Seven months after their NAMM 2026 debut, Fender's first-ever MIDI controllers are finally shipping. The Motion 16 and Motion 32 — Fender's entry into expressive, polyphonic-aftertouch pad controllers — have moved from "announced" to "available," and they arrive with a bundle sweetener that's worth paying attention to: a free perpetual license for Fender Studio Pro, the DAW formerly known as PreSonus Studio One.

What's Actually Shipping

Both controllers are built around FATAR-manufactured RGB pads with polyphonic aftertouch, the same category of per-note pressure sensing that underlies MPE expression, even though Fender doesn't market these as MPE controllers outright. The two models target slightly different workflows:

The Motion 16 ($269.99) uses a traditional 4x4 pad grid, paired with nine illuminated touch encoders for mixing and parameter automation, plus a color display for feedback while performing.

The Motion 32 ($329.99) spreads its pads across two banks, switchable between a piano-style "Keys" layout outlined in RGB and a "Blocks" layout for splitting samples or drum kits across two adjacent 16-pad sections. It adds a larger display and two dedicated touch strips for pitch bend and mod wheel, where the Motion 16 makes do with a single strip.

Both units include a built-in smart scale and chord engine, with more than 30 preset chord progressions available for improvising melodically without needing music theory background — a feature aimed squarely at producers who didn't grow up on a keyboard.

The Free DAW Is the Real Story

The headline feature for anyone pricing this out is what's in the box beyond hardware: a perpetual license for Fender Studio Pro, which normally retails for $199.99 on its own. Bundling a full DAW license with a $270–$330 controller effectively makes the software free with purchase, and it signals how seriously Fender is leaning into the "software plus hardware" ecosystem it inherited when it acquired PreSonus and rebranded Studio One as Fender Studio Pro.

For expressive-playing newcomers specifically, this matters because polyphonic aftertouch pads are only useful if the software downstream actually reads that data — and Fender has designed Motion for deep integration with Studio Pro, meaning the pads, encoders, and touch strips map cleanly into the DAW without a manual MIDI-learn setup session.

Where This Fits in the Bigger Picture

Polyphonic aftertouch — and MPE more broadly — has historically been the territory of specialist manufacturers: Haken, ROLI, Expressive E. A guitar brand with mass retail distribution shipping its first controller with these sensing capabilities, at a sub-$330 price point, with a bundled DAW, is a different kind of signal than another boutique release. It puts expressive per-note control in front of a much wider, less specialist audience — including guitarists and bassists already loyal to the Fender name who might never have gone looking for a Continuum or a Seaboard.

Whether Motion becomes a genuine on-ramp into deeper MPE territory, or stays a self-contained ecosystem tied to Studio Pro, will depend on how well Fender documents MPE-style workflows for a user base that may be encountering per-note expression for the first time. Either way, the controllers are now in the hands of buyers rather than sitting in NAMM demo booths, and coverage of the launch is available from MusicRadar and Rekkerd.