Aranya Khurana

"TacTile is a touch-sensitive fabric-based matrix intended to function as a New Interface for Musical Expression (NIME). It was designed and developed as part of an OCAD U Graduate course of the same name. The project is an eTextile that integrates materials and learnings from the Advanced Wearables elective. The design features 2 sets of parallel strips of conductive fabric separated by piezoresistive material (velostat or Eeonyx). Both sets of strips connect to a Teensy 3.5 microcontroller: one set to digital pins, the other to analog pins with the latter reading off values. These values are interpreted and sent to Python (earlier versions used Processing and Max/MSP) where a OpenCV's blob tracking algorithm interprets touches and assigns parameters such as blob IDs, x-position, y-position, size and pressure. These parameters are then used for sound generation by controlling MIDI note values which are sent to VST plugins synths in Ableton Live. This project is a work in progress and currently undergoing further prototyping and development as part of Aranya Khurana’s Masters Thesis project at the Digital Futures Graduate programme. The design and code draws on openly available resources from and owes significant thanks to Maurin Donneaud, Plusea, Kobakant/How to Get What You Want and Tom Igoe. Developed as part of courses offered by and under the guidance of Adam Tindale and Kate Hartman.