Sensel has released the new Buchla Thunder Overlay for its Morph controller system

Sensel, a tech company based in California that focuses on touch-controlled interfaces that respond to sensitivity changes, has a new overlay product for its multi-functional touch controller called the Morph. On its own, the morph connects via USB, Bluetooth, or its own app to your device and works essentially like a large, pressure sensitive trackpad. The Morph’s Overlays, sold separately, lay flat across the top of the morph and come in a variety of looks to be used for many functions from a computer keyboard, a piano keyboard, right down to its very latest, the Buchla Thunder.

Sensel’s Buchla Thunder Overlay offers a truly unique layout for processing MIDI notes — it has an array of about 26 parallelograms, hexagons, trapezoids and squared off diamonds on a grid next to each other unlike any other setup we’ve seen in music. This offers a lot of versatility to map out sound banks from any instrument type to these pads and truly bring out your peak creative expression. And true to the Sensel Morph’s mission, the tone you hear when simply tapping one of the polygons does not stop there. Quite like we’ve seen before from the Seaboard from Roli, when you leave your finger on the MIDI note and move it up or down its individual polygon, or even across the entire board for that matter, you can trigger different modulation types such as pitch bend or a timbre change.

Luckily, for all of the innovative ways you can use both the morph and this overlay, they’ve set the bar quite affordable in terms of pricing. If you already have a Morph, but would like to buy the Buchla Thunder Overlay on its own, that will cost you only $59. For a package deal with a Morph included, you can expect to pay $269 for both items. Additionally, Sensel has a variety of software instruments available for free on its website to download and use right away, and while you’re there, you can learn even more about both the Morph and the Buchla Thunder Overlay to see if it’s the MIDI controller you’ve been missing in your life.