Comments on: Touchscreen controllerism?

By: RheyneLooper - Free live looping template for Ableton | Controllerism.com

RheyneLooper - Free live looping template for Ableton | Controllerism.com — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:04:10 +0000

[...] The RheyneLooper looks like a pretty handy tool for those who make music on the fly and it really expands on the idea of touch screen controllerism. [...]

By: Jonathan Adams Leonard

Jonathan Adams Leonard — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:15:13 +0000

Here is article about the hidden dangers of using touchscreens:
http://m.infoworld.com/t/laptops/the-hidden-danger-touchscreens-181774?page=0,0&mm_ref=http%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2F

By: DJ Invisiboy

DJ Invisiboy — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:24:19 +0000

I’m almost never looking at a crossfader or another fader, i’m using my ears and my fingers. That type of interaction gets lost in “finger on glass” applications. While visual feedback is powerful – we shouldn’t write off how sensitive, versatile, and powerful our hands are.

By: Moldover

Moldover — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:38:35 +0000

I’m eager to see people develop mastery/virtuosity on new instruments. If I had put all those hours I spent practicing my guitar into a touchscreen, I would be a totally different controllerist. !Muchas posibilidades!

( ! )

By: Rich DDT

Rich DDT — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:52:56 +0000

The accelerometer control is what really seems to make your app stand out as fun to play, and it doesn’t depend on tactile feedback, as the entire phone is the controller. Also because there are so few buttons in the app it makes it easier to use the touchscreen, which as you say is hindered by a lack of tactile feedback. Even with traditional instruments that lack real “buttons” or “keys”, like the trombone, you can still feel some friction during the slide. Touchscreens with smooth glass surfaces create a clear disadvantage, as well as an inherent unreliability in capacitive sensor technology (just consider how error-prone touch screen typing is without error correction);
though as Nonagon mentions I’m sure mastery is eventually possible, with enough training and patience.

HOWEVER these cool advances in the technology may change all that!:

Electromagnetic Haptic Feedback Touchscreen:
http://hackaday.com/2011/10/25/tactile-computer-interface-with-electromagnets/

Electrostatic Texture Morphing Touchscreen:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/sensegs-tactile-display-gets-demoed-on-a-tablet-products-antic/

These should lower the curve to achieving mastery. What do you guys think of these up and coming alternatives?

By: Nonagon

Nonagon — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:08:15 +0000

While I haven’t spent a lot of time with touchscreens, I think there’s precedent in traditional musical instrument design for a swath of mostly uniform surface with different behavior depending on where that surface is touched. Plenty of hand drums are articulated by impact position and non-striking-hand motion across the drum head; non-fretted stringed instruments require muscle memory to reliably find tuned notes on an otherwise uniform length of string.

If we’re just talking about finding the right button to push, I agree that being able to feel the borders of the button can be helpful, but I don’t see any reason why, with practice, a touch surface couldn’t be “played” with just as much mastery as any other instrument.

By: greg

greg — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:11:11 +0000

Working with lasers, we use tactile controllers specifically made for our software – Lasershow Performer console by Pangolin. But this product has been discontinued, so I pursued a Novation Launchpad controller, and this seems to be a viable replacement. I do prefer tactile feedback, and visual feedback (keys changing color and brightness). Since our medium is visual, not aural, we have to watch what we are performing, and even a moment looking at the screen or keyboard is a possible glitch. I do think there is potential for “haptic” feedback on touchscreens, and if it was somewhat frequency dependent (different vibration speeds), this might go a long way to making a touch screen more viable.

By: Sarth

Sarth — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:09:53 +0000

word. absolutely mutely true.

By: Jonathan Adams Leonard

Jonathan Adams Leonard — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:49:29 +0000

I agree that touchscreens have limited use as musical instruments, but some utility as digital controllers. The lack of tactile feedback and constant attention of your eyes to accomplish any precision requires more work and is fatiguing. In a way, they are eyescreens using the finger as a pointer. People love eyecandy and the novelty of something gamelike. From a cybernetic perspective, and concerning a man/digital interface, touchscreens defeat something else important for expertise with weapons, tools, and instruments. People change through entrainment and are plastic in their nervous and motor systems. Each additional degree of freedom a controller has, like dynamic, pitch and timbre demands much more rehearsal to master. The player changes over time, is challenged by an instrument and the player molds themselves into its’ shape. Touchscreens defeat this important adaptation and while seeming initially to be enabling, they are ultimately the amateurs crutch.

By: dan

dan — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:23:52 +0000

I love you Moldover! No really. I mean it. No, not kidding. I think you’re really special, like toast. And I truly love toast. Especially toasted Wonder Bread. I toast up a single slice and then I separate the lightly-browned sides by digging my finger threw the soft, gooey center…then I peel off each crunchy piece and wow, just heaven. Like you Moldover…heaven.

PS. When you pointed at the camera with your second hand at the end of the video, I know you were really just pointing at me.