Livid Instruments have announced the immediate release of the new DS1 controller.

Co-designed by Dubspot, the DS-1 was created to bring a familiar and uniformed approach to computer based mixing where demands placed on modern producers and engineers may see them working on many different programs and DAWs. Dan Giove, CEO of Dubspot, also tells of a reason closer to home:

“For years we’ve been searching for a universal controller tough enough to meet the demands of our [multi-platform] workstations. We never found exactly what we were looking for, so we decided to partner with Livid and create our own. The DS1 combines the style of portable controllerism with the ruggedness of a full mixer and can be used with every DAW we teach on.”

Measuring 31.3cm by 30.5cm this low profile, aluminium, almost-square features a whopping 44 rotary knobs with customisable colours for the backlights, 4 push encoders, 25 RGB backlit buttons, and 9 60mm faders. All knobs and buttons are soft touch, MIDI is sent over USB and there is also an Expression Pedal input for hooking up any suitable extras (Livid suggest their MasterFader would be a good use of this input).

Since the DS1 uses MIDI it doesn’t have to be confined to mixing and is suitable for performance, production, and other situations where MIDI control is central to operations. In fact, the DS1 comes with templates for a wide range of DAWs and programs right out of the boxm including Bitwig Studio, Logic, Live and Traktor amongst others.

Priced at $499, it can be purchased from the Livid online store and any authorised reseller. For full details check out the DS1 product page.