Why I (finally) bought a Norns Shield.

Monome grids have always fascinated me, and I loved my 256 grid the most. However, the tricky thing about Monome (as well as its biggest strength) has always been that it relies on software outside of the controller to operate, which means lugging a laptop around. In this talky vlog thing I explain why I held off getting a Norns... as well as why I finally took the plunge. If you don't like my voice then you're going to hate this.
-- I post all of the music I make, including WAV stems; sample packs; Dirtywave M8 song bundles; collections of video textures; early access to videos; and a whole pile of other stuff on Patreon. I know I know, I hate doing this as well, but if you like what I do and want to get more of it, while also helping me offset some of my ludicrous gear purchases, this is the best place to do it:
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If you just want individual sample packs or downloads of video footage to use in your own projects, get them on Gumroad here: gumroad.com/al...
If you're in the market for new gear, my favourite place to find new and interesting synthesizers and other electronic music gear is Signal Sounds. They are based in Glasgow, but ship all over the place and often have stuff nobody else does. Find them at www.signalsoun...
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and a whole pile of other stuff...
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Get in touch for possible collabs/offers of large sums of money, etc: allmyfas at gmail

[@waivestate3783]

I got a shield and a Launchpad Mini a few months ago and I’m constantly blown away by the support and creativity of the community. That being said, some of the more complex scripts, which to be fair are basically whole instruments on their own, require a lot of combing through forums and the documentation isn’t always great. It’d be great to see some more script demo videos! Looking forward to it.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks Justin! I agree with that take. The biggest strength of the system is also its biggest weakness. It seems like there's lots of cool things coming out for it all the time, so hopefully it will stick around as a platform for some time.

[@awesomeduder]

crazy how fast they sold out of Shields as soon as Loopop did a video on it

[@StephenMcLeod]

Yeah. I think they have some parts shortages as well. There's more coming in the next few months hopefully. Folks still sell DIY versions though, which is especially good for people like me outside the US!

[@machinate]

@@StephenMcLeod Are you able to drop a link to where you bought the diy set? I have a couple of rpi3b sitting on a shelf, thankfully.

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@machinate punkprincessinaprettypartydress on ebay - www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324978549837?hash=item4baa3b244d:g:m3oAAOSwibph1dp2

[@TheNimasan]

the 16n faderbank is a great controller for norns! also great for your eurorack!!

[@StephenMcLeod]

I've been eyeing up one of the Faderfoxes actually, but trying to not buy anything new for a while!!

[@insektgod]

I've always liked the idea around the Open Norns Shield approach... already have 2 Organelles (OG-1 and OG-M) Love mainly ORAC-2 on the Organelle but still had a difficult time justifying the NORNS although my eyesight seems to just get worse so maybe the larger display is just the ticket. I like Monome but spent that dough on a deluge instead... not looking back now. I really look forward to seeing your journey with the Norns. ORAC is really dope regardless of the hardware it lives on and I know the Norns is ORACs other main platform outside of the C&G ecosystem.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Yeah, the Organelle M looks awesome. I'd love to try one out for myself at some point. I like the C+G devices a lot! How are you liking the Deluge?

[@jeffryarchambeau5441]

I just got a used Shield and a Launchpad mini too. The game is still afoot.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Awesome!! How ya liking it?

[@kenniferlopez1]

Goddammit! I feel like such a prick because I subbed just because you are Scottish. I am only half but wow you are a new badass hero now! #Scottishdadgearwhores

[@StephenMcLeod]

I welcome all subs. :D

[@ShakyPr0ducti0n]

Insightful as always. Got me thinking… I can’t recall you using an organelle. The organelle M isn’t considered as often as it should be. It’s an awesome instrument IMO. When adding Orac it takes it to a whole new level. Would love to see what you make of it.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Hey! Thanks for watching and commenting. I've actually had my eye on an Organelle for a while. I've got a few Critter & Guitari devices and like them a whole lot. Just haven't quite gotten round to justifying the Organelle yet. I love the wooden buttons though. They are such satisfying instruments to use. I visited their Brooklyn HQ a few years ago and they were very nice people too!

[@ShakyPr0ducti0n]

@@StephenMcLeod the organelle has patches for most of their older instruments and so much more. You certainly won’t regret it. It would be great to see some of your workflows like you have done for the op-1. There are lots of demoes out there’s for it but no workflows. Orac allows you to run three parallel groups or patches simultaneously so there’s so many possibilities. Keep up the good work!

[@djformalin]

Interesting video, and your studio look like a electronic candy 🎼

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks a lot!

