Patch-corde: an expressive patch-cable for the modular synthesizer.

Joao Wilbert, Don D Haddad, Hiroshi Ishii, and Joseph Paradiso

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

Many opportunities and challenges in both the control and performative aspects of today’s modular synthesizers exist. The user interface prevailing in the world of synthesizers and music controllers has always been revolving around knobs, faders, switches, dials, buttons, or capacitive touchpads, to name a few. This paper presents a novel way of interaction with a modular synthesizer by exploring the affordances of cord-base UIs. A special patch cable was developed us- ing commercially available piezo-resistive rubber cords, and was adapted to fit to the 3.5 mm mono audio jack, making it compatible with the Eurorack modular-synth standard. Moreover, a module was developed to condition this stretch- able sensor/cable, to allow multiple Patch-cordes to be used in a given patch simultaneously. This paper also presents a vocabulary of interactions, labeled through various physical actions, turning the patch cable into an expressive controller that complements traditional patching techniques.

Citation:

Joao Wilbert, Don D Haddad, Hiroshi Ishii, and Joseph Paradiso. 2020. Patch-corde: an expressive patch-cable for the modular synthesizer.. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4813224

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{NIME20_120,
 abstract = {Many opportunities and challenges in both the control and performative aspects of today’s modular synthesizers exist. The user interface prevailing in the world of synthesizers and music controllers has always been revolving around knobs, faders, switches, dials, buttons, or capacitive touchpads, to name a few. This paper presents a novel way of interaction with a modular synthesizer by exploring the affordances of cord-base UIs. A special patch cable was developed us- ing commercially available piezo-resistive rubber cords, and was adapted to fit to the 3.5 mm mono audio jack, making it compatible with the Eurorack modular-synth standard. Moreover, a module was developed to condition this stretch- able sensor/cable, to allow multiple Patch-cordes to be used in a given patch simultaneously. This paper also presents a vocabulary of interactions, labeled through various physical actions, turning the patch cable into an expressive controller that complements traditional patching techniques.},
 address = {Birmingham, UK},
 author = {Wilbert, Joao and Haddad, Don D and Ishii, Hiroshi and Paradiso, Joseph},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.4813224},
 editor = {Romain Michon and Franziska Schroeder},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {July},
 pages = {613--616},
 presentation-video = {https://youtu.be/7gklx8ek8U8},
 publisher = {Birmingham City University},
 title = {Patch-corde: an expressive patch-cable for the modular synthesizer.},
 url = {https://www.nime.org/proceedings/2020/nime2020_paper120.pdf},
 year = {2020}
}