I came up with an idea for audience participation.  It involves handing out two or three controllers to audience members at a live concert in a close setting.  Each controller is patched in somewhere and the participant has to figure out by listening what his/her controller impacts.  Of course I decide in advance what parameters are controlled and set limits on them.

The controllers patch using an insert cable with a TRS plug on one end that breaks out into two cables with TS plugs on the other.  They are color coded red for the input and blue for the output.  It’s like having a pot in the middle of a patch cable.  The big red button has to be held down to enable the pot.  By default, the output is at ground.  When the button is pressed, the output connects to the pot wiper.  So the participant can choose to hold the button and sweep the pot, or to set the pot and press the button to jump to the the pot setting.  I have a couple of 18-foot insert cables, plus a 6-footer for use in the studio.

The enclosure is a Bud box from Mouser, #563-AN-1300.  The button is NKK, Mouser # 633-LP0115CCKw01C.  Pot is an Alpha, Mouser #313-1000F-100K.  Everything fits snugly.  The button makes a loud click, which might be distracting if the passage is quiet.