Eigenharp Google+ Community Archive

I added highlight colors to Les Norton's Tau keyboard layout diagram ( https://plus.google.com/105613129315034911815/posts/FTZB51rS1mr ) in order to better visualize the layout of basic chord patterns. On the left, red highlights C-major, green highlights G-major, and orange highlights F-major. On the right, red highlights A-minor, green E-minor, and orange D-minor. F-major and D-minor have different shapes from the others because they cross the 4° block boundaries.

New Tau keyboard layout... I have been experimenting with different keyboard layouts on my Tau. My criteria is a layout that allows for a comfortable hand position, more than the standard 2 octave chromatic layout, ability to use under and over "thumb" for long runs like on a piano and easy access to notes for the left hand for extended chords.  I got to thinking about the layout of a standard tuned Chapman Stick because of the efficiencies that it provides, but with 12 strings verses 4 columns on the Tau I couldn't make that work. Although the idea of splitting the layout into two sets of columns still seemed like it might work and then it came to me. (I can't figure out how to include an image so here's a link) http://blackdogdigitalstudio.com/music/3X.html Thinking vertically on the neck gives you the advantage of using the piano technique of thumb under and over to move up the neck for long runs. I've only just started experimenting with this and long runs...

Where does the EIgenD Windows installer expect the resources to be?

Sold my Tau. Bought a Bose L1 Model II. 'Harp sounds awesome thru it.

Tim Roberts - So, how are you adjusting to the Alpha?  What have you found most challenging, most interesting so far?

EigenD (Mac) - OSX 10.9 Mavericks Ive asked over at eigenlabs.com , but just in case... Has anyone upgraded to 10.9?  All ok with EigenD?  (if so which device Pico/Tau/Alpha?)  Im in no rush to upgrade, but would be good to know if safe or not. (at least for EigenD... ableton, etc etc is another kettle of fish)

Anyone thinking of going to this? I'm looking at the dates and reckon I might try to attend. http://www.moogfest.com/

And here it is 2nd edition... Last year was a very good experience for me and my Alpha ;-) http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/viewtopic.php?id=3029

Anyone want Ableton Live 8 Lite? (free) (see  https://www.ableton.com/en/products/live-lite/ ) perhaps to try out etc, also gets discount on full version of Live. I got a licence with my Focusrite but dont need it as I already have Live 9. only proviso, you must have an eigenharp (any) :o) https://www.ableton.com/en/products/live-lite/

Scale Illuminator 0.1.8 - released https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/tree/master/agents/binaries changes: * Base note note support - now will take into account a change in base note in the playing key group * Semitone course offsets support - allows use of semitone intervals (those > 10000) as well as 'normal' scale intervals enjoy *ps, mac build done, if someone asks nicely perhaps Ferdinand Strixner will do a windows build :o)  https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/tree/master/agents/binaries

Layout playground 2... UPDATE: now uses ScaleIlluminator 0.1.8 for new Wicki, see below Ok, ive checked in a revised version of tau altered and alpha altered improvements are: a) Wicki working correctly b) octave change buttons on all key groups c) Tau version tested :o) Install instructions a) First download and install Scale Illuminator, you'll need 0.1.8 (released 20 Oct 13) https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/tree/master/agents/binaries b) download the zip file containing the setup https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/tree/master/Setups your looking for taualtered.zip or alphaaltered.zip c)  unzip the zip file into your eigenD setups directory d) load in EigenD (will be User/Tau Altered or User/ Alpha Altered) d) (optional) set the audio unit to your favourite VST/AU Note: I now use the latest version of alchemy player (1.5), so it may be if you are still using the (old) eigenlabs supplied version you may have to update (its free), or use a different vst. TAU USERS...

