Force-Feedback Instruments for the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana
Edgar J. Berdahl, Andrew Pfalz, Michael Blandino, Stephen David Beck · Springer series on touch and haptic systems · 2018
Digital musical instruments yielding force feedback were designed and employed in a case study with the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana. The advantages of force feedback are illuminated through the creation of a series of musical compositions. Based on these and a small number of other prior music compositions, the following compositional approaches are recommended: providing performers with precise, physically intuitive, and reconfigurable controls, using traditional controls alongside force-feedback controls as appropriate, and designing timbres that sound uncannily familiar but are nonetheless novel. Video-recorded performances illustrate these approaches, which are discussed by the composers.