Touchpad Moogerfooger?

Modularfan · Post by **Modularfan** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:09 am

You can see the ad for the Big Briar Touch Plate here:

http://www.moogmusic.com/members/?secti ... 0id%20DESC

- MF

goldphinga · Post by **goldphinga** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:16 pm

eric coleridge · Post by **eric coleridge** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:17 am

goldphinga wrote:try here..

http://www.tactex.com/

Thanks. Yes, I've seen these. This is the exact same kind that's in the Voyager. It's a fiber-optic device and I suspect that it needs some kind of digital processor to function. Not the kind of device that easily lends itself to CV applications, necessarily. '

I think the links that Dr Floyd posted would be more applicable to basic CV controller projects-- although I didn't look at them real carefully yet.

I'm still working on my DIY modular... controllers will have to wait. But I still like to investigate different options, for when I do get the chance to think about building it.

dr_floyd · Post by **dr_floyd** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:53 am

Actually the Tactex was abandoned on the Voyager late in its development (it would have provided a pressure controller too), and Bob resorted to an analog solution, seems maybe the Touchplate from the Big Briar days.

eric coleridge · Post by **eric coleridge** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:01 pm

dr_floyd wrote:Actually the Tactex was abandoned on the Voyager late in its development (it would have provided a pressure controller too), and Bob resorted to an analog solution, seems maybe the Touchplate from the Big Briar days.

I read in a bunch of different places that the Voyager touch-pad was this tactex device. I guess you really can't believe everything you read.

I wonder then what kind of pad the Voyager uses?

Incidentally, I live in NY, and I went to see a multi-media project last night at this film institution here in Manhattan. It was a Czec film from the late 60s and there were a bunch of musicians performing the sound track to it live. It was really amazing, but of particular note, one of the players had a Buchla Music Easel. It was absolutely beautiful-- and I'd never seen one in person before.

But I was talking to the guy with the Buchla for several minutes after the performance, and he was explaining a little about the touch plates used on Buchla synths: Some kind of variable capacitance mechanism. I didn't understand it exactly. But it sure looked and sounded amazing.

He said he bought it new from Donald Buchla in 1976. He had some memroy boards for it as well...