I recently bought an Intuitive Instruments Exquis, thanks to my wife.

The documentation for this controller is a little fragmented and terse, so I am sharing here some succinct notes on how to configure and use it.

Configuring the keyboard

Quick cheat sheet

MIDI output

Toggle MPE/poly aftertouch

∿ + click 1

Choose MIDI output channel

∿ + turn 1

Choose number of MPE channels

∿ + turn 1

Keyboard layout

Change note layout

∿ + turn 3

Adjust tonic note

⚙︎ + turn 2

Adjust scale

⚙︎ + turn 3

Adjust tempo

⚙︎ + turn 1

Hardware

Adjust sensitivity

⚙︎ + click & turn 4

General MIDI percussion map

[percussion]

⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ hi block, lo block, mute cuica, cuica, mute tri, tri
 ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢  short whistle, long whistle, short guiro, long guiro, claves
⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ hi timbale, lo timbale, hi agogo, lo agogo, hi bongo, maracas
 ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢  hi bongo, lo bongo, mute hi conga, hi conga, lo conga
⬢ ⬡ ⬡ ⬡ ⬡ ⬢ cowbell; vibraslap
 ⬡ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬡  splash, crash 2, ride 2
⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ tamb, crash 1, ride 1, ride bell, china, tamb
 ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢  cl hh, ped hh, open hh, ped hh, cl hh
⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ ⬢ toms lo to hi
 ⬢ ⬢ ⬡ ⬢ ⬢  side stick, ac snare; clap, el snare
⬡ ⬢ ⬡ ⬡ ⬢ ⬡ ac bd; bd

Buttons

I’ll refer to the encoders by their number, starting from the left. "Turn" means rotate the knob; "click" means press it.

The "gear" button ⚙︎ is the "keyboard settings" button, which is really just a grab bag of stuff that includes both "technical" (MIDI clock, LED brightness) and "musical" (tonic, scale) aspects. The "squiggle" button ∿ is the "MIDI and layout settings" button.

Shortcuts

  • MIDI output

    • Toggle MPE/poly aftertouch (aka non-MPE): ∿ + click 1

    • Choose MIDI output channel (poly aftertouch mode): ∿ + turn 1

      • Set to 1 to use with non-MPE hardware while retaining some pitch bend facility

    • Choose number of MPE channels: ∿ + turn 1

  • Keyboard layout

    • Change note layout: ∿ + turn 3

      Click for list of layouts

      1

      Default

      2

      Default with duplicates

      3

      Chromatic

      4

      4×4 drum pads

      5

      General MIDI percussion

      6

      Rainbow
      This list can be customised and added to using the Exquis app.

    • Adjust tonic note: ⚙︎ + turn 2

    • Adjust scale: ⚙︎ + turn 3

      Click for list of scales

      1

      Major

      2

      Natural Minor

      3

      Melodic Minor

      4

      Harmonic Minor

      5

      Dorian

      6

      Phrygian

      7

      Lydian

      8

      Mixolydian

      9

      Locrian

      10

      Phrygian dominant

      11

      Major Pentatonic

      12

      Minor Pentatonic

      13

      Whole Tone

      14

      Chromatic
      This list can be customised and added to using the Exquis app.

    • Transpose keyboard stepwise: ⚙︎ + ⇵

  • Adjust tempo: ⚙︎ + turn 1

  • Hardware

    • Adjust sensitivity: ⚙︎ + click & turn 4

    • Adjust brightness: ⚙︎ + turn 4

Writing Exquis notation

I find the characters ⬡ (U+2b21) and ⬢ (U+2b22) useful for writing out chord shapes or similar.

In the default layout, this is how you can play an open minor triad (0 + 7 + 15).

 ⬡ ⬡ ⬢ ⬡
⬡ ⬡ ⬡ ⬡ ⬡
 ⬡ ⬢ ⬡ ⬡
⬡ ⬡ ⬡ ⬡ ⬡
 ⬡ ⬢ ⬡ ⬡

For defining layouts, I’ve been using a version of the convention established by Maupin et al [iso]. They define a layout as \$V: ±n, H: ±m\$, where \$n\$ is how many semitones you move when you move 1 hex upwards, and \$m\$ is how many you move when you move 1 hex to the right. A layout with flat sides (like the Exquis) is "horizontal"; a layout with pointy sides is "vertical".

Thus for a horizontal layout, the vertical interval requires skipping a row; and for a vertical layout, the horizontal interval requires skipping a column. In other words: When we talk about the Exquis moving "up" by 1 hex, we mean moving up 2 rows to the hex exactly north from the starting hex.

I elaborate their notation to express this orientation by placing \$V\$ first for vertical layouts, and \$H\$ first for horizontal layouts. Further, it’s redundant to label the second field; we already know by convention that if the first field is \$H\$, the second must be \$V\$, and vice versa.

The default Exquis layout is thus \$H: +1, +7\$, which can be visualised as follows.

   ⬢ ⬡ ⬡
+7 ↑⬡ ⬡ ⬡
   ⬢→⬢ ⬡
   +1

References