I'm a fan of his music and respect his aesthetics. But, these are not musical instruments. They are mostly MIDI controllers. They don't actually generate sound with mechanical means. They are theater props.
I don’t agree that they’re just props: they’re analog controllers and so the form factor and manner of their use directly affects the music being played. Even the controllers that are just “big heavy knobs on bearings” are fundamentally different to a typical knob on a synthesiser in terms of the signal they produce and the sound that ends up being made.
Detailed explanation of controllers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5MuKTkukIw&t=10s
I'm a fan of his music and respect his aesthetics. But, these are not musical instruments. They are mostly MIDI controllers. They don't actually generate sound with mechanical means. They are theater props.
I don’t agree that they’re just props: they’re analog controllers and so the form factor and manner of their use directly affects the music being played. Even the controllers that are just “big heavy knobs on bearings” are fundamentally different to a typical knob on a synthesiser in terms of the signal they produce and the sound that ends up being made.
In that case, these are quite literally the droids you're looking for:
- https://capturedbyrobots.com/
- https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19242-squarepusher-z-ma...
- https://www.patmetheny.com/orchestrioninfo/