New Thumb Bar Controller Frees Your Left Hand For Playing
Developer Craig Jackson shared this sneak preview of the Thumb Bar Controller – a new synth accessory that offers an alternative to the traditional pitch bend wheel.
The Thumb Bar Controller is designed to let you play your synth with modulation control, using just one hand. With traditional pitch and mod wheels, soloing with modulation requires two hands. The Thumb Bar Controller lets you add pitch bend or mod expression using your thumb, freeing up your other hand to do other things.Jackson also notes that the Thumb Bar Controller can also be used as an enabling technology for people that may only be able to play an instrument with one hand.
The new MIDI controller will fit most 49-key or smaller synthesizers. The video demonstrates how the Thumb Bar offers two axes of expressive control, up and down for pitch bend and in/out for modulation.
Details are still to come at Jackson’s site, but he says that the Thumb Bar Controller will be available in 2025.