[@tohellandbacknoface4091]

bro stop justifying ur perchases. we all know u gonna be looking at something else to add to ur sound pallet haha

[@StephenMcLeod]

hahaha yer onto me

[@tohellandbacknoface4091]

@@StephenMcLeod yea man ive been observing

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@tohellandbacknoface4091 hahahhaa shit

[@LillySchwartz]

Hah, here I am waiting for the parts for my DIY Norns shield and who has a video on exactly the question I was trying to figure out? Thx mate, I was wondering whether I could combine two launchpads into a bigger grid. I finally scored one of the DAC chips yesterday, so the shield will be my next build! I’ve been waiting for it to be back in stock for like a year now! Exciting stuff! And now I’ll go look for your other norns vids!

[@StephenMcLeod]

Aw nice one!! You can indeed combine two launchpads. The Mini ones work particularly nicely for that. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the Shield!

[@LillySchwartz]

@@StephenMcLeod At the moment I have a Launchpad Pro MK3, love it! I was thinking of adding a Launchpad mini. Not quite as neat as two of the same, but it would definitely do the trick! I've also been thinking of building something myself, but it would probably come out cheaper to just get a used Launchpad!

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@LillySchwartz Ah yeah I have the same situation! I thought two minis would be nice, but the big Mk III Pro is a delight. Getting two of them would be excessive mind haha

[@LillySchwartz]

@@StephenMcLeod Haha, excessive indeed! The MK3 Pro is brilliant though, I use it pretty much on everything now, even the modular. I'm going to build the Befaco midi thing this week so that I can finally use the Launchpad without having to deal with 3 different midi to CV converters! The cable mess was doing my head in! In general it took me a while to get warm with the Launchpad, but in the end I wrote two albums with it already! Two minis would indeed be ideal as a grids substitute, but who knew only the MK3 Mini had RGB? If I'm going to get more launchpads I want all the light show stuff, I'm sure you can relate 😂 I guess I'll start with the Pro on the Norns and if I really click with the Grids stuff I'll get the mini? And then if the size difference bugs me I might add another one later on. It's good to know that it's an option!

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@LillySchwartz I got the Mk III for the custom controller mapping. That feature alone with that many pads, and CC assignment isjust brilliant. :) Are you using it for the sequencers as well? Two albums is real impressive! And haha aye, half the fun of them is the LEDs. :D

[@smacksalad]

Norns Shield plus Retrokits RK006 is a great combo for MIDI

[@StephenMcLeod]

Hell yeah

[@sachmotee]

That was ace. Exactly what I needed to hear.

[@StephenMcLeod]

I'm glad!!

[@coreybertelsen7689]

from the norns shield github: "please be very aware that this project (norns) is no longer directly supported by monome. do not email us asking for build help or debugging. we also no longer sell boards or kits, we do not have leftovers laying around, and we do not provide repair services." :(

[@StephenMcLeod]

Kind of typical of Monome - though thankfully the community is pretty active.

[@TOMLEW1S]

Arghhh want.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Come over to the dark side...

[@allanroney]

Noice.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Good with the Perfourmer.

[@macpaul]

Im here because of your voice. To be precise because of your Scottish language. And at least to be honest because of your profound knowledge about your „friends“ :-)

[@StephenMcLeod]

I knew my accent would come in handy one day. Haha. Thanks for watching Paul! I wish I could admit to profound knowledge, but it's mostly me blundering around.

[@hanzvolt]

Interesting vid... I don’t know a thing about Norns and these grids. Thanks for some knowledge✌🏼

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks for watching! Norns and Monome stuff is dead interesting, though a bit spendy.

[@PatternMusic]

Excellent. I just ordered a Norns. (They are back in stock at Monome.) I didn't know it would work with my Linnstrument 128. Now I do. That's cool.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Oh awesome! Yeah, it works great with the Linnstrument. I am about to share a video with an example...

[@kenho4ba]

Finally the algorithm suggested something worthwile watching and subscribing to.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Hey thanks a lot!

[@remka2000]

No idea why this just pops up now. Awesomester. Thanks.

[@StephenMcLeod]

:D

[@marklholloway]

Nice review. Love Monome 🖤 I’m the owner of Serial #1 for the Monome 512 Grid and original Arc. Beautiful aesthetic and love them. Occasionally still jam some old scripts. Once I started using Monome Eurorack modules like Ansible and Earthsea I needed to switch to Varibrite which as you mentioned is the current standard for modern scripts.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Amazing! What do you do with your 512 now? I sadly had to sell it as it became basically a paper weight for me. It was beautiful though.

[@beardwatch1928]

The beard content on this channel is consistently excellent

[@StephenMcLeod]

I recently went mad and shaved my beard in between filming. I should have done it on camera.

[@beardwatch1928]

@@StephenMcLeod Oh wow, that's big news (well you know, in the scheme of youtube channel subscriptions). If I had a beard newsletter it would definitley make the cover story. I'm usually super impressed but secretly horrified when someone shaves a long-standing beard, especially a big one. Looking forward to the impending emotional rollercoaster :)

[@DECIMA1]

I recently got my Pi from the Pi Hut and I was really happy with it :)

[@StephenMcLeod]

That's where I got mine as well!

