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Author Topic: Analogue switches  (Read 1111 times)

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Offline Icarium

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Analogue switches
« on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 08:37:47 »
Are there any switches one can get analogue signals from? Not sure what I want to do with that information yet but it sounds like fun. :)
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Offline hazeluff

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Analogue switches
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 09:05:15 »
Quote from: Icarium;495497
Are there any switches one can get analogue signals from? Not sure what I want to do with that information yet but it sounds like fun. :)

I'm not quite sure what OP is asking for. @_@
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Offline kps

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Analogue switches
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 09:12:58 »
Quote from: Icarium;495497
Are there any switches one can get analogue signals from?

MIDI supports both speed and pressure reports from musical keyboards. Without looking, I would guess that they measure speed by timing two or more contact points, and pressure with strain gauges.

If you want position reports, I'd suggest looking for an old industrial keyboard with Hall-effect switches to hack on.
Quote
Not sure what I want to do with that information yet but it sounds like fun. :)

With pressure sensitivity, the keyboard could automatically engage Caps Lock WHEN YOU GET ANGRY.
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Offline Icarium

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Analogue switches
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 09:20:46 »
See, great ideas already. :) Hm...hall switches...hm...I'll see if I can find anything.

To clarify, yes the idea was to have pressure or position reported and then use it to speed up repetition, add a bottom-out layer or other stuff like that.
« Last Edit: Sat, 21 January 2012, 09:23:48 by Icarium »
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woody

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Analogue switches
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 09:42:50 »
Quote from: Icarium;495497
Are there any switches one can get analogue signals from?
Example: capacitive sensing switches, resistive switches like the ones in PS2/PS3 controllers.
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Offline kps

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Analogue switches
« Reply #5 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 09:46:26 »
Quote from: Icarium;495523
To clarify, yes the idea was to have pressure or position reported and then use it to speed up repetition, add a bottom-out layer or other stuff like that.


Ah yes. IBM had a nice-looking patent on a beam-spring variant for that purpose. I'm not aware of it seeing production. If I had a zillion dollars, that's the switch I'd clone today.

Maybe you could try sandwiching a little piezo buzzer between PCB and keyswitch to detect bottoming-out impact.
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Offline Icarium

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Analogue switches
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 10:28:45 »
Between PCB and keyswitch....there shouldn't be any movement between those, should there?
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Offline kps

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Analogue switches
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 14:19:22 »
Quote from: Icarium;495559
Between PCB and keyswitch....there shouldn't be any movement between those, should there?

None noticeable, but I suspect it wouldn't matter — they use piezos for acoustic string pickups, sandwiched 'immobile' between the bridge and body, so I'd bet you could measure the bottom-out force by its volume. You probably couldn't use Cherry switches, since they have a big alignment pin in the middle, but rather ALPS or others.
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Offline Kurk

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Analogue switches
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 21 January 2012, 19:25:24 »
These guys are building an isomorphic keyboard that uses modified cherry switches in combination with another layer of switches for velocity sensing. It's explained at ~1:30 in the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfjEYu79J-4
So it's not an analogue signal but still very interesting.
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Offline Icarium

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« Reply #9 on: Sun, 22 January 2012, 01:50:59 »
Would be interesting to see how that feels. Not what I really want, though. :)
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woody

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Analogue switches
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 22 January 2012, 04:29:21 »
Why would you want velocity sensing? So that you have one more source of mistakes?
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Offline Kurk

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Analogue switches
« Reply #11 on: Sun, 22 January 2012, 04:41:25 »
Quote from: woody;496116
Why would you want velocity sensing? So that you have one more source of mistakes?
Well, it's for making music not for typing.
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woody

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Analogue switches
« Reply #12 on: Sun, 22 January 2012, 04:49:38 »
Ups, sorry. Missed the "isomorphic" part.
Cheap MIDI keyboards use two-point velocity sensing.
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