Isomorphism FTW

[Folderol]

That looks very nice

[BJG145]

I've been looking out for the rare/discontinued Axis 64 for years now. I thought I might be within reach when one turned up at Vemia a few weeks ago, but was outbid at £1100, plus fees and delivery. That's just too much.

There's another one for sale at the moment on Reverb, but it's even dearer at £126K...

...behold the original prototype for the Axis 64. Now, that's cool.



https://reverb.com/uk/item/47445296-the ... ru-axis-64

* * * * * *

There are currently only two hexagonal MIDI controllers commercially available; the Lumatone and the Microzone, both well over $3K. But I still think the Axis 64 had something special going for it, and I'm daydreaming about trying to build a clone. I think I found just the keys for it.

https://wooting.io/lekker

This is a new Hall-effect analogue key in the Cherry MX format. (The Lumatone uses Hall-effect keys. These produce a continuous range of values rather than on/off, thus velocity.)

To my surprise, I recently found these are already available to order, and comparatively cheap. I've ordered half a dozen to start with, though if this works out I'll need a few hundred more. (And a crash course in Arduino key-scanning libraries.)

[Folderol]

Looks very interesting. Where are they actually available from?

[BJG145]

Looks very interesting. Where are they actually available from?

I originally came across these optical ones...think they might be out of production and selling off old stock, though I'm not sure. (I'm also not certain if these are entirely self-contained, or if they're just part of the sensing mechanism.)

https://wooting.store/products/analog-f ... s-big-pack

I contacted them via the address on that page to ask, and they suggested the Hall-effect ones instead, although I don't see them advertised anywhere. But they let me order half a dozen which are apparently now on the way.

Here's a blog from a few years back where they describe the different technologies.

https://blog.wooting.nl/analog-input-te ... keyboards/

They produce "gaming keyboards" where individual keys provide a range of analogue values for use with compatible software, but potential applications seem much wider, and I think they're hoping they'll catch on.

It's very difficult to find light, comfortable buttons which can be used to deliver velocity information, so they could be onto something.

* * * *

Assuming they work...what's the best way to sample the state of a couple of hundred of them with a Teensy to get note-on velocity values?

(The original Axis used a custom silicon-rubber overlay with concentric carbon contacts. Velocity was calculated from the timing between the two consecutive connections.)



*edit*

...oh, looking at those keys again, I don't reckon they include the Hall-effect sensor, just the magnet that activates it. In the same way, I think those Flaretech optical keys only have half the equation.

Never mind; still interesting. If this is the case, you can pick up bundles of Hall-effect sensors fairly cheap if you know what type you want. Hopefully they can advise.

[BJG145]

It's been a long wait, but I logged into Reverb this morning for my routine check for interesting new MIDI controllers, and this flashed up, listed a few hours previously.



I didn't hesitate for long; I knew it would be gone in a day or two. They rarely appear, could be another year until another one turns up, and I've waited long enough for one of these.

First thing I'll do is peel off those dumb note stickers, then get to work on the Harmonic Table.

[resistorman]

Nice!

[Martin Walker]

Well done Ben - all things come to those that wait eh?

[Guest]

Nice one.

I have one of the 49 ones somewhere, I wonder where it is...

[BJG145]

Intuitive Instruments, creators of the Dualo, have posted a video for a new hexagonal MPE keyboard that's currently in development. Hopefully see this on Kickstarter at some point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXQuLvs ... nstruments

[BJG145]

Now available on Kickstarter...



https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/du ... =user_menu

I think this is the first MPE hex-layout keyboard. I'm in.

[Martin Walker]

It seems very good value at the early bird 229 Euros price, and I somehow doubt that you'll be flummoxed by the lack of casing on the controller.

[ManFromGlass]

So is there an advantage to this layout for playing scales or chords?
Or is it like any good instrument - you put in your time, you get results.

[N i g e l]

The only thing ive seen that gives instant results is Suzuki's Q chord type thing.
Basically 1 finger chords, Maj Min 7th & 2 others, and a strumplate.
The buttons are laid out in a circle of fiths order rather than E,F,F#,G.....
Perhaps more for compostion than for performance.

[clarinette]

So is there an advantage to this layout for playing scales or chords?
Or is it like any good instrument - you put in your time, you get results.

Both really. The layout does make playing scale, modes, chords, chord inversions... SO MUCH SIMPLER! Their universal layout makes all musical concepts very easy to see, understand and play with.

And then, it is a good instrument. Your results will indeed improve if you put in the time. Now, I've owned a piano, a midi keyboard, 5 guitars, 2 ukulele... you get my point... NOTHING has enabled me to learn/undertand/play/compose music like my dualo du-touch.

I went from curious music enthousiast who never quite managed to play a proper tune on her guitar/piano/uke... to teaching music theory to actual music teachers in a little under 3 years. Not bad a result in my book!

[clarinette]

The only thing ive seen that gives instant results is Suzuki's Q chord type thing.
Basically 1 finger chords, Maj Min 7th & 2 others, and a strumplate.
The buttons are laid out in a circle of fiths order rather than E,F,F#,G.....
Perhaps more for compostion than for performance.

I'd never heard of the suzuki thing, it's intriguing.

However, any accordion does exactly that "one chord per note". Roland makes digital accordions.

The dualo also has an arpegiator that builds chords instantly. There's no doubt it will be ported to the exquis app...

[ManFromGlass]

I came across this today -
https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2022 ... ding-goal/

[BigRedX]

Something in the first page of the this thread is broken again. I can only get the first picture and the subsequent 3 lines of text in the first post to load before the whole page stalls midway through a sentence.

I've tried two different browsers and both being logged in or not and it makes no difference.

[zenguitar]

I've just tried myself.

Initially, I had the same experience. However, it reminded me of similar experiences where the internet is going slow and the page takes some time to fully deliver.

So I waited and gave it a few minutes and the page eventually loaded correctly together with all the subsequent pages.

Andy

[MarkOne]

Something in the first page of the this thread is broken again. I can only get the first picture and the subsequent 3 lines of text in the first post to load before the whole page stalls midway through a sentence.

I've tried two different browsers and both being logged in or not and it makes no difference.

I don't even get the whole picture.

And although the rest of the page looks like its loaded, Safari has an X to the right of the address bar and not a reload icon (Usually a sign that the browser thinks the page is still loading)

I have full fibre to the premises with 100MB/s here, and I'm still waiting for something to happen. It's not well for sure!

EDIT: 5 Minutes later and it's just finished loading that page. I think someone needs to feed the hamster so he keeps the wheel running!

[Drew Stephenson]

Same as Andy here, takes ages to get past the first pic then all loads.
Windows 10 + Chrome.