Conductive inkjet printed DIY music control surface

We developed a novel music control sensate surface, which enables retrofit integration between any musical instruments with a versatile, customizable, and essentially cost-effective user interface. Our project presents new opportunities in customizable, flexible interface design since, unlike just using a touch screen, it adapts very well to non-square or non-flat surfaces or surfaces with holes. Our design requires an interactive circuit that is made in a computer-aided design environment and printed from a conductive inkjet printer on a PET substrate. This method allows us to create a functional decoration on the controller surface, combining graphic design and music performance with expressive physical manipulation. We present an example of implementation on an electric ukulele and provide several design examples to demonstrate the versatile capabilities of this system.