Augmented Keyboard

Piano-style keyboard controllers are both ubiquitous and practical in music production. However, the expression capabilities of such controllers are fundamentally restricted: commonly the player can only control the onset and offset velocities of the notes, and even with the keyboards offering pressure control during notes (aftertouch) a lot of potential for capturing control data in an unobtrusive manner remains unused.

The project Augmented Musical Keyboard Controller: Using Capacitive Sensing to Produce Control Data for Added Expression (University of the Arts Helsinki, 2013) explored this untapped potential. In the project, I experimented with attaching a simple strip of conductive material in front of a small-sized keyboard controller. What this augmentation provides is primitive sensing of distance between the player’s hands and the controller, offering useful control data for synthesis and playback parameters.

The advantage of such implementation of distance sensing is two-fold. Firstly, the technique used is affordable and simple. Secondly, the technique does not change the fundamental nature of a keyboard controller; instead, it makes use of the already-existing expression capabilities in the player’s hands and provides in that sense auxiliary control data free of charge.