Fender has announced the launch of Fender Motion, two pad controllers designed to integrate with Fender Studio Pro, the DAW formerly known as PreSonus Studio One Pro.
Unveiled at NAMM back in January, Motion comes in two configurations: the 16-pad Motion 16 and the 32-pad Motion 32. Both models also come with a perpetual license for Fender Studio Pro, which will set you back $199.99/£169.99 if you buy it on its own.
Both Motion 16 and Motion 32 feature RGB FATAR pads, illuminated encoders and touch strips, alongside timeline navigation and session controls. Motion’s pads were developed in partnership with FATAR, an Italian company that’s been supplying keybeds to synth and digital piano manufacturers since 1956, and Fender says they’re the first pad design FATAR has produced.
Latest Videos FromMusicRadar
The pads on both models are velocity-sensitive with polyphonic aftertouch, but each controller has a different layout. The Motion 16 features a conventional 4×4 grid of 16 pads, but the Motion 32 spreads its pads over two lanes to give you two options: Keys, a piano-style arrangement outlined using the RGB backlights, and Blocks, a layout that splits the pads into two adjacent banks of 16 for samples or drum kits.
Both models have eight touch-sensitive encoders and a colour display with its own navigation encoder, but the 32 gets a larger display and two dedicated touch strips for pitch bend and mod wheel, compared to a single strip on the 16.
Motion 32 and Motion 16 also feature two Chord Modes: Famous Chords maps a choice of over 30 progressions from well-known songs onto the controllers’ pads, while Simple Chords generates diatonic chords and intervals from the chosen scale and key. There’s a Scale mode too, with a choice of two layouts: Locked restricts the pads to notes in the selected key, and Guide just highlights them to guide your playing.
Fender says Motion offers “deep native integration” with its Studio Pro DAW. Motion’s dedicated Add button lets you quickly load up virtual instruments, audio tracks or effects during a session, and the eight encoders and touch strips are automatically mapped to plugin controls and mixer functions.
Announced earlier this year, Fender Studio Pro is the DAW formerly known as PreSonus Studio One Pro. Fender acquired PreSonus back in 2021 but rebranded Studio One Pro as Fender Studio Pro 8 in January as part of the launch of a “connected music ecosystem” that also saw PreSonus’ Quantum HD and AudioBox Go interfaces relaunched under the Fender Studio name.
Both models have two 3.5mm MIDI ports and a USB-C connection, which can also be used for bus power to run the controllers from a phone or tablet on the go.
“Since we debuted Motion at NAMM, the anticipation has been off the charts. It confirmed what we already knew: players don’t want a controller that handles one corner of their workflow, they want one built for all of it,” said Fender Electronics’ Chief Product Officer Max Gutnik.
“Motion gets the same obsessive attention to detail we put into everything we build. Pair it with Fender Studio Pro and your sessions, your sounds, your tones and your rig all move together, from the first take at home to the last song of the night.”
Fender Motion 16 is priced at $269.99/£239 and Fender Motion 32 at $329.99/£299.
Find out more on Fender’s website.
