Tian Jinqin’s String-Controlled Instruments: Formalizing and Reimplementing a Ribbon-Based Interaction Design Pattern

Enrique Tomás; Boris Shershenkov

Abstract:

This paper documents and reconstructs Tian Jinqin’s string-controlled electronic instruments from 1970s China, and formalizes their recurrent ribbon-based interaction design pattern. Drawing on ethnographic study in direct collaboration with Tian, we studied the historically situated decisions for creating the XK instruments and translated them for proposing a contemporary, modular, and reproducible platform for ribbon controllers. Using a research-through-practice approach, we examine the challenges of building expressive and accurate ribbon-based instruments across these dimensions: sensor materials, muscle memory, ergonomics, protocol constraints, and socio-political contexts. Finally, we introduce a modular, open-hardware design solution based on Tian’s patterns, which has proven effective for creating affordable, well-tuned ribbon controllers. By situating this non-Western instrument lineage within NIME discourse, the project shows how reconstruction can inform interface reliability, re-implementability, and long-term use while expanding the historical and cultural foundations of digital musical instrument design.