The Tactic has been discontinued and replaced with our new Ohm instrument. The Ohm is a significant upgrade to the Tactic in function, controls, and design. We plan to release a new Tactic m3 in 2008. You can view the Ohm by clicking here.


How We Make Our Instruments


Each Tactic instrument is hand made at our production facility in Austin, Texas by our team of professional instrument builders and designers. Hand crafting our instruments from maple and mahogany gives each one a distinct look and feel, as no two Tactics are the same. Every Tactic has unique markings and variations to the wood, making each Tactic one of a kind. The professional finish and ergonomic design give our instruments the creative edge for real-time video instrumentation.

The tactic is designed for maximum control and ease-of-use instrumentation. The surface is slightly angled for comfort and performance. A built in LCD allows for easy preview and operation. The bottom of the Tactic is inlaid for easy setup on a keyboard stand, and has rubber feet for tabletop operation. Built in anchors allow you to secure your Tactic to a keyboard stand for stage performance and stability. The custom design and construction replaces clunky video mixers and cheap plastic MIDI controllers. This raises the bar for video performance and production.

Instrument Construction

First hard maple and mahogany are hand selected as rough lumber, and carefully picked for grain strength and figuring. We use pieces that have some degree of birdseye, tigerstripe, quilting or ribbon striping.

Our rough material is then dimensioned and glued into blocks for machining. We use a high-grade polyurethane glue that is stronger and more waterproof than traditional wood glue. Wood blocks are then allowed to sit overnight to ensure proper stability and durability.


Once the glue has dried the wood blocks are then clamped into the machine bed. Our computer driven CNC machines allows us to take our (CAD) instrument design files and load then into a cutting program. The machining takes seven separate programs and several bit changes that are controlled and monitored by our instrument designers. The machining process takes two steps, one for the top of the instrument and one for the bottom. First we start off by milling the top of the instrument. Half way through the machining process the block is turned over and the programs must be aligned to match and cut the bottom of the instrument.

The rough machined instrument is hand shaped by band saw and rough pneumatic sanders to reach it’s final shape. The instrument is then hand sanded with very fine grit to prepare it for finish spraying. The Livid nameplate is then milled from Mahogany, had sanded, and attached to the face of the instrument. Just prior to finishing we use a brass branding iron to mark the Livid welder to the bottom of the instrument body by heating the brand until it is bright red and “stamping” the brand into the wood.

The Tactic receives multiple coats of CAB lacquer. If an optional color finish is selected, the stain is applied prior to the lacquer in the spray booth. The finish is allowed to dry and wet sanded prior to the three final coats.




Once the Tactic is completely dry, the faceplate, which is also milled using our CNC machines, is prepared for assembly. The electronics are then mounted into the body of the Tactic and the faceplate is attached. Prior to shipping we put the complete tactic through multiple testing and stress assessments to ensure proper operation and configuration.

The best way to clean and preserve your Tactic is to simply wipe off fingerprints and perspiration with a soft lightly damp cloth then buff with a dry clean cloth.


Tactic Gallery