Eigenharp Google+ Community Archive

2 years ago I rented an Eigenharp Tau but had to give it back for financial reasons, and because I wanted its bigger brother... and now I have finally found a second hand Alpha which I will be picking up on Monday! It is good to be back. However, I just bought an EigenD subscription so I can get my system in order before the big day. The problem is with requiring the support package. I've looked everywhere (official site, some links here: https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/tree/2.0/agents/binaries ) but I cannot find a download that works... Am I just being a derp?

Midi CA23 -  per key expression supported in Bitwig for VST 2.x! Interesting stuff, Bitwig is supporting key expression not only for VST3, but also for VST2.4 by using SysEx, as detailed in Midi spec CA23. this is interesting, as the more hosts that support it, the more likely we are to getting VSTs supporting it. ( i noticed this as someone has requested Aalto support it) http://www.midi.org/techspecs/ca23.pdf If we get a few VSTs supporting, could be a simple enough addition to MidiConverter/AudioUnit agents http://www.midi.org/techspecs/ca23.pdf

For March #EigenChallenge2014  , apologises to Beethoven for my attempt at Fur Elise.  Whilst I can play all parts on their own, once the video camera goes on, I always fluff one bit or another.. ho hum, anyway Im continuing to work on this, so hopefully I can come back to it later and see how much Ive improved :)  * its abridged, Ive not played repeats, to reduce the pain for listeners :)  #Eigenharp   #FurElise   #EigenChallenge2014   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwBuMtXrn6M%5DFur

Problems creating MIDI CC buttons I've been working for a long time on using Workbench to create a couple of customized Setups to allow using my Alpha the way I envision--but I've run into several problems. (Please don't say: go use Creator.  I'm very impressed with Creator, and all the work Mark Harris, António Machado  and others have been doing.  But the setups I want are complicated mods to the Factory setups, so it should be straightforward to create them....or not.  I just wish the clarity of Creator had been applied to the basic program....) One problem involves creating dedicated keys to send MIDI continuous controller (CC) messages.  These appear in the Factory Experimental Basic MIDI setup.  I can move them to different, more desirable, keys (see attached), and keep them working.  (I.e., I understand about removing MIDI controller keys from the general keygroups).  But when I try to add them into my own Setups, I can't get them to work... I've gone as ...

Bitwig its here - exciting for eigenharps, or just another daw? Well Ive downloaded the demo,  for one reason only: Open Control Surface API! Even a quick look through shows some exciting integration possibilities for the eigenharp, not only fully supportable clip launchers, but also some support for per note expression! ok, its still midi, but as we know, midi can often be bent to our own desires, and osc is also promised. Early days for a new daw, and looks immature in many areas, but I think one to keep an eye on for the future... I'm going to probably just keep @ demo for the time being, and also hope it will perhaps force ableton and others to up there game. *yes, i recognise M4L provides similar in Live, but only if you have suite

Here's my contribution to March's #eigenchallenge2014 . Inspired by Mark Harris's piece last month I decided to see if I could compose a tune myself. In the end I found it difficult to do the bits I thought would be easy, and (relatively) easy to do the bits I thought would be difficult. I found a basic six-note tune fairly quickly, and then played with the rhythm to create something a bit more interesting. Extending it to more than 3-4 bars, though, was challenging, particularly when I got some way in and realised there need to be a break or some other kind of change. Another difficulty was adding the bass part. I had originally wanted to create a melody that underscored the main part, but couldn't manage to create anything that didn't clash. I thought it would be straightforward, but was very wrong. Due to constraints of time I instead used pairs of notes (two notes from chords) on the bass line, which was a bit of cop-out. The whole was composed with a piano so...

#EigenChallenge2014 Star of the Month… Alesis Andromeda A6 - ( analog monster) even got prime use in upcoming new pop songs ANONIMATO band.  Feels a bit Amelie's Traveling Dwarf by now ( EigenHarp +…..)

Soundplane agent tips. Ive been playing with the agent and Kaivo over the weekend, so I thought Id pass on some tips. a) Don't host in EigenD. Initially I was hosting in EigenD, and was fine for smaller setups and less cpu intensive patches, but as things get hotter, I started to get lots of clicks and pops. I think the issue is EigenD has one 'fast' thread, and Kaivo is single threaded on that thread... I found it much better to host Kaivo in a DAW, so its in a different process space, and EigenD and Kaivo can get the cpu they require (different threads, different cores). (note: this is true generally for Kaivo/Aalto, not specific to soundplane agent)  b) Using Midi Rig so if you choose (a), then just create soundplane agent in a rig, connect to scaler, and disconnect pressure/frequency from midi converter.... I think you can send midi still (e.g. CCs) which can then be mapped in the DAW to plug params in the normal way. c) Using audio unit agent  as i said id recommend ag...

Hi Folks, I've just emerged from finishing the mastering on my second album (The Descent), so I've had a chance to do some Eigenharping recently. I'm performing a couple of pieces tomorrow in a church in Berkeley CA -- while I was practicing tonight, I recorded a couple of quick demos and uploaded them to Soundcloud. Both were played live, no overdubbing, using the Eigenharp controlling Ableton Live via MIDI. Sounds are coming from a combination of Ableton's instruments, Reaktor, FM8 and Kontakt. The bass guitar on Alpha is from the awesome Trillium library. I've been experimenting with using a single momentary footswitch, set up so that when I jump on it it puts me in 'solo' mode, and when I release it I'm in 'chords' mode. It took quite a bit of detailed tweaking, but with a bit of practice it's quite possible to play chords with solo answering phrases quite intuitively. Anyway, I hope you like these. :-) https://soundcloud.com/sarah-thomps...

