A new keyboard overlay developed by Andrew McPherson from C4DM allows performers to bend pitch, create vibrato and experiment with a range of musical techniques not associated with standard keyboards.
This summer sees the launch of TouchKeys, developed by Andrew McPherson from C4DM, on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding website. The TouchKeys are sensor overlays that attach to any standard-size keyboard, acoustic or electronic. Each key uses capacitive touch sensing to precisely locate one or more fingers on the key surface. This allows performers to emulate non-keyboard expressive effects such as vibrato, pitch bends and timbre changes. By sliding a finger up and down a key, a pianist can bend pitch, like a guitarist - sensors measure the location and contact area of the player’s fingers on the key surfaces, and the data creates the expressive effects. To find out more read New Scientist or the Augmented Instruments Lab pages.