Berkeley University professor and electronic music veteran David Wessel performs on the Slabs.

Slabs is an interface for the Max/MSP audio program. Interlink VersaPad touch pads allow for a level of expression not found on most electronic instruments; each pad tracks X and Y coordinates and fingertip pressure levels.

A homegrown ethernet audio driver transmits this torrent of data to a Linux PowerPC Mac, which assembles it directly into sound.

Wessel says the high-bandwidth approach is “the future” when it comes to ultra-expressive electronic instruments because it allows so much performance data to be captured.

via DavidLWessel, wired