Microchip Launches New Turnkey Capacitive Touch Controllers

Turnkey touch controllers are a fast and easy way to upgrade from mechanical buttons to modern touch buttons or displays. With the launch of its 12-button MTCH2120 touch controller, Microchip Technology is providing product designers with a straightforward pathway for implementing touch button capabilities on user interfaces. The new touch controller comes with a comprehensive ecosystem of tools to streamline development and speed time to market.

Microchip Technology launched a new maXTouch Knob on Display (KoD) controller, the first automotive-grade touchscreen controller family to natively support the detection and reporting of capacitive rotary encoders, as well as mechanical switches on top of a touch panel. Unlike traditional mechanical rotary encoders, this new technology enables the mounting of the knob directly onto the display without an opening in the panel or any customization of the touch pattern, increasing design flexibility.

The February 2022 edition of audioXpress is now available and features our annual Market Update on Microphone technology. Vikrant Singh Tomar discusses TinyML and Voice Recognition Technology On the Edge, Richard Honeycutt writes about Quantification of Speech Intelligibility, and Mike Klasco expands on audio applications for Haptic Devices. George Ntanavaras builds a phono and line/headphone amplifier project, Brian Bylenok proposes a refined Current Feedback Headphone Amplifier, and Richard Honeycutt reminds us that Tube Power Amps also have Classes. Now available in print and online.

Another leading brand in the personal audio space, Skullcandy, announced its first truly wireless earbuds and opted for the affordable level in a distinctive design. Skullcandy's Push seeks to offer listeners a bold design, sleek fit, and a target response optimized for music impact in a Bluetooth 4.2 platform. Clearly not a cutting-edge proposal but an attempt instead to appeal to its young audience with something they can afford as "My-First True Wireless Earbuds".

Microsoft announced a new raft of hardware products, where it surprised the market with the introduction of its first "premium and smart" headphones. The new Microsoft Surface Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones are designed to complement the company's latest range of Surface computers, highlighting the integration with Windows 10 services and experiences. If that strategy will appeal to consumers or not that's a big question, but there's no doubt that the Surface Headphones are well-designed and combine an interesting set of unique features.

During CEDIA Expo 2018, Brilliant, a California company dedicated to smart home experiences, announced the greatly anticipated availability of its award-winning smart home control. This is a integrator-friendly in-wall solution with Amazon Alexa built-in, not requiring any further hardware, and able to perform all duties of a complete smart home controller and scene automation hub in a a fully integrated solution that doesn't requires servers or any additional cloud services.

Solid State Logic (SSL) has been a dominant console designer and manufacturer for music, broadcast, and post production for more than 35 years. However, SSL had never produced a product specifically designed for live audio production, until now. SSL’s reputation …

SHANNON BECKER: Tell us a little about your background and where you live. GEOFF BOYD: I have lived in San Jose, CA, since 2006. But, I hail from the Caribbean and spent most of my life living in UK. I …