Velocity sensitive

markk

I just discovered that keys and pads in GarageBand have velocity sensitivity of a sort. I thought I was losing my mind, but I researched, and it's true! Do any other apps do this?

Captaintitanic

Auria pro can use the inbuilt microphone to detect the surface noise from the touchscreen. It works quite well at low ambient noise levels but gets increasingly erratic as the level rises. GarageBand and others rely on where you're hitting the key on its vertical axis, the lower the louder. The upside is good velocity control if you're prepared to use the precision required, the downside is random velocity levels if you're not aware of it, especially within chords.

PhilW

In addition to the previous answer, some apps use the accelerometer to measure the "jolt" as you hit the screen to give a kind of velocity sensitivity, I think the iFretless range may use this? This will clearly be global rather than per touch, all notes hit at the same time will have the same velocity.

OscarSouth

Orphion has pretty interesting dynamic controls, depending on how you contact with the screen.

markk

@Captaintitanic said:
GarageBand and others rely on where you're hitting the key on its vertical axis, the lower the louder.

My finger wasn't going up and down. I was hitting the same spot over and over, just harder and softer. I think GB uses the mic thing too.

Samu

GarageBand uses the accelerometer to determine velocity. It's not a 'reliable' and 'reproducable' method just an approximation of how much and how fast the device moved. When using the 'smart case' there is sometimes no notes played at all. Maybe the iPad moves too much (cover acts like a spring) so the values get calculated a bit strange.

Another app that uses the accelerometer (if enabled) for velocity is Waldorf Attack...

For touch-screen velocity I personally prefer the y-axis for keys and edge->center for pads.

u0421793

I’d have thought it would be possible to measure the finger “spread” or diameter by discriminating along a continuum between whether the initial hit presents only a small radius of the tip for a soft touch, to a wider spread of the fingertip for a harder touch. The frustrated total internal reflectance technology used in the interface (FTIR) (or as Apple have branded it, “Multitouch” (by buying a company called Multitouch that developed the use of FTIR to make a better touch screen than the resistive single-point ones we used to have to use a plastic pen on back in the days of PDAs)) should be able to ascertain more than just where the point is, but also in principle the rough radius of the point, if it can also manage to do palm rejection.

u0421793

Btw, FM4 and iVCS3 use the “away from you / toward you” axis on the keyboard to clumsily simulate velocity. I’m sure there’s a list approaching of other apps that have that method or other methods of implementing extra control axes on their keyboards.

[Deleted User]

Hit key up or down for velocity is pretty common.
Sunrizer does this too.
Orphions touch interface is a nice idea,
But doesn't work for me.

We need 3D Touch to get rid of all these workarounds
then we will get aftertouch, not sure if it's fast enough for velocity...

Velocity on a keyboard is not really the pressure I think
It's the time the key travels until it is pushed down?
we don't press any physical key here and the way it moves is what 0,1 mm?

BitShapeSoft

Sadly, while 3D Touch works great for aftertouch, it does not well work for the initial contact with the screen. In testing I got erratic responses, where more than half of the time the first registered force value was 0.0, even when tapping vigorously.

For this reason only the continuous 'Force' controller was added to TC-11, and not a separate initial force value (which is needed for velocity).

[Deleted User]

I thought so,
I've seen a few aftertouch implementations, but no one did velocity, that's why I thought oh oh there must be some Easter eggs in velocity.

mschenkel.it

On keyboards velocity is calculated this way:
Under the every key is a button(on/off) but the on/off button is paired with another one on the same axis of the key's pivot and the other switch so it can calculate the velocity scaling the timing difference of the hits on the two switches

[Deleted User]

now I understand whats going on with 3d touch

a>I have been hit by a force and (oops this is not a time parameter anymore)
b>its continuing pressing with force

funny how we are so used to think in this little time trick (its a trick to make the keyboard cheap)

Fitz

@BitShapeSoft said:
Sadly, while 3D Touch works great for aftertouch, it does not well work for the initial contact with the screen. In testing I got erratic responses, where more than half of the time the first registered force value was 0.0, even when tapping vigorously.

For this reason only the continuous 'Force' controller was added to TC-11, and not a separate initial force value (which is needed for velocity).

I've heard this mentioned before, but find that whatever Thumbjam has done in adding 'Force" for volume and velocity, this works really well on my iPhone 6s.