Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

The Sensel Morph giant touchpad is now available starting at $299

By

sensel morph touch pad pressure
Image used with permission by copyright holder
As much as companies like Microsoft and Oculus VR might be looking to take us down the road of gesture controls in virtual and augmented spaces, not everyone thinks that the next evolution of input devices will be three-dimensional. Take the team behind the Sensel Morph, who believe that their touchpad overlay system has the potential to provide a familiar, but deeper and more customizable way to interact with all sorts of programs and applications. And now, after a successful crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $500,000 and a partnership with design and strategy firm Frog, the Sensel Morph can be purchased starting at $299.

The Morph itself is a touchpad, but not as we know it. This one packs more than 20,000 sensors onboard, which track everything from multiple touch points to the pressure of each of those presses. This allows for the use of a standard paintbrush and “paint” in Photoshop, with each bristle being detected. Users can also control 3D objects with pressure from different fingers all at the same time.

Recommended Videos

It’s the overlays that have Sensel backers particularly excited. Adding a piano layout, or a synthesizer pad, or even a traditional keyboard makes it possible to use the morph in more intuitive ways. It can play tunes as a piano, it can produce sounds that respond to pressure and touch as a synthesizer, and as a keyboard, you can type much more naturally than on membrane boards, as the pressure on each key is tracked. Sensel brought in experts to help develop its Music Production Overlay, including sound designer and Ableton certified trainer Adriano Clemente, to bring the overlay to life. 

The device’s pressure grid promises to detect multiple contact touch points from a variety of sources — be they fingers, paintbrushes, or drumsticks — and the Morph’s function will change immediately to adjust to nput. After all, it’s called the “morph” for a reason — customers can add any one of Sensel’s 10 overlays, which are available online, starting at $35 each. Even as a stand-alone, the Morph can be used as a large multitouch trackpad, painting surface, or a custom interface by leveraging Sensel’s open source API.

“We’re so excited to introduce the Morph to the creative community at large,” said Ilya Rosenberg, co-founder and CEO of Sensel. “Sensel’s mission is to enable people to express their creativity through more natural user interfaces. We’re constantly working to innovate and to enhance the Morph and its overlays. The launch of our new website and online store is a major step in making our technology more widely available to better reach musicians, artists, innovators, and hobbyists of all kinds.”

Update: The Sensel Morph is now available for purchase online for $299. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale
Computing Coordinator
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Power up your tech game this summer with Dell’s top deals: Upgrade for a bargain
Dell Techfest and best tech on sale featured.

One of the best times to upgrade your tech stack, be it your desktop, a new laptop, or some high-resolution monitors, is when great deals are to be had. Well, I'm here to share that thanks to Dell's top deals, you can power up your tech game and have most of the summer to make it happen. Maybe you're happy with your current system or setup. That's excellent, but you're likely considering upgrading somewhere, and that's precisely what these deals are all about. Dell has a smorgasbord of deals on laptops, desktops, gaming desktops, monitors, accessories, and so much more. We'll call out a few of our favorite deals below, but for now, know that you should be shopping this sale if you're interested in anything tech-related.

 
What summer tech should you buy in Dell's top deals?

Read more
I love the MacBook Pro, but this Windows laptop came surprisingly close
Apple MacBook Pro 16 downward view showing keyboard and speaker.

There are some great machines in the 15-inch laptop category, which has recently been stretched to include the more common 16-inch laptop. The best among them is the Apple MacBook Pro 16, which offers fast performance for tasks like video editing and the longest battery life.

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 is aimed not only at other 16-inch Windows laptops but also at the MacBook Pro 16. It offers many of the same benefits but at a lower price. Can it take a place at the top?
Specs and configurations

Read more
How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams
Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

First, you can click on your profile icon in Teams and go directly to Schedule an out of office, as a shortcut. This will take you to the settings area where you can proceed. You can also click the three-dot icon next to your profile icon, then go to Settings > General, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find out-of-office settings and click Schedule.

Read more