[@SouthpawShorts]

I've been looking a the Norns Shield for a while! I have a Pi ready to go, I just need to order a shield and try to find the audio codec

[@StephenMcLeod]

Have a look for DIY versions if you haven't already, as the official Monome shop is out for a while! Best of luck with the search :D

[@geecen]

Where did you get it from? Been fancying one for a while!

[@StephenMcLeod]

I got mine on eBay or Reverb in the UK!

[@BillFurlong]

I absolutely love your summary of your experiences here. I had a very similar journey with a 256 and arc. I ended up letting them go a few years ago. I somewhat regretted it in certain moments while forgetting all of these little reasons that they became impractical to have a creative flow with. I'm only halfway through your video here but I'm loving it.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks Bill! I am still sad about the death of the 256. It was such a lovely big thing, but ultimately, unfortunately became less and less easy and practical to use.

[@BillFurlong]

@@StephenMcLeod It was a beautiful piece of hardware. The walnut touch of classy detail and the joy of actually getting it to work is something I'll never forget. I have been thinking recently about trying the Norns with a modern 128 and try playing again. Thanks for the inspiration and perspective.

[@tohellandbacknoface4091]

i ❤ this channel ✌ i would never want one of those but i love hearing about music teck. ur also obsessive with music like me

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks a lot! Aye. I definitely have obsessions haha. I am a bit of an obsessive personality.

[@tohellandbacknoface4091]

@@StephenMcLeod me too

[@tohellandbacknoface4091]

and this device is right up ur alley

[@StephenMcLeod]

Hell yeah

[@Goldenbaba430]

just get a crow, now you have midi.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Crow is a lot more expensive than a usb to midi adapter!

[@Goldenbaba430]

@@StephenMcLeod you are right, but crow can add much flexibility when you’re combining a norns with euro rack. plus now you get to use scripts that have crow baked in, or write your own crow scripts. Thanks for giving Norns more exposure. I love it and would love to see more people using it.

[@guysmiley7289]

I can't find any examples of Norns being used with grids. Can you tell me about it please?

[@StephenMcLeod]

There's a bunch of examples on KZbin of folks using Launchpads, and I have a video showing me using one with the Goldeneye app, but specifically you want to look up MIDIGrid on Monome. This thread is the most useful as it contains all of the information on how it works and how to set it up: llllllll.co/t/midigrid-use-launchpads-midi-grid-controllers-with-norns/42336 If you mean *any* grid - not just alternative ones - then Monome Grid support is baked into a whole pile of different apps by default, and is one of the core features, so check out the Norns documentation for that :)

[@guysmiley7289]

@@StephenMcLeod Awesome, thanks for the info. How does it look, does the lighting change to match the UI ?

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@guysmiley7289 Yeah! It depends on the particular app you are running for colours and implementation, but it reflects the screen/interface. :)

[@guysmiley7289]

@@StephenMcLeod Oh wow, I am glad I put in order in. Thanks, and thanks for the videos.

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@guysmiley7289 Hope you like! I've got few more coming up that will hopefully be helpful.

[@jaguarvssnake]

How are you getting on with this? I got mine last week and am really into it but now I feel like I need a grid to get the most out of it…

[@StephenMcLeod]

You definitely need a grid, but you can get launchpads relatively cheap if you hunt around!

[@jaguarvssnake]

@@StephenMcLeod yeah I think I need one (or two!) but your comment about faffing around with code to get them to work made me think twice...

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@jaguarvssnake Yeah it is a bit of a faff, but in general that is the case with all Monome stuff from my experience. If you have Norns already, it's worth picking up a grid second hand. It opens it up hugely!

[@256k_]

hey you got a norns! that`s awesome! I have a fates clone and it`s amazing

[@StephenMcLeod]

Oh nice! I didn't realise Fates was a kinda souped up clone of the Norns. Is that right?

[@256k_]

@@StephenMcLeod yup. It’s build on top of rpi 4 and can also be side loaded with ORAC and the whole organelle ecosystem. (I never tried that though tbh)

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@256k_ So cool. It's amazingly deep. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with it!

[@LikeCarpenter]

Id buy but I’m poor

[@StephenMcLeod]

I feel you!

[@LikeCarpenter]

@@StephenMcLeod I mean real poor like live on £60 a week poor

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@LikeCarpenter damn, sorry to hear that. Hope things start to look up

[@boxed-sound]

Awesome. Been refreshing the monome website every day to pick up a shield. Hopefully will get one this month. Excited to see your future videos on the norns as, like you said, there really aren't that many videos on the thing on youtube!

[@StephenMcLeod]

There's a few on eBay made by third parties, which is where I got mine. Have a swatch there maybe? I've got a bunch of videos in the works so keep an eye out :D

[@boxed-sound]

@@StephenMcLeod will do! Thanks for the tip.