Subject: [linux-audio-dev] Alternate MIDI controller idea (patent fodder?)
From: David Slomin (david.slomin_AT_av.com)
Date: Wed May 03 2000 - 21:49:18 EEST
Not Linux specific, but potentially useful to the folks on this
list... I had an idea for a more useful type of alternate MIDI
controller.
I'm sure many of you have seen a "ribbon controller" before.
As Joe Miklojcik pointed out in his post on Saturday, the good
ones tend to be be made out a linear force sensitive resistors
(LFSRs). They are usually used to control a particular CC or (N)RPN
[ APOLOGY: THE FORSAKEN MAIL CLIENT SENT BEFORE I WAS DONE! ]
LFSRs are wonderful for this purpose because unlike a wheel or
a slider, they can jump directly to a new value as well as
moving smoothly between values. Unfortunately they have a useability
drawback: they provide no feedback as to what the current value is
(a wheel or slider always has a nib for this purpose). If you look
away for a moment, you can't tell where you were, so you can't
glide smoothly from the current value to a new one.
The improvement I have in mind is keeping a little row of LEDs
or a single long LCD that parallels the LFSR. They would illuminate
the most recent position, acting as a virtual nib. This allows you
to both jump and glide freely without giving it your full attention.
I'd love to have a device containing four or eight of these
LFSR + LED/LCD strips at say, six inches long apiece. When
combined with a conventional setup (standard keyboard controller,
a few pedals, and a QWERTY keyboard mapped in software to send
impulse events), I think this would satisfy a rather broad set
of controller needs.
Would this be feasible for a hobbyist to build? I vaguely remember
six inch LFSRs costing somewhere in the range of 30 USD, and LEDs
are under a buck apiece. (The LCD would be much cheaper to mass
produce, but since it would be a custom display, the startup costs
would be too high for a hobbyist.) Add a PIC or similar
microprocessor to syncronize the lights with the resistors and
convert to MIDI, and you're pretty much done.
Thoughts? Commercial viability?
Div.
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