[sdiy] touchpad controller project, please read and respond

[Andrew Martens]

I would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to read this and
respond (just respond to me privately - no need to copy to the list).
Within a few days or a week, I'll compile the feedback and let everybody
know how things stand for this project.  Okay, here we go:

Having done a bunch of reading up on Tactex's touchpads for a previous
project (my SID synthesizer almost used one to control the filter, but I
still haven't gotten around to finishing off the synth), I've been doing a
bit more thinking about them since I found out Bob Moog was using one in his
new synth.  That led me to contemplate a new project that may be of interest
to people on this list.

And so, I have a lot of questions regarding whether or not anyone would be
interested in this.  So please, reply to me privately with a "Yes, I would"
and other answers to the questions below - or a "No, I wouldn't"... and if
you do say no, if there is a specific reason why (ie, a feature missing
below), or if it's just not of interest to you.  This'll only take a minute
for you (and far longer for me to compile the results), so if you can find
it
in your heart to respond, that would be great :-)

I can't comment on pricing of the touchpads yet.  From talking to my
professor (through whom I dealt with Tactex), the prices sounded reasonable.
>From looking at the price on their website, I am starting to become far less
hopeful.  Far, far less.  If people on the list are interested, I will check
with Tactex about their OEM pricing.

(1) Would you be interested in:
(a) a touchpad->CV controller (ie, three CV outputs, one for X, Y, and
pressure);
(b) a touchpad->MIDI controller (selectable channel & message type for each
dimension);
(c) one controller that incorporated both (a) and (b);
(d) neither.  You can stop now and just send this back to me.  Tell me why,
if you aren't interested. :-)
(e) you have better ideas, like way more CV, and a bunch of cool controls to
save presets, morphing between different outputs, etc.  Feel free to
elaborate.

(2) Would you want to buy:
(a) a fully assembled unit, just give it a wallwart, plug'er in, and go;
(b) a kit, with PCB, preprogrammed microcontroller and an OEM (ie, no
case/cable) touchpad included;
(c) just PCB included (you buy your own consumer-level touchpad from Tactex
yourself for a ridiculous amount of money and connect it up via a serial
port, and I give away the firmware for the microcontroller for you to
program yourself)

(3) What size would you want the touchpad to be?
(a) a standard size, like the MTC Express's 5" x 3.75"
(b) (fill in your own size) __________________________

(4) What sorts of things would you like to be able to do with the touchpad:
(a) just track a single point (X, Y, and pressure)
(b) glide between multiple points on the pad (rate determined by a Glide
pot)
(c) (something else cool) __________________________

(5) What price would you be willing to pay for a PCB + OEM touchpad?
(If you're touchy/suspicious about this question, feel free to omit it).
I'll bring up the pricing issue again once I figure out what the OEM price
is for the touchpad size that I'm thinking of using for the design.
(a) (in US $, or your own currency - just specify what it is) _________

(5) Comments.  Ideas.  Suggestions.  How complete a MIDI implementation you
want.  Criticism.  Anything.

That's the survey.  I'm not really trying to make any money on this.  Maybe
get a free unit for myself, but that's about it.  In an ideal world, I'll
get an evaluation OEM pad from Tactex, develop a prototype schematic, write
some firmware for the thing, and get it working.  Then, someone with better
board-layout and design experience on this list could do a proper layout of
it.  Then, take some orders, print up some PCBs, get some touchpads, and
ship
them off to people.

So yeah... let me know what you think, and whether or not I should bother
building this.  I'll compile everyone's feedback into a final version of the
design and see how many people would be interested in ordering one, before I
actually get an OEM unit from Tactex and start building this.  And if you
take this idea and market it yourself... well, kudos to you for being a
shrewd businessperson.  I just like designing stuff :-)

Cheers,
Andrew Martens
4th year Computer Engineering student
University of British Columbia