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Reviews
X-Tempo pok DAW Transport Foot Controller
X-Tempo Designs, LLC's new product, the pok, is a wireless remote transport foot controller that works with any DAW product. The pok has eight buttons, along with Button-press, Battery Warning and Signal Strength LED lights on it. Its rugid contstruction stood up to countless foot stompings from one take to the next, hundreds of times, and it still works as new.
It was sent to us for testing several months ago, and having had time to use it on multiple projects and with multiple DAWS, we're happy to report that this product is an amazing, solid, sturdily-constructed invention, and one of those "why didn't they think of it sooner" inventions that just seems so obvious after you've used it.
My first exposure to a remote for a DAW was a few years ago when the now-owned-by-Adobe software publishers of Cool Edit Pro, Syntrillium produced one. They came up with a wired transport remote that sported an extra long USB cable, allowing me to hide behind a walled-off recording area and record vocals, or other parts without having to sit within reach of a mouse. The "Red Rover" was one of the first products on the market but it only worked with Cool Edit Pro, a Windows-based application. This was way back in 2002. I had a taste of how cool it was to do DAW recording with a remote, but the drawback was of course it only working for Cool Edit Pro. Great idea, but not for anything but that DAW, which found it eventually going to a friend in the VO world who still used Cool Edit Pro.
The next device to come along was Frontier Design Group’s TranzPort™, which gaves us a new way to control Windows® or Mac® digital audio workstations (DAWs). It was cross-platform, and it worked with all manner of DAW applications, from Pro Tools®, to Sonar™, Logic®, Cubase®, Digital Performer® and others. Unlike the Red Rover, it is wireless, and since it uses RF, it allows you to roam a good distance from your system, and work from inside a nearby vocal booth, etc. Great idea for doing that kind of thing with it perched on a music stand next to the microphone, etc. But if you own a desktop control surface, its redundant for use with it, as is the pok, frankly.
The pok does what Frontier's TranzPort does and the Red Rover couldn't, similar in that it works with most DAWs, but this time it frees up your hands and puts all the control on the floor. And there's where the pok shines through for us guitar players who want to sit in playing position, correctly in front of the mic from optimal recording, and not have to bang around the guitar turning to get to the control surface or mouse. Sit in the sweet spot, and use your feet. That's a wonderful concept!
The pok is compatible with Mac and PC DAWs, including Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, Digital Performer, Cubase, Sonar, GarageBand and more. The pok ships with Pro Tools as its default profile. It worked right out of the box, no configuring, nothing. I plugged the receiver into the USB port, and OS X wanted to identify it as a keyboard. You can just ignore that. Its ready to use with no further messing around if you are using Pro Tools.
I have used the pok Editor now under OS X Tiger and under Leopard and it works the same under each. We would have gotten this review out sooner but we were waiting for Leopard to hit the shelves. While we can't use Pro Tools yet with Leopard, we were able to use the pok with Leopard compatible software like Logic 8, and got the same results we did under Tiger with Pro Tools and the rest of our applications.
With Tiger, and for the bulk of our testing, I would simply turn on Pro Tools, call up a session and hit play on the transport foot controller, and the session started. The range of the unit was great, I've had it work in another room about 25ft away with no issues at all. Nice! It says it's rated for up to 30ft, and connects to your computer with the included 2.4 GHz wireless USB receiver device.
The power consumption is really impressive. We've had it several months and its still working on the original three AAA batteries is came with. There's no wall wart power adapter, no cables of any kind with it. Just pop it out of the case, plug in the USB receiver, turn on your DAW and start using it with Pro Tools. We also tested it with GarageBand™, Digital Performer™, Pro Tools™, Cubase™, Logic™, as well as Ableton Live™ and it worked beautifully. Just open the pok Editor software and set it to whatever DAW profile you are working with at the moment. Its that easy.
While we didn't feel the need to go beyond its pre-set programmed use, you could be pretty creative with the device if you wanted to do so. It can be customized with an unlimited number of "profiles" and allows up to 22 uniques funtions for each one, making for an amazing number of custom-configurations for whatever you might come up with.
Honestly, I didn't go there. Why? Well, its just a matter of simple functionality and what I wanted from this kind of product. What do I want to use a device like this for? I want to be able to self-engineer a session without having to sit in front of the DAW, in an acoustically optimized space, and hit record, play, rewind, set punch in spots, etc. That's it. I really don't need it to do much else, but that's just me.
However, if you want to go there, the included pok Editor software allows for these custom configurations of the eight buttons on the foot pedal so it can do your bidding. Another great use for it would be recording your live gigs, setting it in front of your stool, or at the foot of a microphone stand, and starting and stopping your DAW in between each song. Great idea, hands free, nobody would know what it was or what you were doing.
I'm happy to say its quality-made in the USA, but that may be why its not exactly an inexpensive piece of gear. The MRSP is $599. The bad news is that its full list price on X-Tempo Design's website, but the good news is that you can shave 20% off that and get it for $479 from Sweetwater.com, or other online dealers. I did not see the case for sale on the Sweetwater.com website. Its available as a replacement, but the pok does ship with it already as part of the package. Frankly the case was a little tricky to open and close, Its a plastic case with foam fitted for the pok inside to keep it stable. That said, unless you're taking it to gigs, it will probably never go back into the case because you'll use it all the time. It hasn't been back in its case since it got here, its been in use.
Now the pok at $479, while still a little pricey, it is a great product and something that, once you start using, you'll wonder how you worked before you had it. It is solid, built well, works every time without fail or hiccups. Its likely to last for years as a piece of gear you'd use on most every solo session going. We'll be reluctantly returning it to X-Tempo soon, but it will go on our studio purchase wish-list for the future, even at $479.
Click here to find an authorized pok dealer
X-Tempo Designs, LLC- Added: 1970-01-01 00:00:00
- Reviewer: Mike Lawson
- Score: 8
- Related Link: X-Tempo Website
- Hits: 2951