What I wonder, is WHEN?

As I listen to, say, a podcast featuring SENSEL’s CEO, speaking about all the amazing [haptic] things they at Sensel are THINK-TANKING about, I think, 'What a great music production time we live in."
My next thought, not yet being a MORPH OWNER is, "WHY…is there not a single Morph available for sale on planet Earth? And then, “WHY is Sensel not divulging more info about the WHEN…even if only to say, 'Brilliant as we are, we have no clue.” Maybe Mr. Musk has a supply, stored on MARS.

JOUE’ has stock, McMillan has stock, many other MPE devices that I DON’T want…have stock. I tend to think that there’d be one of the Sensel genius’ focused on inventory and supply chain. A fulfilling notion.

I know: COVID, Chips, Bottlenecks, the harbor at Long Beach, blah and blah. Still, I’m thinking that more than a few companies must have responded, about the time that Trump said, 'Don’t worry, I got this [RE a few Covid cases], preparing to have lots of Dry Powder on hand, just in case something weird happened, like a pandemic. Ah well, water under the bridge now. And true enough, Sensel could rightly say, “Mark, where were you when we created the Haptic Universe?” But I never professed to be one of the chosen, gifted ones.

So, I simply wonder, is SENSEL telling anyone anything about WHEN we may expect MORPHs to be BUYABLE again?

All the feature sets are cool, along with all the coming future-tech, but it kind of might as well be a good PDF novel, given that folks can’t buy one.

JOUE’ is courting me, but what I really want is a MORPH. ROLI, I suppose, would like to have me back again. I’m not illuminated. Don’t need a new magic ring for my finger and frustrated by seeing TOUCHE’ SE continue to appear in lists of MPE devices; clearly, it’s not one (cool as Touche’ is). I own TEC Breath/Bite, so kind of got multi-points of control nailed…for solo instrument stuff.

I could make a decision, if only I knew approximately long should I expect to wait for a MORPH? Long time ago, I signed up for the LET ME KNOW where there’s Morph News. Crickets.

The largest wolf (JOUE’) is at my door. Or maybe I should buy LUMI before ROLI shrinks its offerings down to Colorful 8-Key Controllers (Ad Campaign: ‘A FIFTH A DAY IS ALL YOU REALLY NEED!’). Perhaps they’ll be magnanimous enough to give us one extra high key, just to augment the 5th without having to throw a lever.

I know, there may exist, hundreds of WISH I COULD BUY ONE topics in The MORPH forum…dunno, didn’t look. If there are, my cursory scan of HAPTIC DELIGHTS TOPICS/QUERIES seem to swallow up what may be a group of us who don’t yet own, so I thought I’d inquire.

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You didn’t mention the ERAE Touch from Embodme. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a product you should check out. It’s not a Morph - there are pros and cons to each - but its touch sensitivity is surprisingly close to the Morph’s. It’s also quite a bit more expensive. Given the scarcity of Morphs, I’ve sometimes wondered how much money could be offered (by someone wanting a Morph) to existing Morph owners (that might not be using it enough to keep it), in order to convince them to sell.

…Tim…

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Thank you, Tim.
You’re correct, I didn’t mention ERAE. It is a COOL one, no doubt and I hope they survive any impending law suits and come out shining on the other side!!
Darn my bad fortune as I near OLD AGE (largely self-inflicted wounds, I fear) but…trying to stay in that MORPH or JOUE $$$-range. My dad used to say, “Son…poor folk have poor ways.”
You’ve gotta be spot on, Tim: there must be who knows how many shelved MORPHs here in the USA alone. And, am ample number of junkies hungry for the dope. “I need a fix cuz I’m going down…”–J.L.
IF I don’t go JOUE’, I’m gonna have to wait it out to pay full retail for a MORPH.
As a guy who really adores the key of Cmin, I would like to note the JOUE’ gives us that HIGH C (which I want) and only today did I notice that the Morph Piano ends at a HIGH B. B for Boo. At one point, when I thought I might consider stretching for the McMillen…Millan…I never can remember., anyway, I actually X’d it off my list because of its HIGH B ENDING. AND I know, I know…the range thingie switch thing on short keyboards, but COME ON…lemme have that C!! And besides, I don’t even know whether or not the McMillEn MPE KEYS can gliss from tone to tone, merely by the drag of a finger. No matter, as I’m not buying one.
Thanks for your time and suggestion. For sure, it’d be hard to settle for what seems sorta like a One Trick Pony in the LUMI. I’m sure one could DRUM away on it, but, man…those [Morph] overlays sure are cool.
Venus Theory appeared on the ROLI CHANNEL to demo the LUMI, which, in all fairness to HIM, I thought he handled elogquently after RAVING about MORPH being THE HEROIN (on his own channel).

