True Cuckoo Showcases the Neuzeit Drop – A Proper Geezer of a MIDI Controller

Meet the Drop: The Live Performer's Secret Weapon

True Cuckoo, ever the curious aficionado of electronic oddities, is at Superbooth 2025, getting up close and personal with the Neuzeit Drop—an eye-catching piece of kit aimed squarely at the live beat maestros. Introduced by Thomas from Neuzeit Instruments, this MIDI controller is specifically crafted for live performers lugging around a setup with multiple hardware units. Its mission? To solve the age-old problem of accessible yet powerful control in live situations. Right off the bat, the Drop positions itself as a remote control emancipator, liberating functions typically buried in awkward submenus and offering macro control at one’s fingertips.

Unleashing the Drop's Technical Sorcery

The Neuzeit Drop isn’t playing around when it comes to connectivity. Primarily a MIDI beast, it also dabbles in CV with two ins and outs, mostly for clock signals—a nod to those who adore both the digital and analog realms. True Cuckoo and Thomas reveal its standout feature: the snapshot functionality. Imagine having 20 snapshots, each with 20 banks. You can jump through these musical memories at the push of a button, changing control values on the fly—faders, mutes, rotaries, it’s all fair game. There’s even a fade time for those who fancy a suave transition. And when it gets wild, the Drop feature lets performers pre-arrange the next snapshot, dropping it like a seasoned rave DJ at the climax of a blistering set. The result is a seamless build-up at the top of your clock that blends performance with sheer fun. It’s the kind of craziness where hands shoot up, and Cuckoo’s enthusiasm is downright infectious.

"So best case scenario, hands go in the air, people are expecting a sudden change now."

Masters of Connectivity: Keeping Time in Sync

Running a tight ship is essential for any live gig, and the Drop offers a bonkers amount of connectivity to ensure everything is in perfect harmony. With four MIDI ins and outs, a couple of USB-Cs, and CV clock capabilities, this unit serves as the heart of a live rig, ensuring clock signals wrangle devices into perfect unison. Each device gets its own cable—individual millisecond delays can be added so everything pulses to the same beat. If you’re feeding audio back into software like Ableton, it’s as smooth as your best night out on the town. Multitasking is made easy with these features, showing Neuzeit’s dedication to providing exacting detail for the live performer who refuses to compromise.

Push, Pull, Engage: The Drop's User Flexibility

"It's part of a sustainable concept somehow, yeah. Nice."

Grip your faders like they’re the handlebars on a runaway motorcycle—smooth, with just the right amount of resistance. That’s the feeling you get with the Drop’s controls. Everything from the pushable encoders to the faders feels polished but not overdone, like wearing a leather jacket to a formal event. True Cuckoo highlights the device’s configurability; you’re not locked into how anyone else tells you to perform your set. Label each control, colour-code them, and dive into your setup months later like you’ve never been away. The addition of an SD card means all your projects can be human-edited, always a cheeky nod to the DIY ethos, which tickles my punk sensibilities just right. As if it weren’t enough, there’s MIDI learn, copy-paste abilities, and external keyboard connectivity for naming controls. The idea is simplicity within complexity, letting creativity take the forefront without getting bogged down in setup faff.

Multi-Destination Wizardry and MIDI Manipulations

When talking MIDI, the Drop really shines. It’s like having eight destinations for each knob, ensuring every twist and turn sends your sound where it needs to go. Cuckoo and Thomas explore the functionality further, detailing how these versatile controllers send MIDI messages tailored just to your taste. It’s balance in chaos, with macro controls for up to eight different MIDI commands with adjustable curves. The Drop becomes an intricate yet simple machine that merges, filters, and enhances your live set with absolute precision. Whether you’re pushing notes through an Octatrack or tweaking the parameters on an analog filter, it delivers without pitching a single moan.

"Everything that MIDI 1.0 has can also transpose the incoming notes by octaves or by semitones."

Building on a Legacy of Eurorack Chaos

Neuzeit Instruments isn’t new to the sonic landscape. Their pedigree in Eurorack modules positions them uniquely to deliver on the demands of both modular enthusiasts and live performers. From the bit-crushing Orbit to the synthesizer-melding Warp and the Quasar’s 3D audio adventures, they derive their innovations from a rich history in sound manipulation. Their ethos spans from standalone synths to polyphonic voices that don’t just echo back but scream presence. And the Drop MIDI controller is the next testament to their boundless creativity.

The Verdict: Drop's the Real Deal

For those wanting a controller that’s both a Swiss army knife and a battle-hardened warrior, the Drop is the newcomer to consider. Priced at €799, it’s due to hit stores around August or September, just in time to inspire the next wave of live sets. Retailers are lining up to stock this gizmo, and from what True Cuckoo has laid out, it’s chock-full of features while staying straightforward. From smooth transitions to an endless supply of live hacks, the Drop may well be the device to redefine what we expect from a live MIDI controller.