http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoAOx97G8ew
http://www.gizmag.com/roger-linn-linnstrument-digital-music-interface/15155/
........
Sadly, that's unlikely to happen anytime soon - because the TouchCo
multitouch pad that Linn used in the production of his prototype has
been withdrawn from production. Apparently Amazon bought up the
technology earlier this year (
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/technology/04amazon.html?_r=1 ) with
a view to using it in the Kindle eBook reader, but has completely
shelved it and shut down the TouchCo operation, presumably due to the
ongoing Intellectual Property chest-beating, suing and counter-suing
going on in the multitouch arena right now.
So the TouchCo website has nothing but a sad placeholder to offer (
http://touchco.com/ ), and Linn has nothing but his pre-production
prototype to work with, ruling out the possibility of a LinnStrument
hitting the market in the immediate future.
........
Could the meego touch API support the features needed by the
instrument used in the above Youtube Video of Roger Linn? Some of the
swipes and other gestures demonstrated in the video are available in
http://apidocs.meego.com/mtf/gestures.html but an important one isn't:
multitouch pressure sensitivity that is equivalent to "polyphonic
aftertouch" on a MIDI keyboard -- allowing analog pressure readings to
be taken continuously and simultaneously per touch.
Is there interest in making such devices part of the "use case" for meego
touch?
And are there any such displays&touchsensors available for use with
Meego capable hardware such as the beagleboard?
I imagine one could extrapolate touch pressure by looking at how much
area each touch consumes, dynamically -- (assuming a normal human
finger whose tip would deform and cover more surface area with
application of more pressure).
Niels
http://nielsmayer.com