Monday, December 12, 2011

Could New Technology Reinvent Software Synths?

There's no question that software synths have come a long way since they first started appearing, but no matter how much better these synths are starting to sound, there is still something they lack - the tactile satisfaction of reaching out and touching a physical knob to alter a value. Sure, you can map stuff to a controller, but what about a more direct approach?

This article from the UK's Daily Mail details a new technology that combines touch screens with electrostatic signals to give users the illusion that what they are touching on the screen has a physical texture. It's not hard to extrapolate from here that it may eventually become possible for entire control surfaces of knobs and sliders to be simulated to have the same feel as the "real deal". Could this be the next level for soft synths?

4 comments:

fractured said...

The Daily Mail link is bad. It has your waveformless url at the beginning. I had to copy/edit/paste it to work.

Thanks for sharing this article, though. It looks very cool!

Tom said...

Thanks for the heads up... link fixed.

Paul Seegers said...

I can imagine this being abused in all kinds of ways.

Pharmamaster said...

Paul's right. The future of teledildonics is here!

8-)