Joué Play | 4-in-1 Portable Digital Instrument, with Powerful and Easy-to-use Musical App Included - Plug & Play Music

Product Information

The Joué's initial selection of modules (minus the Grand Clavier).We'll look at the modules in turn, starting with the smallest and simplest. For testing I used ROLI Equator and FXpansion Cypher2 (which are MPE-capable), both stand-alone and in Bitwig Studio, and I also fired up Cycling '74 Max to inspect MIDI controller messages more closely. Grand Clavier: A full-width 'grand piano' module offering two octaves of piano keys (each somewhat wider than the keys on the synth module), again with optional vibrato, Y sensing and aftertouch. And again, glissando is an option. Like the scaler, there's a bubble control, two configurable buttons and a ribbon. The Joué Play should attract newcomers and seasoned musicians alike. We also think this’ll be a kid-friendly instrument, finding a home in SEN teaching situations where individual students have different needs for how they play. The 25-note keyboard is said to be more playable than before, with improved velocity response. With just two octaves to work with, though, there’s not going to be a great deal of scope for giving two-handed performances. The slim keys are joined by pads, faders and knobs, plus touchstrips for pitchbend and modulation and a new OLED display. There’s also a built-in arpeggiator, a Chord mode and custom DAW presets for Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Bitwig Studio and Reason.

So as a stopgap measure until we get support, I've made a template that will allow the automation controls (pitch bend, aftertouch, cc74) to be recorded for MPE-mode controllers. MPE polyphonic glide works fine: A glissando option switches between the playing of glissandos (with all intermediate notes triggering) versus being able to glide a single note across multiple keys. This does need a bit of setting up: after some experimentation I discovered that setting a glissando value of 48 semitones in the Joué editor resulted in the correct pitch generation while gliding between keys — at least, that certainly seemed to be the case with Equator and Cypher2. Joué tell me that some instruments don't necessarily adhere to the same pitch range, hence the ability to change it. Rounds: A set of four rotary knobs or encoders, operated by fingertip just within the circular ridge of each control (or, perhaps as intended, along the ridge itself). The ridges have slight bumps at what would be minimum, maximum and centre locations for conventional potentiometers — useful for operation without looking at your hands, and hitting the centre location (MIDI value 64) was surprisingly easy. There's no auto-reset value as with the bubble controls. I found the infinite encoder emulation more useful, and that comes with a speed multiplier setting depending on the accuracy you desire. Again, 14-bit resolution is (theoretically) available. There's no Z/aftertouch support in this module. For more experienced players, there’s the MPE functionality and this is one of the most affordable ways to get into the MPE control world. On another level, it’s also just fun to play instruments in a different way, moving notes and controls to see what happens in a way you wouldn’t do on an 88-key piano, for example. The results are often surprising and useful, and Play is a fun way of helping players of all levels generate new musical ideas. Your Joue Play evolves with you and leads you through your transition to professional music production softwares to let your creativity express itself fully.The sounds are pretty impressive, especially when you start to jazz them up a bit with the effects sliders. Usefully, the actions you perform on the effects are recorded as part of the clips in the Joué app as automation, which makes it easy to spice up your loops and make them more intriguing. The app allows you to add multiple parts of different bar lengths and quantise or delete the recordings, though not edit in any greater depth than that. Combined with the ability to layer sounds, you can make multi-part, multi-instrument projects and then export them as audio mixdowns, stems or MIDI files. Enter a creative mode with no barriers thanks to a turnkey app. No need to spend hours on overly complex music software, enjoy the simplified version of essential music creation tools in the Joue Play App.

