NAMM 2010: Soft Stepping
One of the questions I had after attending the NIME conference in June 2009, was on how new performance technologies made it to market. One innovative manufacturer, Keith McMillen Instruments has been developing interesting new interfaces for the last few years. At NAMM 2009, he showed the K-Bow, a bow for string instruments that allows a player to maintain their traditional playing technique while transmitting control information used in an interactive electronic performance. Richard Boulanger, a colleague in the Electronic Production and Design at Berklee, premiered a pioneering composition for cellist Kari Juusela this year using the K-Bow, and both composer and performer were enthusiastic about the result.
This year, McMillen was showing his latest product, Soft Step, at the NAMM show. Now why would anyone get excited about a 10-key footswitch controller? As a guitarist looking for more complete control in interactive, live performances, I’m stoked. I recently picked up a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI foot controller, which is a solid, well-built device, but it’s big, bulky, and decidedly old school MIDI in it’s approach. The Soft Step weighs in at a little over a pound and at 17.5″ x 4,” it will fit in most backpacks. This is very good news if you’re a laptop performer. It’s made of a carbon composite and is surprisingly sturdy.
Berklee Alum Barry Threw shows Soft Step
While form factor is the practical side of the device, the Soft Step takes things a bit further. Instead of just momentary contact or on/off switches, each of the ten backlit pads offers five degrees of motion, each of which can send separate control messages. The device connects to the computer using USB. Mapping and scaling of control values is easy using the software interface. MacMillen was showing a working prototype at the NAMM show, and he hopes to ship the product in Spring 2010.
