The Fuckstick

This is the latest incarnation of my bastardised midi controller, used for live performance and recording. It consists of an old bass attacked with a jigsaw to accommodate a cheap Behringer BCR controller. On the neck is a linear potentiometer, sometimes called a ribbon controller, above where the pickups used to be is a 1940s morse code key.

The ribbon on the neck produces a pitch that can be continually bent over a 4 octave range. Max-msp is used to produce the note events and pitch data for your chosen synth, this is then sent through a chain of efffects in Ableton Live controlled by the knobs.

Another favorite patch of mine is to use sampler loaded with various percussion chunks inplace of the synth, in this mode Max spits out fixed notes from zones on the ribbon controller. Add a bit of real time beat slicing.. instant Breakcore!

The Fuckstick also get usedy in a band called the Wrongtourage and in this case the vocals, bass and guitar are fed into the computer on 3 separate tracks, sends on the controller pass the live signals into my FX channel for all sorts of fuckery!

Future plans include adding 2 more ribbon controllers and some kind of basic keyboard using momentary buttons for an octave and then an array of transpose keys sort of like an accordion. Currently I’m using an old Ladyada midisense to read the ribbon, it works ok but I reckon I will get better resolution using an Arduino.