Music technology designers put a lot of effort into creating novel MIDI performance experiences for their users. These can take the form of more conventional keyboards and pads, or sometimes touch systems, like those from ROLI and Sensel. Joué’s new Play controller, several years in development, falls into the latter camp and is unique in how it combines physical and virtual components. The MPE controller is accessible to beginners but is a powerful tool to help experienced musicians create new patterns, with an additional editor app for deeper control. Offering a playable semi-weighted and a great set of features, Launchkey 88 Mk3 is a fine option at its price point. Using the Joué Play is a lovely experience. I’ve been making ambient and other kinds of electronic music for the better part of three decades now and I found myself coming up with new expressions that I never would have before, particularly when exploring the non-standard controls. As a keyboardist, I tend to favor basic piano-style note playing but Joué Play encouraged me to break away from this. My normal controller, a vintage Roland synthesizer from the ’80s, has a solid keybed but little in the way of unusual control functions. My fingers rarely stray from the keys. With Joué Play, they were much more mobile, exploring and experimenting. I found the guitar module particularly inspiring, coaxing out not only playing styles and note combinations that I wouldn’t normally come up with but a smile on my face. Tap out a beat, lay down some sweeping pads, bend some chords—all without swapping out hardware. The effect zones on each of the Play Pads allow you to modify the sound to add the little touch that will make the difference in your creation. Add distortion, reverb and more. Switch pads on the fly to instantly transform your Joue Play into a guitar, piano, drums or keyboard and explore their assigned sound banks.

French Verb Play

Besides this, you must set the port to 1 for the MPE controller and any instruments you'd like to control should be set to port 2. If you need to use patterns to control different MPE instruments I'd recommend using Patcher to route the appropriate MIDI ports, to be triggered by automation within the pattern. If you have upper zone MPE enabled make sure to change the MPE Channel 16/1 controls to MIDI channel 1 so you don't miss your first played notes! Joue Play's pad overlays take on an aquatic theme with this Water Edition. Versatile, multi-touch control over MIDI allows you to take charge of software including the Joue Play app. Turn on MPE mode, and pressure and pitch bend ('glide' in MPE parlance) become properly polyphonic. The glide range on the pads seems rather arbitrary (you can set it numerically in the editor), and you certainly won't be able to glide from one pad to the next as you might do on a ROLI Seaboard. For that, you'll need to use one of the keyboard modules.

The most significant improvement over the original Rise might well be the Keywave2 silicone playing surface, which provides ‘frets’ that enable players to more accurately judge the position of their fingers on each key. As well as making Rise 2 more playable than its predecessor, it's also easier for players accustomed to standard keyboards to get to grips with. Use the Joue Play with its dedicated app or compose with hundreds of sound banks via Garageband, learn to play in a fun and playful way with Melodics or remix the creations of millions of users from BandLabsocial platform. Joue Play's unique technology offers a sensational expressiveness. Express yourself in the moment with natural gestures and enjoy all the spontaneity and expressiveness of acoustic instruments. The third-generation MiniLab is a similar offering to its predecessor, giving you a compact 25-note keyboard, various other control features and plenty of sounds courtesy of the tightly integrated Analog Lab intro software that comes included. Novation’s Launchkey controller keyboards have been very successful. Now at version 3, they continues to provide a good balance of price and features, and in 2022 we got a new 88-key model.

We get playful with this advanced, but organic, approachable, controller for the Joué app (and beyond)

If Joué Play has a downside, it’s the app. While it’s impressive sonically, it feels half-baked, with limited editing features. While functionality is identical, the iPad edition is a slightly better experience just because it’s more conducive to touch. You’ve already in exploratory touch mode using the controller. Suddenly switching to a mouse feels like a betrayal to your hands. The rubber modules include piano keys, scalable keys, drum pads, and a guitar-style fretboard (pictured here). Adam Douglas S o, who should buy the Joué Play? The Joue Play combines an expressive multi-instrument, an intuitive application and interactive content to practice. It's also a MIDI controller compatible with all MIDI music softwares (DAWs). Jouer is a regular -er French verb that can be a bit confusing when it comes time to decide which preposition should follow. Here’s everything you need to know. Jouer = to play Stray outside the mainstream of MIDI controller products and you’ll often find innovations from smaller companies. One is the Joué Play.