I can use it in a live mix with Ableton. I have a Novation Launchpad already, how would Lemur help me improve in my mix? thanks!

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