SLABS Touch Pad Instrument

24Mar09

Send to a Friend | Feed for this Entry | Filed under: Electronic Instruments, Strange, Synthesizers

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

Tags: David Wessel, electroacoustic musc, Macintosh, Max/MSP, strange musical instruments

1 Comment

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12803One ResponseSLABS+Touch+Pad+Instrument2009-03-24+13%3A01%3A32synthhead to “SLABS Touch Pad Instrument”

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1 Georg on Mar 24th, 2009 said:

Need this!

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something to think about

When Mozart was composing at the end of the eighteenth century, the city of Vienna was so quiet that fire alarms could be given verbally, by a shouting watchman mounted on top of St. Stefan’s Cathedral. In twentieth-century society, the noise level is such that it keeps knocking our bodies out of tune and out of their natural rhythms. This ever-increasing assault of sound upon our ears, minds, and bodies adds to the stress load of civilized beings trying to live in a highly complex environment. — Stephen Halpern

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