Akai Professional has released updated firmware for the MPD24 USB/MIDI Pad Controller.
Offering improved transport functionality, v1.09 is the second update to the original release of MPD24 firmware. A complete document of release notes is also available for review at www.AkaiPro.com.
Owners can update their MPD24 firmware by selecting the Docs & Downloads section of the MPD24 [...]

Remember the bizarre C-Thru Music AXiS-64 MIDI controller, introduced at the Winter NAMM Show?
At the Summer NAMM Show, they were showing the second Axis product, the Axis 49, a smaller and more budget-friendly version of their debut release. The Axis 49 has the same velocity-sensitive buttons as its bigger brother, but doesn’t have pitch-bend or modulation wheels.
It’s [...]

Korg has introduced the new nanoSeries line of MIDI control surfaces, designed for mobile music-making.
The lineup includes three products: nanoKEY, nanoPAD and nanoKONTROL:

nanoKEY is a 25-note, velocity-sensitive model. It will ship with a download code for the full version of Korg’s M1Le - a cutdown version of the synth that forms part of the Legacy [...]

Allen & Heath has unveiled a sweet new DJ mixer/controller - the new Xone:4D performance DJ controller.
Evolved from the revolutionary Xone:3D, the Xone:4D has an updated feature set, combining a professional analog DJ mixer with 105 MIDI controls, and a new 96 kHz/24bit 20-channel USB 2.0 soundcard.
Features:
The mixer section is based on the Xone:92 and [...]

Developed at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, Rui Pereira’s thesis, the TUIST (transformable uber interface for stardom) is a “multi-mode musical interface for super-star wannabes incapable of playing musical instruments.”
The instrument can be held different ways - like a guitar or stand-up bass, for example - and the sound that comes from it varies, based on [...]

David Battino over at EM has published a review of the Percussa AudioCubes, the exotic, illuminated music controller and audio processors.
Boutique instruments naturally cost more, but you usually pay more for anything unique. Consider, too, that AudioCubes look striking, work with popular software, and offer enormous potential for customization. Inventor Bert Schiettecatte fairly bubbles with [...]

BeatMachine - Amateur is a DIY project that uses a webcam and a computer to turn a sheet of paper and some bottle caps into a drum machine. 
This is totally MacGiver - but you gotta love it, too. Unfortunately, the creator’s site is in Polish. If you can read it, give us the run down in [...]

Let’s get this out of the way up front:
The Tablo, a new multitouch keyboard/drum controller integrating displacement and pressure, just doesn’t look as cool as other new music controllers, like the Tenori-On or even the MultiWind. 
In fact, it makes you look like you’re pitching a tent, instead of pitching a tune. 
Get beyond that, though, and you’ve [...]

Bob Chidlaw from Source Audio demonstrates what can be done with 2 rings controlling synth parameters using Hot Hand Soundblox controllers:

You can make awesome chainsaw sound effects with your hands.
You can make the photographer keel over.

We need some of these things!

Chris Graham is prototyping a modular breath-controlled instrument of his own design, the MultiWind. 
One of the goals of the MultiWInd is that it can be played multiple ways:

The Mini Instrument (playable in many styles including brass, harmonica and breath controller).
The Woodwind style instrument, which is convertible from the Mini Instrument by snapping on the Finger [...]

From the because it was there category:
Sebastian Tomczak posted this video of a working prototype version of an interface that controls the sound chip inside of a (real) Sega Master System using MIDI data. 

The Doepfer CTM64 is a universal contact-to-MIDI interface that can be used as the basis for custom MIDI controllers.
Here are a few examples of what people have built using the CTM64:

More examples of custom MIDI controllers, including custom DJ controllers for Richie Hawtin & Monolake, are available at the Doepfer site.

The ATTIGO TT is a futuristic DJ controller, created by Scott Hobbs, a student at Dundee University studying innovative product design.
He’s created a touch screen turntable that’s pretty f****** awesome! It lets you loop, sample and scratch wave forms just as you would a record. The size of the touchtable is approximately the same as [...]

Yamaha says that the Tenori-On is a hit - and it will turn you into a composer in 20 minutes!
It has already sold a few hundred of the new instrument at 121,000 yen (1,170 dollars) each, compared to planned sales of 1,000 in Japan for the entire first year, according to the company.
The square device, [...]

The MIDIator is a new synth DIY project that turns a PS2 controller into a MIDI controller.
The current firmware supports remapping of the buttons to different notes or controllers. It’s [...]