The PCR-M1 MIDI keyboard controller from Edirol looks like a nice complement to the laptop studio musician. The thing I really like is its compactness. I prefer 25-key keyboards for this reason, and this one is very thin and light too. The assignable rotary encoder would be useful too — especially if you don’t already have another MIDI control surface.

The website has all the details, as follows: The PCR-M1 is the most compact, powerful USB MIDI Keyboard Controller available. This incredibly slim device is based on the highly-popular PCR-1, but lacks the audio I/O of the PCR-1 and adds a number of new MIDI features to make it more analogous to the larger PCR-series MIDI controllers. Like the PCR-30, 50 & 80, the PCR-M1 includes a 1×1 MIDI interface, sustain pedal connection, and expression pedal connection. Unlike any other PCR-series controller, the PCR-M1 offers a rotary encoder that can be assigned to a number controls including scrolling control maps, adjusting velocity, changing MIDI channels, & more. The PCR-M1 also includes three different options for drawing power: 1) USB-Powered, 2) AC Adapter (optional), and 3) Powered by 4 AAA batteries.

Also like its larger brothers, the PCR-M1 offers V-Link support for control of video devices directly from your keyboard. The PCR-M1 is incredibly versatile in terms of control. It offers 27 different parameter controls available from 16 different physical controls and functions with the powerful PCR-Editor available for PC & Mac.

The PCR-M1 uses Edirol & Roland’s S.L.I.M. technology to offer a very nice playable action with a very short throw & very little side-to-side play in the keys. It may be small, but this feature-packed device is no toy!

The PCR-M1 measures a mere 1-3/16″ (3cm) thick & weighs just 2 lbs 11 oz (1.22kg). It comes with a protective neoprene sleeve to protect it in travel.

Computer Music magazine review Ableton Live 5 in their September issue. Everyone has been excited about this latest update, and with good reason — they give it an Editor’s Choice award, and also awards for Innovation and Performance. They have always championed Live — “In terms of technology, ergonomics, workflow and on-stage usability, Live stands alone, doing things that no other software can do in ways that are genuinely inspirational.” As for this new version, they simply say that “Live 5 is the most exciting and forward-thinking audio application on the market.”

The review runs through a few of the new features. “Live 5 introduces the brand-new Auto-Warp algorithm, designed to automatically and perfectly Warp absolutely anything you throw at it.” Warping is Live’s process for detecting tempo and beats in audio files, and the new Auto-Warp automates a process that had to be done manually in previous versions. Related to this, there’s also the Complex Warp Mode — “an amazing sounding frequency-domain algorithm for timestretching full pieces of music.” They say that Auto-Warp is an amazing piece of technology, and while it isn’t perfect, its ability to work an many styles of music is “a total triumph.”

They are also impressed with improvements in navigation interface. The Clip View transport system makes it easier to work with Clip Loops, which can now be defined more flexibly. The Arrangement View has similar improvements, and the Session View now has Nudge buttons for easy fine adjustments to track timing. All these new adjustments work in sync with the global quantise setting, so they’re good for live performance or quick and easy studio work. In general, they say, “shuttling and navigation in Live is far easier than it was in version 4.”

Live 5 also has a Track Freeze feature, which conserves CPU by pre-rendering a track (complete with instruments and effects) to an audio file. There’s also a new feature called Live Clips — dragging a clip from the Session View into any folder in the browser saves it as a Live Clip, which can be previewed and loaded into another Live Set. Live Device chains can also be saved and reloaded as presets, which they say “empowers” Live users to create their own libraries of effects.

Apart from these major features, they are also excited about a long-overdue feature — there are now contextual menus available throughout Live. We’re so used to using these in other applications that their absence in previous versions of Live was always a bit odd.

The only gripes in the review are the lack of fine control over global tempo (particularly important to live DJs) and editing in the Arrangement View. These aren’t new problems, and they are minor, but the reviewers feel that improvements here would make for an even better product. They would also like to see more improvements in overall DAW workflow, though this must depend on how you plan to use Live.

Their final rating is nine out of ten — I doubt they would ever give ten for such a large program. “Live 5 is an extremely well-realised update … it’s the sheer weight and ingenuity of the new features that impresses this time round.” If you’re thinking about upgrading, they say, “version 5 really is a must-have,” and for everyone else, “you simply have to check it out.”