There are many kinds of expressive controllers, they’ve been around for decades. They didn’t catch on. Not sure we can answer why: failure to catch on is the default, it doesn’t demand an explanation. The interesting question is why other things succeeded in the meantime, like keyboards with knobs, or drum machines, or turntables. Why they led to impactful music, while a lot of more advanced stuff didn’t. It seems the reasons are cultural, and different every time.
What this means practically is, there’s no guaranteed path. You can try to make an expressive controller, but there are already lots, so not sure the point. You can buy one online and try making impactful music with it, so far nobody succeeded but maybe you will. Or you can reexamine the hypothesis that expressive controllers are what’s lacking in music (for me personally it’s well and truly refuted), and search for something else. Up to you.
Edit: this HN comment (not by me) is about a similar topic, not specifically expressive controllers but generally the mystery of which musical instruments catch on and which don’t.
There are many kinds of expressive controllers, they’ve been around for decades. They didn’t catch on. Not sure we can answer why: failure to catch on is the default, it doesn’t demand an explanation. The interesting question is why other things succeeded in the meantime, like keyboards with knobs, or drum machines, or turntables. Why they led to impactful music, while a lot of more advanced stuff didn’t. It seems the reasons are cultural, and different every time.
What this means practically is, there’s no guaranteed path. You can try to make an expressive controller, but there are already lots, so not sure the point. You can buy one online and try making impactful music with it, so far nobody succeeded but maybe you will. Or you can reexamine the hypothesis that expressive controllers are what’s lacking in music (for me personally it’s well and truly refuted), and search for something else. Up to you.
Edit: this HN comment (not by me) is about a similar topic, not specifically expressive controllers but generally the mystery of which musical instruments catch on and which don’t.