Midifex Lujin

Midifex’s Lujin controller could be just what you need for adding expression to orchestral samples.

Midifex are a relatively new company who have a stated goal of bridging the gap between a musician’s hands and their technology. Based in Christchurch, New Zealand and led by Oliver Huggins, who is himself a composer and producer, they’ve certainly achieved that goal with the Lujin controller, as far as this musician is concerned.

The Lujin is a General MIDI device and so can pretty much talk to any MIDI‑compatible device over USB or through a standard MIDI connection, but it’s very much designed for composers and producers.

Whether you’re a professional composer or just someone who dabbles with orchestral sample libraries, you will more than likely be aware of the benefits of using a dedicated MIDI controller to send dynamics, expression and vibrato messages to your samples so as to achieve a higher sense of realism in your work. In recent years we’ve seen the introduction of bespoke three‑fader MIDI controllers specifically for this purpose. The Lujin is a new kid on this block, but it’s probably about to become an industry leader.

The face of the unit features three 100mm faders as well as three endless rotary encoders, which also have momentary push‑button facility. Above each fader is a red LED display that provides the value of the CC number being sent, and there’s also a neat meter display under the faders that can give feedback of MIDI data from your DAW. All the controls are programmable with custom CC numbers, and the unit can store 16 presets.

The back of the unit includes a standard 5‑pin...