If you’re a drummer with not-so-great time keeping skills who was “light on work” during the ’80s, you might not be a huge fan of Roger Linn. He’s the guy who, back in 1979, invented the LM-1 Drum Computer, the first programmable, sampled-sound drum machine, which can be heard on many ’80s hits.

Since that time, Linn has brought us many other cool products, including the AdrenaLinn multi-effects system for guitar, and now he’s out to reinvent another wheel with his LinnStrument (Linn’s rendering is to the right). Imagine a musical iPad app that can sense how hard you’re pressing down (adjusting the volume accordingly), and provides effects like vibrato when you pivot your finger back and forth.

For a more technical explanation of how the LinnStrument works, here’s some info straight from Linn’s website:

This design uses a fingerboard grid consisting of 6 rows of 24 semitones each, similar to a guitar. In acknowledgment of my wife Ingrid’s contribution to the engineering, we like to refer to this note grid as the “InGRID”. It also has two thumb control strips, one on each side of the fingerboard, to be used for sustaining fingered notes after release, strumming, bowing, blowing or restriking, and also has a wind sensor for added expression. (Ignore the 4 long, thin bars on each side; they were to be used as separate palm-actuated sustain bars, but I’ve decided that the two thumb strips work better for this.) This design is intended to be played from either of two positions:

1. On a table, with both hands playing from one side and using only one thumb control strip for both thumbs. Because note expression is controlled by subtle changes in finger pressure, the table provides the necessary resistance to that pressure.
2. On your chest vertically, with one hand playing from each side of the instrument. In this case, the left thumb control strip is used by the left thumb and the right thumb control strip is used by the right thumb. Because note expression is controlled by subtle changes in finger pressure, your body provides the necessary resistance to that pressure. This position conveniently places the wind sensor close to the mouth.

Sounds cool, right? He’s built a killer prototype and shown it to the world through a YouTube video that’s had over 150,000 views. People are into the product. However, the LinnStrument may never see the light of day.

The problem? Amazon purchased the company, TouchCo, that produced the unique pressure-sensitive, multi-touch surface that the LinnStrument relies on and promptly took the material off the market. It’s a pretty safe bet that Amazon is planning to use the material on future versions of their Kindle e-reader (nothing related to musical instruments).

So, what’s a guy to do? Instead of hijacking the last load of TouchCo product to leave the factory, Linn wrote a very cordial email to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (you can read it on Linn’s website). The email was sent about two months ago, and it looks like there has been to reply yet from Bezos. Linn also says he’s on the hunt for a usable replacement material, but as of yet has not found one.

I’m going to keep an eye on this story and post any updates that come along. You can also sign up for the the Linn Design email list here.

I wouldn’t put money on it, but maybe Bezos has a soft spot in his heart for vintage Madonna and Michael Jackson tracks and will throw Roger Linn a bone!

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