MPE

[treacl]

From my own collection tests, here's what I'm considering. Do others agree or have better suggestions for these groups?

I have a collection of MPE devices and am currently mapping out recommendations for different user scenarios.

I’d appreciate forum input on which MPE controllers (hardware or touch‑based) you’d suggest for:

· Users with physical disabilities (e.g., limited hand mobility, low force, single‑finger use)
· Previously trained musicians (may need familiar feel or minimal relearning)
· People with trauma histories, including CSA (needs around agency, sensory safety, body awareness)
· Other impacts (chronic pain, hospitalisation, distance education, fatigue)

I have my own shortlist but want to hear real‑world experiences and preferences from this community.

Thanks for any feedback.

P.S. – If you’ve tried more than one device for any of the above, please share what worked best and why.
(I’ll be posting brand‑specific queries separately.)

[Dirk Diggler]

Every one of your questions can be answered with the Linnstrument.

You do realize this is the Linnstrument forums right?

[Roger_Linn]

Hi treacl,

Good question. In 2015, LinnStrument was awarded the “Best Playable Instrument” by the UK’s One handed Musical Instrument Trust:

https://www.ohmi.org.uk/past-winners.html

And I offer a 10% discount to musicians with a physical disability that significantly impedes their ability to play a conventional musical instrument:

https://www.rogerlinndesign.com/where-t ... -discounts

[treacl]

Every one of your questions can be answered with the Linnstrument.

You do realize this is the Linnstrument forums right?

Thanks for that, Dirk.

I’ve started reaching out to “(Instrument’s)” (specifically) & overall/general forums. As ‘this community’ is mentioned, it’s always open for open comments.

[BobDog]

...
· Users with physical disabilities (e.g., limited hand mobility, low force, single‑finger use)
· Previously trained musicians (may need familiar feel or minimal relearning)
· People with trauma histories, including CSA (needs around agency, sensory safety, body awareness)
· Other impacts (chronic pain, hospitalisation, distance education, fatigue)
...

Well that is quite a list, and to be honest I'm not sure what some of it means, especially the CSA bit?

For low force and limited hand mobility the Linnstrument does have quite an advantage over other instruments I would like to play, very little force is required and you can get a range of notes played in both up/down and left/right planes.

You do not need to have a large distance between the playing surface and your fingers, you can actually play from resting your fingers on the surface, I just had a look to see what distance I play from and I would guess maybe 3mm at the most and quite a lot of the time resting my fingers on the surface.

I have a buggered lower right arm/wrist from a motorcycle accident, the radius and ulna were shattered and are now held together with a plates and the end of the ulna had to be removed. So it's not up to much at all really. I can play the LS though, forearms resting on the desk edge and fingers on the surface.

Can't play the piano though, but then I never could

[BobDog]

Hi treacl,

Good question. In 2015, LinnStrument was awarded the “Best Playable Instrument” by the UK’s One handed Musical Instrument Trust:

https://www.ohmi.org.uk/past-winners.html

And I offer a 10% discount to musicians with a physical disability that significantly impedes their ability to play a conventional musical instrument:

https://www.rogerlinndesign.com/where-t ... -discounts

That's interesting. My Dad only had one arm from birth and was amazingly adept at lots of things you would think a one armed person would never do, he was a mechanic for lots of his life, I mean why would you choose that as a job We used to play the guitar together when I was a kid, one hand each, me on his lap. He would have loved the LS.

[Roger_Linn]

Great story, BobDog. It was a wonderful bonus to learn that LinnStrument is well-suited for people with physical disabilities, something I hadn't considered in the design.

[BobDog]

Hi Roger,

It would be very interesting to me why you actually thought of designing something like the LinnStrument in the first place, what was the reasoning?

These things take a lot of effort, and I guess a fair amount of risk to get to a sellable production model, couple that with the idea that no one might actually want one and also at a base level maybe you wanted at least to break even?

So I guess 3 questions:

1. Why did you put your mind to this in the first place?

2. Was the financial hit of a failure not insurmountable for you, so the idea of failure and the cost was manageable?

3. What's next?

Cheers

Andy

[Roger_Linn]

Hi Andy,

Good question! Here are my answers:

1. I noticed that synthesis was being played by on/off switches (MIDI piano keyboards, drum pads, etc.) and this resulted in electronically-generated music becoming background music-- background for singers, picture, dance, etc.-- but there were no virtuosic soloists as in acoustic instruments. I discuss that here:
https://www.rogerlinndesign.com/support/why-expression
So I figured that expressive touch control was the next big thing.

2. I'm very cheap and did nearly all of the development myself, using lots of tricks to save money so it didn't cost so much. Then Geert stepped in and made the software much better. I'm not getting rich off of LinnStrument, but enjoying doing something unique and that hopefully makes a contribution to better music-making. I've sold about 5600 so far, which is not bad.

3. I'm 70 now and as a one-person company, don't have as much energy to take risks or spend a lot of time and effort in developing new products. So I'm mainly just enjoying maintaining LinnStrument and watching its influence grow. But there are some possible future opportunities for collaborating with other companies, which would be nice because I wouldn't have to do all the work myself.

[BobDog]

Thanks for the reply Roger, hopefully you will sell lots more as time goes on.

[Roger_Linn]

You’re very welcome, Andy. And thanks for being a longtime LinnStrumenalist.

[BobDog]

Thanks for the nice words Roger.

From my perspective though I am lucky to have a LS, a prized gift. It has sat in front of my computer keyboard through various incarnations of computers and setups and always in prime position and has been used every day.

Here it is today:

LsToday.jpeg