Interview : Peter Nyboer from Livid Instruments

Peter, as his associates, is very nice.

Let’s read this nice interview together.

Precise, smart and clear answers give us a lot of information about this precious and powerful company named Livid Instruments

Julien : Who is Livid Instruments?

Peter : Livid was founded by three partners: Jay Smith, Travis Redding, and myself, Peter Nyboer. Jay was the hub in getting us working together as he took advantage of my programming and Travis’s building for his Viditar controller. We eventually all became partners in Livid as a real business. Primarily, I deal with software, Travis deals with manufacture, and Jay deals with business matters, design, and marketing. We all work together on design and communications.

Julien : What are you making exactly, hardware or software ?

Peter : We make both. Our primary products are hardware products, and we have a number of applications to make them more useful and more fun. We also sell a video mixing program called “CellDNA” which is a really easy to use, but still very powerful, realtime video mixer with OpenGL effects.

Julien : How do you proceed to design hardware ? Do you ask to users directly through the precious users forums on your website or do you only observe tendencies to build the state-of-art yours ?

Peter : We initially started by offering a hardware+software video package, designed as an all in one VJ product (the “Tactic”) that essentially used the computer as a video mixing engine, but provided a full hardware interface so VJs wouldn’t have to be dependent on the mouse and keyboard. A lot of that design was influenced by what we could get from the computers at the time, as well as providing a reasonably-sized hardware.

Branching from that, we now provide MIDI hardware that can be used for a variety of software, whether it’s audio, video, or lighting. A lot of what we do comes from our initial work with the Tactic, but made more generic and with more control. We try to consider different scenarios and softwares, and adapt the hardware as needed, mostly letting electronic music guide us. For example, on the Ohm64, the left side has 12 knobs, which comes from a general need for 3 rows of EQ. But they are obviously very useful for other things! The 8×8 grid of buttons spawns from our original 6×6 grid, but, again, music likes the number “8,” so we we expanded it.

As we continue making hardware, we now have more users who are willing to offer up worthwhile ideas, and we hope to work more of those into future products. We also have ideas about the nature of control and gesture in music making that will become more of an influence in our designs.

Julien : Will we have to change the firmware to use with this or that DAW or is it more user-friendly and with the same hardware we only have to to load this or that piece of code on the computer side ?

Peter : It depends on the software and the way the user has their setup. We have auto-mapping templates for Reason, Live, Tracktor, and a variety of lighting softwares and VJ software (including our own CellDNA) will automatically map to our hardware. Some people reprogram the MIDI output with our Editor application so the controller fits in with their unique setups or other hardware better.

Julien : I saw you cooked pieces of software for reaktor, for ableton live. Why wouldn’t you directly work with them to build their controller ? I mean, would you prefer to stay more general, more universal instead of become specialized on this or that DAW ?

Peter : Those companies have their own things going! We do have some OEM jobs going for some smaller companies, but the larger ones are already cranking out their controllers.

Besides that, the business of making a controller specific to a piece of software, I think, limits the creative possibilities. It’s great for getting up and running, but when a button is labeled “play”, it either enforces a way of working, or distracts you. We want it to be easy for someone to work in Max/MSP, or control a synth in Reason, or DJ a set in Live, or even control lighting. I think a lot of people are becoming more sophisticated and flexible with digital media so they won’t necessarily be tied to a single piece of software or even a type of output. We want to make controllers that speak to that creative growth and flexibility, and don’t need to be replaced every 2 years.

Julien : Why did you choose to kiss opensource world by creating a DIY part of your activity ?

Peter : Part of it is that a lot of people have ideas for controllers that suit their own way of working, and come to us and say “you should build this!” Other people know their ideas are far-out and not part of a “market” but they want things for their own work. Well, we have limited resources, and can only put out so many products, but that doesn’t mean that person should not have what they want! So we provide the tools for them to build it. We also got started in this business by doing things ourselves, and so it’s natural that we want that to continue, and we are really happy we can be a part of it.

It also helps us in experimenting with ideas ourselves, and helps us keep costs down by being able to buy parts in larger quantities than if we only sold controllers.

Julien : What do you think about proprietary vs opensource software ?

Peter : Well, we dabble in both, and they both have their advantages. Open source is a nice way to make your ideas accessible, and get material feedback on how your ideas grow. However, our open source softwares (Looper, OhmSound, LividStep, our Editors) are really only partially open, as they are built in Max/MSP, a proprietary environment. We will also likely be opening the source of the firmware of our soon-to-be-released Code hardware, and that should be exciting.

We have considered open sourcing CellDNA, but, given that I’d have to prepare a lot of commenting and organization for the source to be really useful, we haven’t bothered. It would also likely be harder to sell if it were open source! We have made it “open-minded” in that it’s extensible with Max/MSP patches, and all the Effects and Extras that come with the software are readily accessible and changeable by users.

Julien : How do you see the future of hardware ? Only multitouch screen or still knobs and pots ?

Peter : Unless people’s sense of touch goes the way of our sense of smell, we are always going to need something to hold, feel, and fetishize. We are all about trying to make that feeling more like the instruments of the past, where your senses are engaged by the look, the feel, and a personal bond with the interface between you and your art.

Multitouch may someday be augmented with haptic feedback, providing the flexibility of multitouch with the sensory advantage of mechanical devices, but that is pure science fiction right now.

Julien : What does it make Livid Instruments very different from others ?

Peter : We are a domestic, smaller scale manufacturer of hardware controllers. We use high quality components to respect the musician’s tactile needs. We try to produce as much domestically as possible. If you want a custom controller, or some custom changes or looks to your controller, we can do that do. We respect style and individuality. When you email or call us, it’s the people who make the stuff you are talking to. In other words, we are VERY different from most of the other players in this game!