Interfacing...

Lately I’ve become intrigued again with “alternative” interfaces. (I hesitate to use the words “tactile” or “tangible” because every interface that you don’t control directly with your brain is inherently either or both.) This one caught my eye from my Twitter feed this morning:

Aside from being yet another example of the Right Handed Overlords oppressing the lefty minority, it is a really pleasing-to-look at device. Not exactly expressive, as such, as you need at least one degree of modifier in addition to the initial touch to even remotely be called expressive, but it’s nice to see someone take things in a new direction. More pics here.

Most of you probably saw the “Seven Mantas” video that was making the rounds the other day, as it appeared on several of the normal tech sites in addition to CDM. This is Chris Lloyd demonstrating a Manta controlling his SevenUpLive monome patch. I theoretically have a Manta on the way here, and I’m intrigued to see if it can fit in to my daily work. It looks like it should be able to, with the caveat that controllers of this sort are very rarely of the “plug it in and go” type of things.

If you have an “alternative” controller, do you use it in daily music making, or is it more of a special purpose thing, where you’ve got to find a need for it in any given song?