IFD:Analog Circuits and Interfaces/interface schematics

This page shows a few ways to sense touch or force and convert it to an analog voltages.

1V/Oct analog keyboard interface

This is a vintage style analog keyboard interface that is used e.g. on the stylophone to convert touches to pitches in 1V/Oct. More sophisticated version with note priority and touch/release detection can be found on music from outer space.

Velostat Pressure Sensor / Moisture-to-Voltage converter

This circuit can be used to detect finger pressure or any force on a surface with the help of a pressure sensitive sheet material called 'velotstat'. You can find a tutorial how to build the physical sensor here.

The same circuit can be used with a different type of physical interfaces as well. Instead of the velostat material as a variable resistor we can use a layout of wires known as a 'moisture sensor'. We can hookup our moisture sensor to the circuit above instead of the velostat sandwiched between two electrodes. Here is a video showing how to build a moisture sensor. Ciat Lonbarde's Tocante instrument might use this simple technique to sense touch.