to encourage similar endeavors
the idea of an open-ended grid of uncorrelated backlit buttons had been stirring for several years. after the 16×16 prototype came into existence in january of 2002 it was quickly toured widely and seen by many.
fueled by the interest in this early prototype, small scale production of the 8×8 began with the intention to contribute a versatile new option to computer performance.
actual development of the 8×8 began around october of 2005. we relocated from los angeles to philadelphia in november.
in mid-april after casually documenting some demonstration patches, we assembled a video of short clips and posted it to our site. it spread virally.
release was may 2006. we celebrated with a release party at asphodel and a booth at the inaugural maker faire in late april.
we have many to thank in facilitating such a short development time (about 6 months.) we’ve been moving along since, continuing to share our discoveries.
despite being financially distressing, we’ve really enjoyed this project, and hope to give some insight into our process with these pages.