Stribe1: Touchstrip + LED Bargraph Display from CuriousInventor on Vimeo.

The Stribe, created by DIYer Josh Boughey, was always an interesting concept. It combines a set of touch sensors with strips of LEDs for visual feedback. But partly because of the nature of the problem, and partly because of how it was designed, the original Stribe was something of a beast, both in size and underlying hardware complexity (meaning, too, cost).

I see via the rapid-fire feed at Synthtopia that Josh has revised that design to a set of just two columns of (stereo-style) LEDs. The result: the design is much more compact, and it’s just US$79.99 for the kit. Now, arguably, you could do the same with a fader. And, true, you can daisy chain these units together to form more units. But I think the Stribe1 benefits from its slimmed-down new form.

New Kit: Stribe1 Touch LED Strip Controller

It’s always interesting to see how things evolve. Let us know your thoughts on the new Stribe1, and if you get one, do send us a report. For more on the Stribe, check out our original exclusive-scoop interview with Josh from February:

Hands-on, Interview: Stribe Multi-Touch Controller

… and, more recently, some reflections on touch interfaces in general (with plenty of interesting comments):

Stanton to Release Touch DJ Controller; Surface One, Thunder, Reborn?

What good is open source hardware? How about hacking in additional functionality by adjusting the code and electronics? The creators of Monome have a new video demonstrating some of the possibilities for user modifications to their hardware project. Included:

1. Optical encoders allow additional multi-touch interactions, for a game of Life (the grid-based life simulation of yore)
2. Two knobs make the world’s most expensive Etch-a-Sketch
3. An accelerometer let you tilt and shake the controller while using it, with full LED feedback (my personal favorite)

Monome documentation of process and prototyping
Via Open-source grid controller – the monome (video)”, Make:blog

The software side is all programmed using Max/MSP and the open source project Processing, which we’ve been following avidly on Create Digital Motion. A reader on Make points out that the device is pricey at $500, but if you have any similar ideas on any scale, you can learn something from the open documentation.

Now just imagine what you could do if Korg posted documentation for hacking their hardware and rewriting their code. A lot of these open source projects have been big business — made bigger by word-of-mouth promotion. Could more music makers profit from letting customers hack their gear? Absolutely.

Previously: Hackable, Playable LED/Pad Music Interface