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Oops. No proper close to my letter.

Resonating through life,
Mark

You mention “impending law suits” in the context of the ERAE. I’m not aware of any, and a quick search didn’t reveal anything. Can you provide more details there?

It’s possible that the full retail for the next production run of Morphs will be increased (if it ever appears). If someone offered to sell you a Morph for $400, would you buy it? Just curious - I’m not offering, I’m just curious about how much they would sell for if no more were ever made.

…Tim…

Hey Tim. I am driving all night tonight to Asheville North Carolina. Soon as I get there I will get into a different car and drive all the way back to Little Rock Arkansas. So expect to hear from me tomorrow night or Wednesday morning, in the event I pass out as soon as I get home tomorrow night.
I will explain my comments then.
Mark

Mark Thomas Meador

FYI, the high B key is split in two,parts, a high one and a very small square one. And you can assign a high C note to it.
TBH, I discovered this very lately.

Greetings Phillippe and thanks for the comment, regarding the McMillen MPE keys, if I read you rightly. I certainly didn’t know about this HIGH B SPLIT and etc. Helpful to know this.

There you are, Tim! It’s ME who’s been missing, right…
Finally and at last A) I’m off the road and B) I found the elusive comment (‘Blatant ROLI INFRINGE…’) to do with ERAE. The LINK is below. Just scroll down the page a bit and it’ll jump out at you-- ‘an alternative MPE’ blah blah. It’s just random guy throwing in his 2 cents in the form of, “Looks like ROLI STUFF to me, therefore.” My apologies for having disappeared. My initial remarks were a bit tongue in cheek and a result of having just read through the content in link below.

The FAR MORE FUN topic that you raise: WOULD YOU BUY A MORPH for $400, IF ONE APPEARED? Sure! Easy enough to jump from Just Below $300 to $375…then what’s another 25 bucks, right.
I want JOUE PLAY to win out, but I think MORPH is the one. IF ONLY Morph would release a Guitar Fretboard overlay. Maybe they can do that right after they figure out how to EVER make a Morph again.
Botton line, I’m hoping that I can avoid ever purchasing an Artiphon Instrument 1, as a strumming machine to pair with my Ample Sound guitars. HiFiMidi would not be pleased and would suggest learning Ample’s Strum Engine instead. Thanks for taking the time. Way too much rambling here and so I’ll stop.
Mark

So I came here trying to find when the Sensel was going to be produced but as a current Joué owner, I thought I might help you decide on a Morph or not. I personally really like the Joué board, but there are some limitations that aren’t present in the Morph. The Morph has a much greater pressure range, so when you do vibrato on the Joué you inevitably will be modulating the pressure as well. The Morph has also better touch resolution, so there are shared “zones” on the Joué which interfere when you press harder. Finally, the Play is limited to the Play pads, so “technically” you can’t use the fun pro pads (but there are workarounds).

I really like the Joué, and I’ve learned to work around the limitations. In reality, it’s extremely difficult to bump against them, and the ease of use makes using the Joué natural and fun to use. I’d reccomend getting the Joué for now, build your skills, and you’ll enjoy the Morph so much more when they start selling it again. But if you can’t live with the limitations, just wait for the Morph.

So, I think our questions here have been answered by today’s announcement. I was just about to purchase one and now they are no longer being sold, “due to their overwhelming demand”. I guess the big boys want exclusivity when they buy the company out. Oh well.

In the meantime, I had purchased an Artiphon Instrument One for my son a couple of years ago (not available at the moment either), and it’s a sleeper in the MPE controller market. Love it!

The other controller to consider would be the Erae Touch.

…Tim…

Oh man! The existing Morphs just hit SELLER’S MARKET a la the Housing Market.
They’ll go into the stratosphere now.
Lucky Morph Owners!

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For the record, the “big boys” simply occupy all the resources. There was no demand from any B2B customer that we stop selling the Morph. As we stated in our announcement, it was a combination of parts availability and the business that currently demands Sensel’s attention. I know lots of companies put out BS PR, but, in this case, it is that straighforward.

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Sounds like we need to starve out the big boys!
Sorry to hear all this. Tough world out there.

I still keep my Morph near and Dear!

The morph keys, with its elegantly implemented high C key and true 5 Point MPE.

Ah well, as typical, we’re left with Big Boys market choices, so many full of oversights and ridiculous money, what’s new, right.

If I ran the show, Roland would be relegated to some back-shelf spot in Walmart…

Best wishes, Peter!

Mark Meador

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