It used to be all about laptop and mouse, but computer science is researching other ways of interacting with data, and music applications often provide a good example on why tactile interaction is needed. Surely laptop music will shift somewhat from cut-and-paste when the modeled instruments and devices can be interacted with on a more advanced level. This is why tactile add-ons such as Novation’s Nocturn becomes popular.
TED talks are often inspiring, and as tactile interface research often strays into music making territory, here’s a good example on how they become combined.
They are actually named “Siftables”, not “Shiftables” as I was led to believe. Both names do turn up on a Google search 🙂
The Introvert 