Dawless MPE (with/without Linnstrument)? (2026)

[General Ictus]

Hey all, just looking to start an up-to-date discussion about this. I don't have many answers, but looking for people who have tried DAWless MPE to see their perspective. Most conversations I've found in my search have been at least a few years old at this point.

I'm a relatively happy Linnstrument owner. Have been playing and creating (but unfortunately not performing) for a couple years now with it. I'm casually familiar with Surge, Equator2, and PianoTeq, all of which implement very well with MPE controllers like Linnstrument. I just feel like the existence of a computer in playing around, casually writing and practicing, and of course, performing live, makes things less fun. As a long-time acoustic instrumentalist, I am used to being able to pick an instrument off the rack, and with zero setup, practice anything I need to work on or come up with riffs and record them to a portable audio recorder I keep lying around. This just hasn't happened with synth stuff, as much as I've tried.

I'm wondering if anyone has had success with DAWless MPE. It seems like the hardware synths are there, but whenever I see people working with DAWless, it's all gotta go somewhere like a groovebox, which are rarely (if ever) MPE compatible. Maybe the Ableton Push 3 standalone would work? I'm looking for something smaller and more affordable, though... like a Novation Circuit Tracks?

Anyway, thanks!

[mrspiral]

Are you restricting yourself to non-keyboard / multitimbral options? There are a number of small and affordable synthesizers that come MPE capable right out of the box. The thread viewtopic.php?t=593950 is updated regularly and more options appear evey day.

Also, many modern devices are set up to accommodate more than 16 channels of MIDI. This would allow you to dedicate one set to the Linnstrument and get most of the MPE functionality.

[mrspiral]

Deleted - no longer relevant

[Roger_Linn]

Hi Ictus,

Unfortunately, MPE is still cutting-edge and tends to exist more in software than hardware tools. However, MPE isn't necessary for LinnStrument, and LinnStrument's smart One Channel mode gives you most of MPE with conventional one-channel synths, especially ones that respond to MIDI Poly Pressure messages. To learn more, click the following links from the LinnStrument Support page:

1) "Smart MIDI".

2) "FAQs". Then on the FAQ page under the "General" tab, read "Are MPE-compatible synths necessary for use with LinnStrument?"

[Dirk Diggler]

I love my Argon 8m hardware synth, which is MPE capable.
Always left directly connected to my Linnstrument, though I use mine USB with a computer.
But it works great stand alone as well.
Great useful synth by the way.

[MilesParker]

I assume by Dawless, you are looking for more than just a synthesizer and simple step sequencer, but something able to create patches with full MPE support, record MPE tracks, include recorded audio tracks, and basically do anything needed for production. In this, I think the Synthstrom Deluge is in a league of one -- other grove boxes like Elektrons and Polyend do not have MPE support.

I've had a Deluge for a couple of years now, and really it's incredible what it packs into a quite small box. As an added bonus, the look is very similar, with cheery wood sides and black metal surfaces.

Practically speaking, it's really nice for exactly the reasons you state. No computer to muck around with, no screen to stare at. It has a built in battery (ahem); you just connect a MIDI cable between the two, turn it on, map the Linnstrument input to a track (2 seconds) and you're playing.

The whole experience is very tactile and suitable for live performance; knob twiddling just becomes second nature, it's very well designed from a UX perspective. Everything is close at hand. But while it is perfectly usable and you can do a lot of things right out of the box, to get anywhere close to all of its features, its going to be a investment in time and interest. Just like any other "serious" musical instrument.The recordings of live MPE playing are really quite good. I've seen occasional glitches, but really very rare. It has a full mod matrix and MPE Y-axis is treated exactly the same way as any other sources, i.e. aftertouch, velocity, LFOs, etc.. I will say that the built-in patches aren't really super MPE *savvy*, though they certainly work fine. For example, they control loudness directly through main level, when it is generally much better to map that to Filter cutoff. (And one thing that is really missing is configurable velocity curves; I keep meaning to put in an issue request for that.) So I've created a number of custom patches that feel a lot better to me.

And yes, the "downside" is that it is a a very complex little piece of kit. I still haven't worked through all of the features. But you know .. when people complain about learning curves -- remember that if you want more features, there is more to learn!

And .. really cool: similar to Linnstrument they have released the entire source code to user community. That has create a very active open source community that has added a ton of new features.

And, when they came up with a better display, rather than releasing Mark 2 and forgetting their existing owners, they set up an upgrade path. I sent my machine in to an in-country contractor, they upgraded the display (for just $150) and I was able to have them replace a few somewhat worn knobs etc in the process.


The other downside is cost -- I got mine reasonably cheap used, but they have raised prices quite a bit, and now they are 2k CAD. Which is going to be prohibitive for a lot of people. OTOH, they've held their value extremely well, so you should have no problem selling it if you decide its not for you.

Happy to answer any questions..

