YouTube has become the biggest music-learning platform in the world, but it does have certain limitations. Looping specific song sections involves frequent clicking/touching and dragging of a progress bar and you have a limited amount of control over playback speed, so trying to master a tricky passage can be frustrating.
Enter Benjamin, “a control surface for practice”. Designed for use with iPads running iPadOS 16 and later, it enables you to loop sections of video with just two physical button presses (one at the start of the section and one at the end). These loop positions can then be fine-tuned using the scroll wheel and nudge buttons.
The scroll wheel can also be used to precisely navigate videos. This can be done by chapter, in 10-, 5- or 1-second increments, or even frame by frame. Speed can be adjusted in 5% increments, so you can increase the tempo very gradually as you get better at playing something that you’re learning.
Benjamin also gives you regular video playback controls – play/pause, volume, mute, fullscreen and captions where supported – further reducing interaction with the touchscreen. A companion app enables you to bookmark and organise videos and to save sections and loop points, making it easier to pick up from where you left off at your previous practice section.
Controls include 13 switches, one rotary encoder and one volume slider, and Benjamin connects to your iPad over Bluetooth. It also serves as an adjustable stand for your iPad, and the 3,200 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery can power the unit for around nine days based on three hours of daily use. You can also operate it over USB-C as it charges.
“YouTube gave me access to more music teachers than I could ever have imagined, but the frustration of navigating with a touchscreen constantly interrupted my actual practice,” says Robinson Kelly, founder and inventor of Benjamin. “As a former video editor, I knew how much faster and more precise physical controls could be. Benjamin came from wanting that same immediacy while I was learning bass – one action, one control, always where you expect it to be.”
Benjamin is about to launch on Kickstarter, with early backers getting access to a Super Early Bird price.
