A simple gestural controller indeed, but the humble footswitch finds
wide use in technology-based musical performance contexts
because the performer’s hands are usually actively engaged
playing an instrument.

The traditional approach is to mount a
heavy-duty mechanical switch into a solid metal box. These
“stomp boxes” are standard tools of the electric guitarist. As a
vehicle for exploration of new fiber and malleable materials we
will improve in this tutorial on the traditional stomp box by adding the
requirement that switch operation should be silent.

The basic design pattern for a switch is to combine an
interruptible electrical conduction path (contact system) with a
device that returns the contacts to a stable rest equilibrium
when the actuating force is removed. The additional challenge
we face is that the motions created by these forces have to be
dampened to minimize the sounds they make.