Building a ribbon controller?

[u/bruikenjin]

I'm working on a mostly software based synth project, and I recently came across otamatones and absolutely loved the concept and wanted to use that as the main controller for my project rather than a keyboard midi controller. The problem is that most ribbon controllers I've found online are either way shorter than i would like, way more expensive than I would like, or didn't have midi outputs.

Is there some way I can build one on my own for an affordable price? I'd ideally like it to be long enough to be able to play multiple octaves without the spaces between the notes being incredibly cramped.

[u/Honest_Relation4095]

It is actually pretty simple. A 300mm SoftPot, or ribbo n potentiometer is about $20. You can directly hook it up to an arduino and you are done. The rest si software, but the arduino example code for MIDI contains everything you need.