Fake Tau Alpha owners every wanted a tau? well now your Alpha can pretend to be a tau - Another tool from creator :o)  Ok, I admit there is a serious purpose to this... ive not completely lost my mind. Testing, I dont like releasing untested stuff, and so when I do things for the tau I want to know they work before I let them loose on unsuspecting tau owners... but I don't have a tau to test... but now I do ;o) Steps to use: a) Start EigenD b) Load Tau setup c) Download following file and put in scripts directory https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27614328/donotmove/alphafusion.bc d) execute in EigenCommander alpha fusion execute instructions: columns 2-5, are tau columns 1-4 row 1 is top 4 buttons of tau column 2, 17-21 are horizontal buttons of tau Of course all files for creation are also checked into github for usage via creator Enjoy Mark

Trying to set up Ableton with the Tau. I saw the great post about controlling Ableton from the Eigenharp, but I was thinking of continuing to use my APC 40, which I am testing out today. What I have been trying to do is midi sync my Tau with Ableton, but I have not been able to figure it out yet. Can anyone help me with this? BTW, still experimenting on key layouts and will create a post about that soon.

Searching for a some Spanish flavour... Given Im now living in Spain, I thought Id like to try something with a bit of Spanish theme, something like Joaquín Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez, but something not too difficult (which this i fear is :o) ) Any suggestions? also if I tried to 'compose' something ,  what makes this sound (to me) Spanish? ( i assume its not just the guitar!?)

Excitement - big box arrived today! The missing parts of my jigsaw... monitors, (reasonable) headphones, audio interface and lots (and lots) of cables! excitement a bit muted - as one piece missing - a firewire to thunderbolt adapter - so not sure I'll get much it doing much until that arrives early next week. (perhaps get my laptop to temporarily configure for non-computer mode)  after that I just need a bigger home office/studio as I'm now bursting at the seams!

Sorry this is ot , and not sure where else to post.  For Sale Eigenharp Alpha Ebony and Silver finish, Eigenharp Alpha with and Wooden Keys,  Comes with base station , leather strap, Hiscox case etc.  This has barely been used over the last two years due to the arrival of our unexpected wonderful little boy. Never taken out of the house and in perfect condition.  If you could buy this system now it would cost in the region of £5800. I would like £4500  The Harp is located in London. World wide shipping would be extra.  Contact kevin at kvshepherd(at) gmail.com

Fun toy of the day:  Take NI Razor (as standalone synth), select a vocoder patch. Pick cello rig and midi_towards_NI for your keygroup. Set your audio routing so that eigend's out goes into NI Reaktor/Razor. Lovely bow-able analog synth, with cool impossible harmonics (for sustained chords)

Layout playground... as requested Ive created  setups for alpha and tau(*) to allow interested players to try different layouts. This was all done using 'creator' and config files to recreate have also been added. (*) tau version needs some Ferdinand Strixner  magic, see bottom So what does it do? Mode key (bottom key on column on alpha , 2/1 on tau) allows keygroup with different layouts to be select The last key in column 1, allows the scale and tonic to be set for the scale illuminator. All is setup with one audio unit rig (It contains all tau and alpha layouts that have currently been defined in github.) basic idea, is try the different keygroups, and set the scale illuminators scale and tonic to see how that scale is laid out. so how do you get the goodies? a) First download and install Scale Illuminator https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/tree/master/agents/binaries b) download the zip file containing the setup https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/tree/master...

I'm growing frustrated with the direction of things here of late.  I find myself spending time on things that take me away from what I should be doing musically. I don't look forward to hangouts as there's hardly any music related discussion or sharing of what anyone's been up to musically. I appreciate everyone's interests.  That's why I'm going to bow out of the G+ community for some time.  I don't want to let my frustration present itself in a negative manner.  I respect what so many of you have done and continue to do. "Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."  ~ Charles Mingus  Later.

Scale patterns and alternate layouts Here is a rough sketch of a few variations of horizontal layouts and the patterns of the basic major chords In the key of C. I think the over lapping colors helps to make the chord patterns more clearly visible As you can see, 4n works out much better with an offset of -2. 3+4n has long runs of vertical chords in a key.

