Musical theater is stressful. "The show must go on," and so forth. Add the latest in audiovisual technology to the mix, and it gets even more stressful. Strange Cranium Productions lives at the tip of this spear, and they needed a controller fit for such a mission-critical environment.
Mission-critical is literal: the buttons are fit for a nuclear power plant (with a price to match). But the pit orchestra conductors love their feel, making them a critical part of the design.
This is the quintessential custom-controller commission. Could Strange Cranium find a mass-produced MIDI controller with at least six buttons? Absolutely. But with redundant analog MIDI, in a form factor fit for an orchestra pit, branded with their logo? Nope. This is what custom is for.
