[LAU] turn your tablet into a real physical interface

[Len Ovens]

On Thu, 30 Oct 2014, david wrote:

> saw this design and first thing I thought of was using it to make music.
>
> http://www.wired.com/2014/10/sliders-knobs-dials-give-tablet-physical-interface/

The designer thought it would be good for music too. One has to look at 
gains VS losses. All that is gained is tactile touch. What is lost is 
visual feedback, that is with so little realestate one would want to be 
able to switch banks and the faders would not work with that. The knobs 
could, but the visual refference of seeing where the new bank settings 
were would be lost. Changing configuration takes way too much time for 
stage use and even in the studio it would be frustrating. For mere tactile 
feel... that is knowing that your finger is in a certain place, a clear 
template with slots would work better, though I do not know if it would be 
better enough than a blank touch screen to make it worth while. Certainly 
it would be cheaper though. It also makes the device a one application 
device. For example running both a recorder and a remote mixer could not 
be done. A "clip-board" with a smart phone and a small midi controller 
might work better.

There are some things where visual feedback would be very nice. A touchpad 
can be a wonderful tool for some of these things. Limiting it by covering 
it's screen just doesn't make sense unless you have more than one 
screen... and then a dedicated midi controller wins anyway.

My 2 cents...

--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net