This is my first ever post to Google + hope I got it right. I was told by a bunch of people over at the Eigenlab forum this is where I need to be. I have been playing music since the late 60's and been interested in electronic instruments since the 80's. I've had some very interesting experiences like the 6 months I had a Fairlight in my studio, with some sample disks from Peter Gabriel. I saw a show where Jon Anderson from Yes and Kitaro that was part of a tour that only hit something like 4-5 cities around the world. Jon played on a instrument made by Atari called a Hotz controller. It had all these buttons on it that would allow you to change scales and do all kinds of special things in software. I also had a Chapman Stick for a while, which was very cool but very hard to play. I have always thought how great it would be if you could put all these instruments together in one package and then make it even better. So when I was shopping for a portable midi controller at a ...

So, here are the first few shots that are candidates for the community picture. Feel free to comment. Since there seemed to be support for using the trio shot, I'll set that one up first. Randy Brown For whatever reason, mail would not save the shots you sent so these are screen captured. 

Have been practising some time with the horizontal3n (top to bottom, right to left) layout in the last two weeks. Wrote down some observations in the Eigenlabs forum, copying it here for your convenience (it was an answer to "jaself" (is that you, Jim Self ? :) ) who proposed a left-to-right, top-to-bottom 3xn layout as an alternative - which can of course also make sense, depending on what you want): I wouldn't write off the "right to left, top to bottom" 3xn layout as it is set up by Mark Harris's Creator atm. The difference between left to right and right to left orientation is just what you plan to mainly focus on with which hand: Right to left slightly favors the right hand for scales and the left hand for chord shapes. With left to right it's the opposite way around: Assume the right to left orientation: There you have the nice property of having two whole tone scales going from left to right diagonally downwards - which is nice to play with your r...

I motion that we change the Community picture to #EigenJedi. Second?

Well, I'm back from Vancouver and all went well. In the end, they did hire talent that matched their visual needs and I was "Eigenharp Coach". Initially, this seemed a bit disappointing but as it played out it was probably much more fun that way as it left me free to have a broader look-about (which was really great fun) Also, it was quite rewarding to coach Richard (my stand-in as they kindly called him hehehe) who had no prior musical experience but did very well and was overjoyed at the experience and to find himself actually able to make some music flow from himself. In the end, he will benefit from the addition to his resume much more than I would and that feels right as well.

Musicport Festival, Whitby UK, 18-20 Oct. One week to go! See us at Camp Eigen. The line-up: http://www.musicportfestival.com/festival-info/2013.html http://www.musicportfestival.com/festival-info/2013.html

turning the alpha to face the 'audience' seems to be the more I practice, the more i can turn the alpha to be flatter against my body.which means its much easier to play - I think its due to not needing to see the keys so much (in particular the 5th column) Is this something more experienced players have practised, or just something that happens over time with practice. looks like its one of those dilemmas when your learning, you need to see the keys, so turn it in towards you - but this actually makes it (physically) harder to play (for the left hand in particular) thoughts?  am i stating the obvious ;o)

My work cube. Notice anything?

Here's one more thing I don't understand: Other small batch, electronic instrument manufacturer post to their websites when they are taking orders and when they are shipping.  Eigenlabs has been shipping new Taus, but the website is without a word. Skeleton crew or not, it doesn't take much to post an announcement.

Most of you know that my performance rig consists of my 'harp plus Ableton Live and the Touchable app for iPad.  I use Touchable for controlling Live - much easier than manipulating the laptop's controls.  I've found this to be a very stable environment for the type music I build live. Over the weekend, I got my Akai EWI 4000s out of cold storage and decided to see about incorporating it into my live rig. Then I remembered all of the cool wind synth patches I have in Propellerhead's Reason.  And I remembered all of the creative effects, drum machines, etc. in Reason.  So, I decided to give a go at running Reason into Live and playing Reason's synths with both the 'harp and the EWI. I worked out one bit of technical hoohah last evening (rewiring Reason into Live), so am ready to get started.  I'll post more as I get this more underway.

