SHIK - S32

The S32 is a standalone MIDI processor and macro controller built around 32 high-resolution knobs. Each one can send up to four MIDI messages at once, every assignment with its own channel, routing, range, direction, pick-up behaviour and MIDI Learn. So a single turn might open a filter on one synth, push delay feedback on another and shift a clock division somewhere else — all at the same time. Those assignments can address external instruments, software, the S32's own effects or its LFOs, and all of it is set up on the device itself while you play. There's a browser editor too, SHIK's Vibe mapping assistant, for anyone who'd rather do the groundwork on a big screen — but the computer stays more like an option here, you can manage everything computerless.

SHIK have been at the 32-knob idea for years — the N32B started life as an open-source Arduino project — but this is the first of theirs with a processing engine sitting behind the panel. That engine runs racks: custom stacks of MIDI effects and utilities, arranged much like pedals on a board, with MIDI entering one end and leaving the other transformed. Harmoniser, scale remap, arpeggiator, Turing Machine, polyphonic envelope, Euclidean sequencer, looper, delay, randomisation, filters, mergers and routing tools are all on hand. Simple incoming notes become chords and evolving patterns, a whole rig gets locked to one scale, or processed MIDI is split off to different destinations. Order matters here just as it does with pedals — a specific generator before an arpeggiator behaves nothing like one placed after it, obviously.

Movement comes from 16 internal LFOs, assignable to effect parameters or to the output of any macro. Each is adjustable down to waveform, rate, phase, offset and depth, one can drive several destinations at once, and one can modulate another — which is how you get modulation that keeps developing instead of looping tidily every four bars. Since the results leave as ordinary MIDI, older hardware with no internal modulation and no CV inputs finally gets something breathing on its parameters. The GUI-design of the OLED is really great as well — minimal, nicely animated, and very good at making its deep parameter set readable at a glance.

Connections are quite generous for something this flat: MIDI In, two MIDI Outs, Thru, USB MIDI and a USB host port for plugging other controllers straight in. Projects and snapshots live in internal flash, with a microSD slot for backup and larger libraries. The micro HDMI socket is for the CV16 (still to come), an optional expander giving 16 channels of 16-bit MIDI-to-CV, fully controlled from the S32 — notes and modulation from the rack system translated straight to voltage, internal LFOs on any output, and multiple units chainable.

The S32 sits somewhere between MIDI controller, generative processor, modulation source and central router. Very nice for complex hardware setups that have outgrown a plain CC box, and for anyone who wants hands on everything without a laptop in the signal path.

Features:

• Standalone MIDI processor and 32-knob macro controller
• Up to four MIDI messages assigned to each knob
• Per-assignment channel, routing, range, inversion and pickup
• MIDI Learn available for each macro
• Message types: CC, 14-bit CC, NRPN, RPN, Program Change, Pitch Bend, Mono and Poly Aftertouch, SysEx
• Full 14-bit MIDI resolution
• Complete configuration on the device — no computer required
• SHIK browser editor with Vibe mapping assistant also supported
• Stackable and customisable MIDI-processing racks
• Harmoniser, scale remapping, arpeggiator, Turing Machine and polyphonic envelope
• Euclidean sequencer, MIDI looper, delay and randomisation
• MIDI filters, mergers and flexible routing tools
• 16 assignable LFOs with control over waveform, rate, phase, offset and depth
• LFO-to-LFO modulation for evolving movement
• 3.12-inch OLED display, endless encoder and two buttons
• Internal flash memory and microSD-card storage
• USB MIDI and USB host connections
• MIDI input, two MIDI outputs and MIDI Thru
• Micro HDMI expansion port for the optional CV16 MIDI-to-CV module (16 channels, 16-bit, chainable)
• USB-C powered, Mac and Windows compatible
• Sandblasted matte-black metal enclosure
• Includes USB-C to USB-A cable and two TRS-to-DIN MIDI adapters
• Dimensions: 208 × 145 × 18 mm
• Weight: 620 g