One of the axioms of construction is that renovating is more difficult than new construction. There are lots of obstacles, there are lots of sensitivities, and there is inertia (an object at rest tends to stay at rest). We’ve had the wheels in motion at Electrotap for over 6 years now, and its time for some renovation. And we’ve got a few big things in the works.

Relocating Electrotap

Electrotap is in the process of relocating from Indiana to Louisiana. Dr. Jesse Allison has taken a position at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. We’re looking forward to seeing what cross-pollination and cooperation come forth from the new environment. In particular, Jesse will be sharing his experience of co-founding Electrotap with his students and working in a truly cross-disciplinary setting. We are expecting some additional exciting opportunities will develop from this new relationship over coming months and years.

Refocusing Electrotap

We initially founded Electrotap to focus on hardware development in general, and sensor/interface/audio hardware in particular. In order to give ourselves a kick-start, however, we also pulled in some existing software projects and products that we already had and threw them “into the pot”. The big example here is Tap.Tools, which had already been in existence for 4 years.

Initially this helped in our efforts to gain some credibility and critical mass. At this point it ends up being distracting and diffusing the core focus of Electrotap for working with physical computing interfaces such as sensors.

As a result of refocusing Electrotap on hardware, Tap.Tools is being spun-off. It will be maintained, developed, and supported by 74 Objects . Electrotap will continue to sell Tap.Tools, but as a reseller rather than as a developer. The first version of Tap.Tools to bear the 74 Objects name will be Tap.Tools 3.1, which should be released shortly.

Recasting Electrotap

It isn’t very often that you get a chance to reshape who you are and how you do things. It’s exciting for us to have this opportunity to revisit and revise how we work and what we do. As new products bubble up from the overwhelming list of ideas we have, we’ll be sure to share them here and on our Twitter feed . You may also begin to see some changes to the website, and now you’ll know what it’s all about.

One thing hasn’t changed: We originally set out to make the best (bar none) sensor systems on the planet for artists and musicians; and to do it in an economically, ethically, and environmentally responsible way. We’ve done that, and now we’re putting ourselves in a better position to build on it.