Some context: A synthesizer (often abbreviated as synth, also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates electric signals that are converted to sound through instrument amplifiers and loudspeakers or headphones. Synthesizers may either imitate traditional musical instruments like piano, Hammond organ, flute, vocals; natural sounds like ocean waves, etc.; or generate novel electronic timbres. They are often played with a musical keyboard, but they can be controlled via a variety of other input devices, including music sequencers, instrument controllers, fingerboards, guitar synthesizers, wind controllers, and electronic drums. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are often called sound modules, and are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device, often a MIDI keyboard or other controller.
A ribbon controller or other violin-like user interface may be used to control synthesizer parameters. The idea dates to Leon Theremin's 1922 first concept and his 1932 Fingerboard Theremin and Keyboard Theremin, Maurice Martenot's 1928 Ondes Martenot (sliding a metal ring), Friedrich Trautwein's 1929 Trautonium (finger pressure), and was also later utilized by Robert Moog. The ribbon controller has no moving parts. Instead, a finger pressed down and moved along it creates an electrical contact at some point along a pair of thin, flexible longitudinal strips whose electric potential varies from one end to the other. Older fingerboards used a long wire pressed to a resistive plate. A ribbon controller is similar to a touchpad, but a ribbon controller only registers linear motion. Although it may be used to operate any parameter that is affected by control voltages, a ribbon controller is most commonly associated with pitch bending. Fingerboard-controlled instruments include the Trautonium (1929), Hellertion (1929) and Heliophon (1936), Electro-Theremin (Tannerin, late 1950s), Persephone (2004), and the Swarmatron (2004). A ribbon controller is used as an additional controller in the Yamaha CS-80 and CS-60, the Korg Prophecy and Korg Trinity series, the Kurzweil synthesizers, Moog synthesizers, and others. Rock musician Keith Emerson used it with the Moog modular synthesizer from 1970 onward. In the late 1980s, keyboards in the synth lab at Berklee College of Music were equipped with membrane thin ribbon style controllers that output MIDI. They functioned as MIDI managers, with their programming language printed on their surface, and as expression/performance tools. Designed by Jeff Tripp of Perfect Fretworks Co., they were known as Tripp Strips. Such ribbon controllers can serve as a main MIDI controller instead of a keyboard, as with the Continuum instrument.
Are they still used today?
A:

Some context: Saosin is an American post-hardcore band from Orange County, California, United States. The band was formed in 2003 and recorded its first EP, Translating the Name, that same year original vocalist Anthony Green left Saosin due to personal reasons. In 2004, Cove Reber replaced Green as vocalist after auditioning for the role. The group recorded its self titled debut album which was released on Capitol Records on September 26, 2006.
After the audition process and several guest vocalists on demos, the then 19-year-old Cove Reber was announced as their new permanent lead singer. Reber had sent in his demo tape, which was an acoustic demo with "Mookie's Last Christmas". The demo has since leaked onto the internet. It is widely speculated to have included a few songs from Translating the Name. When Beau Burchell first heard the demo, he thought it was Anthony playing a trick on them, as Reber's vocal stylings were very similar to those of Green's when the demo was originally recorded. In an interview with PlayPro.com, Reber commented that "everyone I've played with wants to make music their lives...Saosin is a band on a completely different level. All these dudes are freaks about music." Reber's addition to the band was difficult, for the more experienced Green was the center piece of the band in the eyes of Saosin's fans. Many fans consider the time with Green to be something entirely different from the time with Reber. There are still distinct fans of both eras (Green Era/Reber Era) debating on which is a better fit for the band as a whole. Saosin played the Taste of Chaos tour the following winter. Saosin was signed to Capitol Records in March and toured the United States with the Warped Tour for the second time. That summer, they released the Saosin EP. At first it was intended to be a free sampler, but Capitol Records would not allow this and released it as an EP. It contained demo versions of songs later recorded on their first full-length album. A video to their new single "Bury Your Head" was filmed during the tour. The band continued touring for the rest of 2005, opening for Avenged Sevenfold and Coheed and Cambria.
How did it do?
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The band continued touring for the rest of 2005, opening for Avenged Sevenfold and Coheed and Cambria.