electronics for a diy ribbon controller

[honcho at paia.com]

On Fri, 27 Feb 1998, Henri Kovalainen 
<hekovala at lyseolukio2.kajaani.fi> wrote:
>
> How about the system that the Paia Oz uses? 
>>>

The OZ pitch bend pad worked pretty well but would be difficult to 
apply in a CV application because it was primarily a capacitor that 
increased in value as the hand approached and varied the frequency of 
the clock driving the TOG that actually produced OZ's pitches. There 
were no CVs involved. 

Also, pressing a pad was great for pitch bends but would be difficult 
for control over more than a few semi-tones. It's difficult to keep 
just the right pressure, particularly for greater pitch ranges. And, 
it would only bend down in pitch.

After searching for a few months (!!!) I finally found Emerson Cuming 
the other day (sorry, no usable URLs - they're not very wired). It was 
their "Eccosorb 30" material that was used in the gnome controller 
strip.  This is a terrific material that's essentially vinyl made 
conductive by including carbon black in the formulation. It's easy to 
work with (easily cut with scissors or knife) and has a very useable 
resistance properties of a few hundred ohms/square (please, no "square 
what" questions ;-). The downside is that it's not available in small 
quantities and it may be expensive (don't'cha love companies that have 
to know who you are before they tell you how much something costs). 
I've got some coming in to play with, and it's very likely that we 
(PAiA) will be stocking it in the future. 

Bon tempe, ya'll
-John

---------------------------------------------------------
John Simonton                  PAiA Electronics, Inc
3200 Teakwood Ln.              honcho at paia.com
Edmond OK 73013                http://www.paia.com
405-340-6300                   fax 405-340-6378