2.1 - Concept

Touché (SE)'s patented mechanism allows you to shape and control the sound of your synthesizers with simple gestures of your hands, giving you new intuitive ways to get the most out of the synthesizers that you use. Most importantly, the natural feedback from the mechanism gives you a nice, instrumental feeling, which is unique in the world of electronic instruments.

The mechanism reacts to gestures you apply to the Touch-Plate of Touché (SE). The Touch-Plate can be pressed on vertically and shifted sideways. In total, there are four axes of movement:

• Pressure on Top
• Pressure on Bottom
• Shift to the Left
• Shift to the Right
   

These four axes react extremely precisely and sensitively, detecting the smallest gesture applied to the Touch-Plate. Each of the four axes can be independently mapped to one or several parameters of your synthesizer.

Important note: The Touch-Plate does not feature a capacitive surface that could detect the actual position of your fingers like e.g. the display of a tablet or a trackpad can do. We deliberately chose to only implement means of control that offer progressive force feedback that your muscle memory can adapt to.

This means that Touché (SE)'s Touch-Plate cannot be used as a continuous XY pad or modulation strip that would react to your finger's position without you actually putting pressure on the mechanism. Instead, the underlying sensors detect the position of the Touch-Plate itself with extreme precision, letting you play a wide variety of genuine instrumental gestures: progressive slides, subtle vibratos, percussive taps, hand-made LFOs, etc.

2.2 - Calibration

When you plug Touché (SE), all axes are calibrated automatically. For this, make sure that your device is in a stable position (not moving, on a horizontal surface, and without touching the Touch-Plate), because it will be calibrated from this position. This process is automatically done each time you power Touché SE, either from a computer or from any other USB power source. You can also re-calibrate Touché SE  by pressing the left and right buttons simultaneously until the LEDs start blinking.

2.3 - Vertical axes of movement

Top and bottom axes work with vertical pressure. You can play with the top or bottom Axes by pressing on one end of the Touch-Plate or the other (the "bottom" is the end close to the Encoder and the Buttons, the "top" is the opposite). You can also play with both vertical sxes at the same time by pressing in the middle. If you release all pressure, it will naturally recover its equilibrium position.

Depending on which part of the Touch-Plate you apply pressure on, the pressure will be more or less distributed onto the top or bottom axis thanks to a lever arm mechanism. It gives you a great precision and control over the blending of both axess.

You can for instance slide from the top to the bottom Shifting in a smooth and progressive way, or quickly hit one end in a more percussive style.

2.4 - Lateral axes of movement

Left and right axes, on the other hand, work with a horizontal movement, sliding from one side to another. They don’t blend together as with the top and bottom axes, which is very useful to control parameters as pitch for instance, letting you do nice and subtle vibratos.

You can change the sensitivity of the four axes directly on Touché (SE). Learn more here: Adjusting Touché (SE)'s sensitivity