Expressive E Touché

S
tandard pitch and
mod wheels do a
solid enough job,
but they seem
pretty one-
dimensional,
particularly as
these days we are very much used to
touchscreens and touch devices. So
enter Expressive E, the innovative
French startup aiming to bring
expressive touch control to the
masses with their Touché controller.
I’ve always loved Kaoss Pads and
wished a company would make a
standalone device that could control
multiple MIDI/CV parameters across
multiple instruments in a hands-on
way; that’s pretty much what Touché
brings to the table, and more!
Touché feels like a miniaturised
fi nger-sized version of those wobble/
balance boards in kids’ playgrounds!
It features a wooden touch-sensitive
oval-ish surface that fi ts your hand/
fi ngers comfortably, which is
mounted on a sprung, rubber-skirted
platform. Build-wise, Touché feels
very well made with a silicone-rubber
coated enclosure that houses the
electronics and input/outputs for
MIDI (via included breakout cable),
along with CV outs and USB for
computer connection. The intimately
sensitive surface senses four
dimensions of touch/pressure
(shiftings) and under the wooden
touch surface there’s a slider that
reduces or increases lateral
movement and a sensitivity dial so
you can customise Touché for your
own touch/expression style. Each of
these four dimensions can send out
its own user-assignable MIDI CC or
can save custom control presets from
Lié direct to Touché, then simply
unplug your computer and select
your saved presets using Touché’s
data wheel/multicoloured LEDs.
Touché is a fresh, innovative and
very enjoyable to use device which
can bring any hardware and software
to life. While the installation process
and software could do with some
refi ning/streamlining (and I’d love
Lié as an iOS app too), Touché and
Lié are seriously impressive and I’m
really looking forward to seeing more
similarly forward-thinking products
from Expressive E.
CV (tweakable in the Lié software),
or you can control VST/AU software
instruments over USB by hosting
them within the Lié software itself
(Mac only currently).
Touché’s software installation
process involves installing several
pieces of software for confi guration
and sounds (UVI Falcon for Touché
optimised sounds, plus fi rmware and
Lié installations) but after some
manual consultation I was set. While
the Lié software/UI seems initially
complex, (it’s a plugin host itself and
there’s a lot of confi gurable
parameters onboard), it worked
reliably as a hosted plugin within
Logic X and also when hosting
plugins itself. I was soon assigning
MIDI CCs to control my software
instruments (by hosting them within
the Lié software) and to control my
Prophet-6 too (standalone) and it
was a joy to add such hands-on and
instinctive multi-faceted expression
to hardware synths and software
plugins which had previously relied
on pitch/mod wheels or dials/sliders
for expressive control. The Lié
software also includes CC templates
for many hardware synths/devices
and for using Touché standalone, you
THE PROS & CONS
+
O ffers a unique
approach to multi-
touch control
Well-built and
very sensitive with
customisable touch
curves, assignable
CCs and CVs and
eight simultaneous
slots for parameter
assigning
Works standalone or
with your computer
and saves control
presets natively
-
S oftware/installation
takes a while to get
to grips with
A screen/display
would help for preset
recall/naming
A hold button or
sustain input would
be handy for freezing
the current setting
FM VERDICT
8.8
Touché is both addictive and
inspiring to use and adds a
new dimension of expressive
control to both software and
hardware devices
Touché feels like a fi nger-
sized version of those
wobble/balance boards in
kids’ playgrounds!
S
tandard pitch and
mod wheels do a
solid enough job,
but they seem
Touché feels like a fi nger-
sized version of those
THE PROS & CONS
+
O ffers a unique
sized version of those
THE PROS & CONS
Touché feels like a fi nger-
sized version of those
Expressive E Touché | Reviews
97
FMU322.rev_touche.indd 97 09/08/2017 12:56