Aftertouch is a common feature on many synthesizers and MIDI controllers, allowing a performer to press deeper into a key after striking it, and subtly manipulate a chosen parameter such as filter cutoff, pitch bend, breath control, or any other number of expressive parameters.
The aftertouch you find on most controllers is actually something called channel pressure, which will only allow you to control your chosen parameter via one key even if you're pressing multiple keys at once, and it is usually the one receiving the most pressure. But true polyphonic aftertouch is harder to find on most modern instruments, a truly rare feature that is limited to a handful of controllers on the market.
Lumatone is one of those rare controllers. With Lumatone, you can enable polyphonic aftertouch. This means that each key can send it's own aftertouch information independent of any other key being pressed. Polyphonic aftertouch offers far more expressive control.
Polyphonic aftertouch is a mapping specific setting. This means that some of the mappings you save to your Lumatone can be enabled for polyphonic aftertouch, while you can choose to turn it off for other mappings. You edit this setting using our Lumatone Editor software.
The general settings section of the mapping editor allows you to toggle Polyphonic Aftertouch on or off. When this box is checked and you are using the mapping in question, the keys of your Lumatone will be enabled for Polyphonic Aftertouch.
Now, it's down to determining what you'd like to control with aftertouch. As an example, let's say you'd like to control the filter cutoff of a synthesizer. Using the modulation matrix or settings panel of your synthesizer, select the "Poly Aftertouch" or "P. Touch" parameter, and map it to filter cutoff.
It's just that easy! Now, when you play a note or chord on Lumatone and press deeper into the pressurized aftertouch region, you'll be able to subtly modulate your synthesizer's filter cutoff without lifting your fingers or twisting a knob. And as you'll notice, each key / note can be modulated independently of every other key.
We're proud to have built poly aftertouch into Lumatone, and we hope you find it as exciting an expressive controller as we do!