[TallKite]

Just to offer another perspective: I too hate having to look at a computer when performing. But to me a laptop is a necessary evil. So I've figured out how to do just about everything on the LS.

My DAW (Reaper) auto-detects the LS when I plug it in.
I can change the volume on the volume screen.
I can play backing tracks by using CC Faders to tell Reaper to play an mp3.
I can change softsynths on the preset screen with program changes that solo various tracks.

The upside is very little gear to lug. My macbook air fits in the case next to the LS. And I can even use the amphetamine app to run the macbook with the lid closed. Psychologically this is huge, it makes the laptop way less distracting.

It also helps me psychologically to not use my primary laptop that has all my emails, music scores, recording projects, etc. Plus I don't want to risk losing it at a gig. My 2nd laptop is a cheap one that's a decade old, but hey, it's fast enough to run SWAM!

I've actually thought of placing the closed macbook under the LS, but it looks a little too fragile for that. I've thought of making feet for the LS that raise it just high enough to slide the macbook under it. Or maybe building a little roof-less box for the macbook and attaching it to the underside of the LS. Then the LS+macbook would almost be like an acoustic instrument, just pick it up and start playing.

And when you want to do some casual recording, you needn't deal with a DAW. You can just record the laptop's audio with your portable device.

[General Ictus]

Really love these perspectives. It gives me something to think about!

Something that I started thinking about as well is that I really like the standalone apps vs loading up a DAW and using each synth on a channel. The standalone apps feel much more like just picking up an instrument and playing, recording an idea, filing it away for later use, etc. I'm thinking about ways that I could incorporate them...

Anyway, thanks again all.

[MilesParker]

Don't forget, an iPad or even an iPhone work great! Get a WiDi adapter on the Linnstrument, plug your iPad into sound, and you're good to go. Bonus is that many soft instruments are way cheaper on the iPad than on Mac. Agreed that you don't need a DAW at all if what you want to do is play. But if it is more than that, LogicPro is only like $7 /month or something, and pretty much functionally equivalent to the Mac version.

[SteveElbows]

Loopers can be fun when its MPE stuff being added to the loop.

[Tj Shredder]

DAWless doesn’t necessarily mean without computer.
On Mac the obvious solution is Mainstage…
I also have my very personal Max/MSP setup…
Gigperformer is somthing I heard about. I don’t know how it deals with MPE…
At the moment I really love to play a ContinuuMini, I guess for keyboard players the Osmose will be a viable option as well. Both have sound on board! That means switch on power and just play…

[Kalee]

Hello,

Well I don't necessarity consider my setup dawless with iPad DAW (Loopy Pro) as a digital mixer + bass synth + some transition audio clips:

Squarp Hapax records and plays back MPE well, but atleast at the moment MPE midi editing is limited to moving notes around. I am not sure if you can output two zones out of single midi bus like in Ableton Live.

Bunch of hardware synths support MPE well, some claiming to be compatible come with bugs such as Hydrasynth. My vote goes to Dreadbox Artemis and Audiothingies Micromonsta 2.

I am not using Loopy pros midi recording funcionalities at all, but apparently it can record MPE data aswell. Loopy pro bordelines somewhere in the DAWlessness; depends a lot on how you use it. iPad works well with classcompliant audio/midi equipment,.
---
Not from personal experience but like has been mentioned already in this thread, I've heared much good about Deluge + MPE.

[riinwrl]

I just discovered Tera Pro on ios and it seems to have anything I could want in terms of mpe sounds and since the phones are so powerful and accessible nowadays it’s ideal for my dawless purposes

[simonkirby]

I’ve been having huge amounts of fun using the Linnstrument with a Disting NT module which has an excellent MPE implementation (that is likely to get even more full-featured in an upcoming release). This would be a pretty powerful setup even in a tiny rack on its own, but of course excels with some other modules alongside it too. In case you’re interested, here’s a video of me playing it out live. The Linnstrument is controlling three things in this video all from the NT: a polyphonic Wavetable synth, a polyphonic version of mutable instruments Rings, and a just-intonation based drone machine (using CC sliders, which are amazingly expressive on their own!)

[Kalee]

I’ve been having huge amounts of fun using the Linnstrument with a Disting NT module which has an excellent MPE implementation (that is likely to get even more full-featured in an upcoming release). This would be a pretty powerful setup even in a tiny rack on its own, but of course excels with some other modules alongside it too. In case you’re interested, here’s a video of me playing it out live. The Linnstrument is controlling three things in this video all from the NT: a polyphonic Wavetable synth, a polyphonic version of mutable instruments Rings, and a just-intonation based drone machine (using CC sliders, which are amazingly expressive on their own!)

Hello,

disting NT currently does not support playing the same note more than once at the same time. Other than that, it is indeed good and does not suffer from other bugs I've experienced elsewhere

And I would echo that disting NT should be looked at by anyone who is into any level of production using hardware, eurorack or not It will serve as program change enabled multitimbral multi FX, sequencer, synth or 3, sampler and so on.