iPad deuce

[Chris Strellis]

> I think ribbon, Ondes Martenot- or Trautonium-type controllers are
> where it's at, musically. Maybe sort of like a lap steel, a fretless
> bass or a violin. Challenging, but allows you to play glissandi,
> vibrato, just intonation and much much more.

The French Connection is expensive and uses the ring on a wire driving a
pulley system.

http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk/Reviews/fconnection_review.htm

> But good solutions are extremely expensive, je croix.

I don't see why. You could rig up some resistance wire, it's usually
around 1 Ohm per cm so 1 meter length gives you 100 Ohms.  Putting 5V at
one end and 0V at the other passes 50mA, a fair but low current which
won't heat it (only 0.25W). Using an iron nail or metal stylus between
the two ends gives you a variable voltage.  Run a connection wire from
the stylus to an op-amp unity buffer and you can then drive an
oscillator.  Even with buying a 5V PSU would only cost around 10GBP.

You would need to generate a gate (and/or trigger) from this too which
might be a little harder but can be done using a comparator sensing if
there's any voltage > 0V at the stylus.  Might need a pull-down resistor
on the comparator input to guarentee no stylus contact with the wire
equals no gate\trigger.

Simples!

Cheers

Chris