Adrian Freed with Bill Buxton: The prehistory of Multitouch and Tangible Computing: Electronic Musical Instruments from 1890’s to 1970 February 17, 2009

This presentation will cover the earliest electric and electronic instruments and by pairing contemporary touch interfaces with their musical predecessors we will see how much ground musicians turned over in the quest for greater microtonal pitch control, timbral resources and greater control of musical structure.

For designers and students of tangible computing this presentation will serve as a historical bridge to Bill Buxton’s excellent web page “Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved” (http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html).

Unusual Instruments covered include the Trautonium, Helletertion, Ondes Martenot, and Theremin Cello.

As well as rare archival film and images, we will conclude with demonstrations of the latest touch controlled musical instruments including David Wessel’s Slab, CNMAT’s new chordophone controllers and unusual controllers from CNMAT’s extensive collection.

Official Website: http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/event/2009/02/17/prehistory_multitouch_and_tangible_computing_electronic_musical_i