keyboard contact rubber fun

[Jim Patchell]

Martin Czech wrote:

> :::    One thing I always wanted to try was using an iron plunger going into an
> :::inductor.  The only thing that stopped me was it seemed like an awful lot of
> :::work, both mechanical and electronic.  But this should be able to give you a
> :::signal that is proportional to how far the key is pressed down.  It has some
> :::very interesting posibilities.
>
> But how do you ensure that the pulse comes in the very moment the svanner looks
> at it?
>
> m.c.

    What I had in mind was quite a bit more complicated (on the order of magnitude
of building some complicated Rube Goldberg machine just to butter toast, which is
why I abandoned the whole idea).  Each key would have had a set of analog
electronics to generate a voltage that was proportional to key position.  An
inductor with a slug seemed like a good choice because there would be no mechanical
wear.  A potentiometor would work too, but you know what happens to them.  A/D
converters going into a micro would then be able to tell what was going on with the
keyboard and generate all of the apropriate midi signals.  The idea was abandoned
because it seemed like an awful lot of work to do to get the same results from just
going out and purchasing a keyboard.  But, still, I would like to try it some day
(when I actually have that one thing called spare time).

    -Jim