Background: A keyboard musician is constantly struggling to fill the vacuum left by the lead and rhythm instruments. In the studio he can spend more and more time to plug fewer holes and fewer gaps by adding tracks and patches (using the same equipment,) but time is something the performing musician does not have! He is constantly working to "fill-in", punching buttons and presets and changing patches and moving from keyboard to keyboard several times during the same song. Nightmares abound in which he has to grow 3 or 4 new hands and feet just to keep up. An alternate method of voltage control (in addition to his hands and feet which are already fully occupied) would, in effect, be that 3rd or 4th hand. At the risk of sounding a little perverted, I call this alternate device my ORAL JOYSTICK. It consists of a tube or tubes encased in a semi-rigid plastic mouthpiece.

Breath pressure through the tubes puts out a proportional voltage, as does biting down on the mouthpiece. Again, this doesn't particularly help the studio musician. The performing musician, however, will immediately grasp the potential — not only for greater control — but for adding a dimension to a solo line that has been almost completely lacking in all other types of electronic keyboards, be they organs, synthesizers, or whatever. That dimension is FEELING. Tell an organ player to put expression into his work and he pushes down the only control he's got: the "expression" (volume) pedal. Someone blowing winds or brass or strings, on the other hand, has an almost limitless range of expression (the ultimate in expression, of course, is the human voice). By varying the tightness and position of his facial muscles, tongue, nasal passages, breath control, etc., a sax man can, for instance, start a solo with a "harsh, angry" attack, stretch it to a "wail", soften down to a "warm, sensuous" bridge, and take it out with a "half-bitter, half-sorrowful" lament. His fingers play the notes, sure 'nuff, but the subtle changes in pitch, harmonic content, attack, etc. are what makes the music come alive.

A mouthpiece "joystick" can do the same for the synthesist. One (or more) mouthpieces attached to a neck brace (just like Dylan uses for harmonicas) can vary voltage (and hence, tone envelope, pitch, and other designated parameters) to the ADSR, VCO, VCF, & other processors and sources. Better yet is to go through the computer which could be programmed to change several parameters simultaneously. I think you can see the possibilities.

ORAL JOYSTICK or MOUTHPIECE VOLTAGE CONTROL (MVC)

Example: When the musician "BITES DOWN", the strain gage transmits the voltage proportional to the deformation of the mouthpiece. This voltage is amplified and changes the processing. A heavy "bite" could be set up to increase attack amplitude, increase square wave component, decrease sawtooth component, decrease LFO vibrato modulation, etc. At the same time, expelling forcefully (couldn't bring myself to say blow hard) through the tubes could raise the pitch (typical adjustment would be for ±1/2 step). Commercially available pressure xducers and strain gauges are too costly (they have to be accurate and repeatable within a very narrow range). Home built will suffice here since we already have inserted into the works a self-correcting device (wild-hippy-musician).