Haptic Fader is a force-feedback sliding potentiometer which offers a way of integrating the sense of touch into digital musical instruments and a more organic connection with electronic sound equipment. After years of academic and artistic research, the haptic fader was designed and developed for introducing musicians, sound artists, media artists, and interaction designers to haptics, a field which only very few institutions had access to before.

It is the only general-purpose cost-effective force-feedback device based on open-source hardware and open-source software elements for creative communities. Dr. Edgar Berdahl and Dr. Alexandros Kontogeorgakopoulos, creators of the device and framework, have held talks and workshops on international conferences, Universities and for wider audiences such us at the Ableton’s Loop festival. Over the years, different versions of the device have been used in compositions and audio-visual performances in the US and Europe. In the workshop, participants will assemble a haptic fader and learn how to program simple force-feedback haptic interactions in the visual programming environments of Max and Pure Data.

The participants are not expected to have prior experience in electronics and digital fabrication. Some experience in programming is helpful, but not required. The participants should bring their own laptop to program the device, and pre-install Max (free for 30 days) and Pure Data.