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Lemur is a controller for live performance applications that is destined to be one of the most coveted computer music products of the year. It combines distinctive industrial design, a brilliant modular graphic interface concept, and a proprietary touchscreen technology that can track multiple fingers simultaneously.

At first glance, the Lemur looks like a high-fashion etch-a-sketch. As a performance interface, the Lemur is immediately appealing. You touch colorful rounded interface objects on the 12" LCD display to control your computer in any way you can imagine . The Lemur's elegant simplicity is made possible by its sophisticated graphics processor and proprietary touchscreen interface that tracks multiple fingers simultaneously.

Using an editor application running on your choice of Mac, Windows, or Linux, you drag and drop switches, faders, and other objects into an exact simulation of the Lemur's screen. Make any number of interfaces, store them in an XML-based project file, then upload them to the Lemur and it's ready to go.
Page Up and Down buttons above the display will flip through your pre-defined interface pages, instantly changing the appearance and behavior of the device (making it more of a Chameleon than a Lemur). One moment you can be mixing by moving several faders simultaneously. The next moment you can be controlling a software synth with switches and balls that can be thrown around in a two-dimensional space.
Now the Lemur is ready to control a synthesis or processing application in a modular software program such as Cycling '74's Max/MSP or Native Instruments' Reaktor. Assign a fader object to change filter cutoff. Use a two-dimensional controller for multi-channel panning or scratching a sound file. Spend some quality time alone with your imagination: you'll find no shortage of cool applications for this animal.
The Lemur communicates using Open Sound Control (OSC) over a 100-baseT Ethernet cable, an emerging standard for controllers that has numerous advantages over MIDI: no latency, higher data capacity, 32-bit numerical precision, and easy configurability. OSC is currently supported by modular software applications such as Max/MSP, Reaktor, and Pd - and more OSC-compatible applications are on the way. Once you experience the ability to name controllers freely and hook them up to high-resolution values, MIDI will seem very 1980s (which it is, by the way). Not surprisingly, OSC can be used with multiple controllers on a network, so if one Lemur isn't enough, just use a standard ethernet hub and you can have a whole zoo full of 'em.
If you want to interface with existing hardware and software that only use MIDI, the JazzEditor provides a virtual MIDI interface between the Lemur and your other equipment.
The Lemur's palette of user interface objects currently includes uniquely stylized buttons, faders, one- and two-dimensional area controllers optimized for live performance. Each object can be labeled with the name of the parameter you're controlling as well as its numerical value. You can also use the two-way nature of OSC to display numerical status information sent to the Lemur from your computer, allowing you to track what's going on with your computer without the computer being anywhere nearby. This means your performance can look more like performing and less like office work.
In addition to taking on any size and shape, the Lemur's user interface objects have "physical" properties including friction, evaporation, and smoothness. Faders and area controllers can either stay where you drag them (maximum friction), or slide away from your finger as if on ice (minimum friction). "Throw" a low-friction fader hard enough and it will bounce off the bottom of your mixer.

Technical Specifications
▪ Physical size: 13.5" x 12" x 1.25"
▪ Weight: 6.5 lbs.
▪ Display: 12" LCD - 800 x 600 resolution
▪ Computer Interface: Ethernet (100-baseT), Open Sound Control, DHCP
▪ Editor Software: Compatible with Mac OS X and Windows XP, supports MIDI
▪ UI Objects: Multi-state Button, Trigger, 2-D area with multiple "balls" tracking multiple fingers, Fader, Multislider, Signal Scope, Remote Status Monitor, Ring Dial