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Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Fri May 29, 2026 9:00 pm
by inffih
Hi, so I'll just throw this out there if someone has done something like it or maybe gets an idea from this.

I was playing my Linnstrument while it was on my computer desk (usually my Linnstrument is on a separate stand) and I was blasting the sound from my studio monitors that are on the desk aswell. When I played my table vibrated and it also made the Linnstrument vibrate and it felt like something I had never felt with the Linnstrument. It was like "holy shit, this is how it SHOULD be". Each note I played I also got a tactile vibrating feedback. I could FEEL the sound I was playing with my hands for the first time ever.

So this got me wondering, is there any way to attach something to the Linnstrument to hack this effect in? :D I mean, I have no clue what it could even be. Some kind of speaker at the bottom or anything that could physically vibrate the instrument.

Would it damage the instrument long term? :?:

This is a ridiculous idea, but has anyone ever experienced or tried something like this?

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 2:48 am
by westond12
Sounds like an idea that I will work on. I am going to use 4 x Walfront 2 Inch 20W Vibration Speaker Exciter, 8 Ohm Resonance Transducer (two for each stereo input), placing one on each corner of the LinnStrument. There are smaller ones (less power) that might also work, but I need the larger ones anyway for another project. I would feed from a small amp to adjust the vibration. Thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 6:18 am
by Tj Shredder
That sounds like fun… or better feels like fun…

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 8:06 am
by inffih
westond12 wrote: Sat May 30, 2026 2:48 am Sounds like an idea that I will work on. I am going to use 4 x Walfront 2 Inch 20W Vibration Speaker Exciter, 8 Ohm Resonance Transducer (two for each stereo input), placing one on each corner of the LinnStrument. There are smaller ones (less power) that might also work, but I need the larger ones anyway for another project. I would feed from a small amp to adjust the vibration. Thanks for the suggestion.
Very interesting! Please keep us posted how it turns out 8)

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 8:38 am
by inffih
I was chatting to my gigabrain AI about this and it suggested to build it first on to a thin wooden board for safety of the Linnstrument. And the Linnstrument would sit on top of that board. Then later, once it is clear what kind of vibration feels good, you could decide whether to attach anything directly to the Linnstrument.

Also it suggested to have a separate audio chain for the feedback signal. Perhaps sending just one certain frequency of sine wave no matter what note is pressed. Whatever frequency would best fit the vibration purpose. Also limited amplitude range to keep it under control.

I'm sure Roger is reading this and thinking "no no no shut it down!". I'm sorry Roger, but it felt so good, i need it!! :D

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 1:06 pm
by Dirk Diggler
First stop chatting with AI, humans will always come up with better solutions.

How about something like a butt kicker?
https://thebuttkicker.com/pages/buttkic ... c-products

Also the term I think you're looking for is Haptic feedback. ;)

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 2:21 pm
by Roger_Linn
There's probably some long and thin speaker you could place LinnStrument on, giving you the vibration you seek. It certainly wouldn't damage the LinnStrument, but the vibration might cause LinnStrument's highly sensitive touch sensor to trigger on the vibrations. To compensate, you reduce the Touch Sensor Prescale setting (search Panel Settings page > Global Settings tab), but it seems a shame to lose the sensitivity to light touches.

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 5:28 pm
by bohred
Reminds me of the original Model C Sustainiac. If it could trigger the LS (no holding out hope, as its not an acoustic transducer).

Would be pretty whack to make this work though.

https://www.sustainiac.com/model-c.htm

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 9:03 pm
by inffih
Dirk Diggler wrote: Sat May 30, 2026 1:06 pm First stop chatting with AI, humans will always come up with better solutions.

How about something like a butt kicker?
https://thebuttkicker.com/pages/buttkic ... c-products

Also the term I think you're looking for is Haptic feedback. ;)
Yea I was wondering which term to use, seems like there is some nuance to the word I don't get as non native English speaker :D

Also about AI, I get that its a divisive topic, but I wanted to provide some more value into the conversation here, and I'm not an engineer so I would have no clue how to think about this.

Butt kicker definitely seems interesting. Kinda hard to understand from the materials I saw just now if it can do sustained notes accurately or just kick drum impact.

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 9:06 pm
by inffih
Roger_Linn wrote: Sat May 30, 2026 2:21 pm There's probably some long and thin speaker you could place LinnStrument on, giving you the vibration you seek. It certainly wouldn't damage the LinnStrument, but the vibration might cause LinnStrument's highly sensitive touch sensor to trigger on the vibrations. To compensate, you reduce the Touch Sensor Prescale setting (search Panel Settings page > Global Settings tab), but it seems a shame to lose the sensitivity to light touches.
That's good to hear! My initial thought also was if I could find some long and flat speaker to attach to the bottom that would be the easiest solution. Gotta do some digging of what is out there

Re: Tactile feedback for Linnstrument

Posted: Sun May 31, 2026 12:48 pm
by Dirk Diggler
The butt kicker is just a low frequency driver (speaker). And although it's meant for drummers, anything that produces low end could use it. Long sustained notes will play just as well.

They are really meant to be mounted on the drum stool or drum riser, not sure how to mount
it to Linnstrument though.

Interesting concept for sure.