MOTM

> Another concept would be a for a controller module to make use of 
> all five 
> fingers of the hand.  Such a module might be a four-space module 
> with small 
> sloping indentations and five small ribbon controllers for the hand, 
> laid 
> out in a hand shape.  Pure manual control!  [Oh, and a big knob in 
> the 
> center of the thing which rotates with the palm, for volume control 
> or 
> something.  Or maybe the whole assembly with the five controllers 
> could be 
> mounted in a circular housing which rotates by wrist control.  That 
> is 
> probably going overboard].

I like that..

About a year ago, I saw a guy on a talk show who had nails coming out of
his head, that were surgically implanted into his scalp.  Since then, I
have quietly fantasized about the prospects of surgically implanting
various types of CV controllers directly into body parts.  Need a good
LFO?  Move your head around in a lifelike manner...  More jacks?  Wire up
your patchbay fore-arm.  I think your vision of total hand control goes
one step in the direction I would love to go with modular.  But that is
probably the reason it's best for me to keep my thoughts of a full
modular body suit to myself...  (Think of Darth Vader with VCO's...)

Chad.

Darth Vader? More like the Borg!

Moe 

> 
> From: Chad Conger <lordgrimley@...>
> 
> About a year ago, I saw a guy on a talk show who had nails coming out of
> his head, that were surgically implanted into his scalp.  Since then, I
> have quietly fantasized about the prospects of surgically implanting
> various types of CV controllers directly into body parts.  Need a good
> LFO?  Move your head around in a lifelike manner...  More jacks?  Wire up
> your patchbay fore-arm.  I think your vision of total hand control goes
> one step in the direction I would love to go with modular.  But that is
> probably the reason it's best for me to keep my thoughts of a full
> modular body suit to myself...  (Think of Darth Vader with VCO's...)
>

I agree. It's kinda silly to mount performance controllers on a vertical
panel at arm's reach, which is probably how most people do have their
modules.

I thought the idea of using stock PC joysticks that could plug into standard
connectors on the module faceplates was a clever one. That might be a good
pattern to follow---the control devices and key performance controls could
"float" and plug into the module, which would have the jacks that connect it
to the rest of the system and perhaps LEDs or controls  that don't need to
be tweaked during a performance.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	David Bivins [mailto:dbivins@...] 
Sent:	Tuesday, 28 March, 2000 2:18 PM
To:	motm@onelist.com
Subject:	RE: [motm] Controller Module Brainstorming


I'd rather not see manual controllers (other than the knobs!) placed on a
vertical plane. If they have to be mounted in a rack, a sloped surface would
be preferable. Better yet, provide the controller module in two forms: one
for standard rackmounting, another with the jacks broken out so that they
can be mounted on the back of a tabletop box. Or just make the rackmount one
and recommend a hacksaw blade that will cut through 1/8" aluminum so I can
mount the top section of the module in the front of the box and place the
jack field in the back of the box (facing the modular). I'm serious. I'll do
it if I have to.

Hi everyone

Tkacs, Ken wrote:
> 
> From: "Tkacs, Ken" <ken.tkacs@...>
> 
> I agree. It's kinda silly to mount performance controllers on a vertical
> panel at arm's reach, which is probably how most people do have their
> modules.

True. I'm tempted to do a little sloped console about the same width as
my main cabinet (which can be seen at:
<http://216.254.67.249/projects.htm#MOTM>, and still having only 4 real
modules...), deep enough for the main cabinet to sit on, and then at the
front having a very mildly sloped (that is: almost horizontal) control
surface, to eventually include maybe a few joysticks, some momentary
buttons, some locking buttons (!) and maybe a short compass (like 18
notes) CV + Gate keyboard having individual tuning controls (i.e., not
specifically designed for tempered scales...), oh, and maybe a little
4017 based simple sequencer to mess with as well?!?

No wired connections to the main cabinet except power, everything else
patchable in as usual....

Maybe someday!

Also, though ribbon controllers are not apparently available per se,
isn't (wasn't) some company making those little resistor touch strips
like those used in the Blacet 'instantmod' attachment for the Casio
CZ-101 and -1000 synths? As I recall, the strip put out nothing when not
touched, then when touched provided the resistance at the point of
contact as it were...in the Blacet kit, I think it was used to provide
an LFO signal (a little triangle wave LFO was part of the kit if I'm
remembering right) to the pitch bender wheel, thus providing a real
simple mod source. If those resistor strips were available it could make
for a fun ribbon controller.

Frank

>From: "Tkacs, Ken" <ken.tkacs@...>
>
>
>I agree. It's kinda silly to mount performance controllers on a vertical
>panel at arm's reach, which is probably how most people do have their
>modules.
>
>I thought the idea of using stock PC joysticks that could plug into standard
>connectors on the module faceplates was a clever one. That might be a good
>pattern to follow---the control devices and key performance controls could
>"float" and plug into the module, which would have the jacks that connect it
>to the rest of the system and perhaps LEDs or controls  that don't need to
>be tweaked during a performance.
>
Did anybody else pick up on the Electronics Goldmine deal on PC Jr.
joysticks? I think someone on this list turned me on to this. I got 6 of
them for $1.79 each, had to get 6 to meet the $10.00 minimum order. The
reason I'm asking is that I'd like to know how other people are planning on
using these joysticks. My original plan was to make a controller surface in
a slope-top box, with a bunch of joysticks, trigger buttons and maybe a
ribbon. Unfortunately, these PC Jr joysticks don't seem like they'd migrate
to another box easily, there's a plastic inverted pyramid built into the
plastic case that seems like it'd be pretty hard, at least with my limited
wood- and metal-working skills, to duplicate. So now, I'm thinking about
doing the panel mount interface route: Build a MOTM panel that has the
input and output CV jacks, and connect the joystick to that. Anybody else
got any ideas?

____________________________________________
Dave Trenkel : improv@...
Minus Web Site: http://listen.to/minusmusic
Minus MP3's: http://www.mp3.com/-minus-
____________________________________________

> From: improv@...
> Did anybody else pick up on the Electronics Goldmine deal on PC Jr.
> joysticks? I think someone on this list turned me on to this.


I got three of them for the halibut.
Larry H

In a message dated 00-03-28 15:01:01 EST, you write:

<< to eventually include maybe a few joysticks, some momentary
 buttons, some locking buttons (!) and maybe a short compass (like 18
 notes) CV + Gate keyboard having individual tuning controls (i.e., not
 specifically designed for tempered scales...), oh, and maybe a little
 4017 based simple sequencer to mess with as well?!? >>



frank,
an outstanding idea !
best,
dave v.