Learning about sound design... We discussing this abit on another thread, then I stumbled upon Syntorial -  http://www.syntorial.com looks quite interesting, im quite confident I know what all the controls on my synth does and 'the theory' etc... but this tutorial/tool concentrates on training your ears to be be able to build up sounds. Sounds like an interesting approach. I think I'll try the demo when Ive time. anyone else tried it? (the you tube video shows the approach taken) http://www.syntorial.com

I would like to talk a little about finger flexibility. Prior to the eigenharp I had no experience with instruments that rely much on good finger dexterity like the guitar or the piano. Right from the start I felt that my fingers leave much to be desired. I’m curious how it’s with you.  Most of you are professional musicians and have had training with either of those instruments, so did any of you feel right at home with EH from the get go? If not, did you do something about it besides the obvious? As for myself, I have been doing every manner of finger flexibility/independence exercise that I could find on the net, and feel the improvement every day.

Extremely busy passed weeks - Next DançArte show... 11 october - "Centro do Mundo" www.mm.passosecompassos.pt (Sorry still only Portuguese) Will be "deconstructing" this place - bandstand - 4 dancers and various moments with my Alpha; just that!

More praises to Creator.  (Mark Harris 's version  ;) I've been building setups to allow me to explore different scale combinations.  Been using Creator to make quick changes to a config file and generate another setup.  Very nice to have a tool like this for quick mockup.

arghh, eigenD bites me again! for some time ive wanted to create where you can send splits to the same audio unit but on different midi channels (i want this for my virus) someone on EL wanted the same so Id thought Id give it a go! I already new, that the AU agent can not only take input from pressure/keys but also midi input, that can come from a converter (or other midi input) easy I thought...  just create some midi rigs, and wire them up to this audio units midi input... doesn't work! argghhhh.... basically, although audio unit agent will allow multiple connections on midi input - it will only ever process data from the first one! (same bug on midi output, which is why i think we have different virtual ports for different midi channels - which is completely unnecessary) its a real pain, as there is no way around it... if you have a plugin that you want (or are required) to only have one instance of, and use multiple channels - you cannot.... (bare in mind this would also be mo...

Hi All just unboxed my new Tau. And quite excited about it really. Wanted to set up th"chromatic horizontal 3xn layout" I think I need to type some code in at the belantco commander command line. Does anyone know what that text would be. I like the 3xn as it is nearly isomorphic and will be later when I get the alpha . Any help or direction would be most appreciated. By the way many of your navy ships are in sydney harbour for the big fleet presentation. Ships from 17 nations are in australia

Doodling... https://soundcloud.com/simple-not-simpler/pentatonic-70bpm-idea

Ok. Give this a try for some interesting results. Load up Alchemy Open the MIDI Matrix In plugins params, set the first 8 to the strip position and the next 4 to strip absolute position. You can leave default settings for all at this point. Select a patch. Play away and touch your strip or slide along it for some very interesting and quite playable results. Some of the arp/rhythmic patches are really interesting.

Windows binaries for Creator, Scale Illuminator and OSCpad available As it seems most Eigenharp players are Mac-only users. If some (at least additionally) use Windows here and there for EigenD-ing: It's definitely worth to have a look at Mark Harris 's Creator (a modular setup builder that nicely complements Workbench), Scale Illuminator agent (which visualizes the current scale with key leds) and OSCpad agent (which as far as I understood remote controls Ableton Live via EigenD (don't have Live myself to try it out)). For all of these there are now also Windows binaries available (of course Mac is still supported also). (Technically Creator is a Java program and thus didn't need any recompiling, but there is a Windows starter batch script now for your convenience :) ) Get started here: https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/wiki and download the Mac and Win binaries (and sources if you want) from there: https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp Thanks again to Ma...