Snyderphonics Manta Controller, a Novel {USB} Touch-Controller

The Snyderphonics Manta controller is a USB touch controller for music and video. It features 48 capacitive touch sensors, arranged in a hexagonal grid, with bi-color LEDs that are programmable from the computer. The sensors send continuous data proportional to surface area touched, and a velocitydetection algorithm has been implemented to estimate attack velocity based on this touch data. In addition to these hexagonal sensors, the Manta has two high-dimension touch sliders (giving 12-bit values), and four assignable function buttons. In this paper, I outline the features of the controller, the available methods for communicating between the device and a computer, and some current uses for the controller.