MOTM

> the korg stuff has a similar approach, but instead of having the
> plastic be propped up, the wire seems to be more obviously embedded
> in the plastic, there's a ridge along it.

Just curious: which "Korg stuff" are you referring to? I have a Korg
Prophecy, and its ribbon has no obvious ridge.

I have seen an Expression Mate, but only briefly and unfortunately I didn't
consider the potential for hacking it for CV applications at the time.

> Although it's probably
> just cosmetic, the idea of deforming plastic to push a wire into a
> ridge underneath is a good one, I think.

I think so, too, for reasons of durability if nothing else. Seems like a
wire would be more resilient to being deformed than the resistive plastic.

Many years ago, I remember playing with a friend's family's home organ--you
know, those 1970s-era things with the cheezy preset rhythm machines and
stuff. It had a ribbon controller thing that had a velvet-like cloth cover,
and as I recall a very positive on-off sort of feel to its action. I wonder
how it was built.

Since I'm typing this on a PowerBook, I'm suddenly curious about how
trackpads work. I think that they're capacitive rather than resistive,
though--they get all confused if your fingers are damp.

--Adam