The MATRIX is a new type of musical instrument that gives users a 3-dimensional tactile interface to control music using their hand(s). It can be used as either a stand alone instrument or in conjunction with a traditional musical keyboard or microphone. The MATRIX generates musical output by mapping a performer’s expressive gestures to a variety of sonic parameters. It acts as an input device that directly manipulates the parameters of a synthesis engine (eg. additive, granular, wave-terrain…), or an effect alogrithm (eg. delay, reverb, filter-banks…) in response to the changing shape of the interactive surface. In this way, the MATRIX provides a very intuitive method of manipulating sound with an amount of control that had never before been implemented in real-time.