To the top right of the device is a ninth fader, intended by convention to act as a master level control. There are eight LEDs per fader the lowest is always illuminated. The eight long, fader‑like touch strips above the pads each illuminates a single LED in pale blue at its base, and if (like me) you immediately touch the panels to see if they operate like faders, further LEDs come on to indicate touch position, as you would expect. ('Port 2' is currently unused.)Īt this stage, the Base comes to life, at least to some degree. When plugged in, the Base presents itself as a class‑compliant MIDI device with two in/out pairs of MIDI ports, labelled (on my MacBook at least) 'Controls' and 'Port 2'. There's a single standard USB type-B socket on the left‑hand side of the case there are no options for external power, so a powered USB hub or direct connection to computer are probably wise. Having exhausted all the review options of a device that's not plugged in, it made sense to connect it to a computer and see what happened. The eight smaller buttons on the right-hand edge of the Base do feel and act as 'real' buttons, though. Pressure sensitivity implies velocity sensitivity, at least if the software supports it, making the Base potentially better suited for playing drum parts, but with less tactile feedback than the Launchpad for tasks such as launching clips, which benefit from actual movement. Despite its metal construction, though, the Base isn't especially heavy, nor is it especially thick: the aforementioned feet aside, I make it about 27mm thick at most, not a huge amount more than the Launchpad, and there are no protruding knobs or faders to get snarled or damaged when stuffing it into a backpack apart from the silicone buttons I mentioned, all controls and displays are flush or recessed.Ī bit of exploratory prodding reveals that the 32 pads are non‑moving (as on the Push) they're purely pressure‑sensitive, unlike the pads on the Launchpad, which feel, and act, like conventional buttons. The build quality is pretty good for example, I like the fact that the rubber feet are bolted on to the baseplate, rather than being the usual self‑adhesive kind which fall off after a week. The Base itself is a pretty solid piece of kit: the casing and end cheeks are aluminium, while the top surface is coated with a pretty tough‑feeling rubberised material. The Base comes in a box with the minimum of supporting materials: there's a USB cable, some Livid stickers for plastering over the lid of your MacBook, a registration card, a quality-control checklist, and that's pretty much it all the action in terms of software and support is online. The Base is priced somewhere between the Launchpad and the Push, so one purpose of this review is to explore whether it's worth paying more for than the Launchpad, or alternatively whether it's a good buy compared to the Push - or whether, in fact, it can do things neither of the other controllers can. There's also an obvious similarity to Novation's series of Launchpad control surfaces and Akai's APC controllers, and, like all of these, the Base has comprehensive support for Ableton Live. The Base is yet another MIDI controller from the productive, Texas‑based Livid Instruments, and follows on from a growing list of products including the original Ohm controller with its silicone button grid, knobs and faders (reviewed SOS April 2010) and the Code with its infinite rotary encoders (reviewed in April 2011).Īt first glance, the Base has more than a passing resemblance to Ableton's flagship Push controller (reviewed in March 2013) a collection of pads occupy the lower half of the device, while the top half has the look of some kind of mixing/editing interface. Livid's latest control surface is of typically high‑quality and designed to be the perfect partner for Ableton Live.
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