Controllerism as a word and as a major cultural force is still rather young, but humans have been making music with computers for a long time. Back in August of 2000, three gentleman published an excellent article on controllers called “The Outer Limits” for Electronic Musician Magazine. Quoth David Wessel “We’re on the verge of a controller renaissance”. I highly recommend reading this high-quality PDF.  More good info on EM Mag’s site.