Soundplane agent releases! 2.0.74 (official eigenD release)  https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/blob/2.0/agents/binaries/Technobear-2.0-stable.pkg 2.0.76 (current open source 2.0 mavericks release) https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/blob/2.0-m/agents/binaries/Technobear-2.0.M-stable.pkg 2.1 (open source 2.1 mavericks release) https://github.com/TheTechnobear/Eigenharp/blob/2.1/agents/binaries/Technobear-2.1-experimental.pkg disclaimer, Ive not retested since rebuilding them, but what could go wrong ;o)  FIXED: 15/3 14:30 fixed installer issue...

Soundplane agent I thought id give a few more details, as previous post was a bit of a tease :) agent talks to Kaivo/Aalto using the T3D Osc protocol, the same as the soundplane uses. when this is detected, Kaivo/Aalto change into a new 'mode', which replaces the 'key' module... - inputs are now: x,y,x,dx,dy (which replace mod,mod+1,mod+2) - these inputs (as well as pitch/gate) are all per voice (which is allocated by agent) - all inputs are floating point, so all hi-res, at eigen resolution. - messages are sent at the data rate, default =250 hz, = 250 times a second, and are 'bundled' to reduce load. - pitch optionally includes bend (per agent settings) in practice everything I tried in Kaivo appear to be 'per voice' , including (surprisingly) resonator.  In fairness Im still 'learning' Kaivo, as its pretty complex beast, to get new sounds from, and finding ways to add the per key is fun/challenging. some (slightly) technical info... I ported th...

Disabling AppNap for EigenD. defaults write  EigenD.app  NSAppSleepDisabled -bool YES this is only necessary when as a normal application (technically when launch services runs is)... I also think it may only be necessary for 10.9 builds but I don't know...  If it doubt do it :)

Mavericks 2.0.76 build issue? I think I've stumbled over an issue with the 2.0.76 build (may be an issue for. 2.1 too - depends if it's juce or phython related) If you start the eigen.app it gets very sluggish after about 5 mins... I initially blamed my agent, but then noticed it's fine if you start /usr/pi/rel../bin/eigend anyone running there own 2.1/2.0.76 mavericks build regularly ?

a new agent is born.... http://youtu.be/wyX1HFCYHfs

My #EigenIdea works - I love it when a plan come together! I hope to have a small demo tomorrow evening.

AU rig with midi converter "feeding" two instrument AU to achieve polyphonic mode. Following Mark Harris trick. Despite in this example Pianoteq actually is able to  recieve on more the one midi ch. (using the inbuilt monitor for checking things up)

I have an idea to turn the eigenharp pico into an advanced Omnichord/Chordion app!  A PICOCHORD! if you will....  Chordion iPad App Demo 1. one vertical column could control the chords. (chords could be user defined and change depending on key) 2. the second column would be used to play/strum the melody. The notes that are available in the melody would change to be in perfect harmony with the selected and played chord.   (this row could still be used to send polyphonic information... another possible option for the note row is octave rounding Geo Synthesizer Tutorial #2 My questions 1. would it be possible to get one key group to change the available notes of another key group? 2. we play chords with one key? 3. can we get one key group to make other notes light up different colors? 4.is octave rounding possible? 5. how would this be done ( I have never used workbench) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJW4dwI6z4w&list=UU5dwUkSN1TDX7a22Fp2MpAw

Remember that highly portable speaker/amp that Geert Bevin mentioned a couple of months ago?  The iLoud by IK Multimedia.   It's available new from Woot.com for $177, instead of the $299 that major retailers are charging....  Other iRig products also available at similar discounts.   If you aren't acquainted with them, Woot was a quirky little operation that specialized in close-out deals on high-tech equipment and components, but was fairly recently acquired by Amazon, so they are now a not so small quirky operation....  http://tech.woot.com/offers/iloud-2-way-portable-bluetooth-speaker-for-ios-devices http://tech.woot.com/offers/iloud-2-way-portable-bluetooth-speaker-for-ios-devices

So I'm testing Kaivo and at this point I won't be getting it as my system 'can't' handle it.  This is an issue that I have been having for the past 2.5 years. The EigenD/Ableton Live/Pro Tools 9 show 60-90% cpu usage and crackles and pop are everywhere.  However, the system CPU usage is only at about 10%.  This screenshot is with the 4 AU and 4 Midi factory setup loaded, Kaivo loaded in AU 1 and aftergrain as the patch.  Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be happening?

Wot no eigenharp? http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/07/electronic-instruments-tested-electro-pop-trio-chvrches

Disappearing MIDI devices  This is a weird one...  (not this is not virus specific.. as will become clear :))  my Virus is connected via USB to present the keyboard as a midi device. At the end of each session, I power down the virus, and put the mac to sleep. Next session, I wake up mac and Virus, and the Virus Midi device is back... and I can use it, say in Ableton, no problem. BUT as soon as I start EigenD and load setup, it disappears , and I have to rescan midi devices to get it back (or power cycle virus) only happens first time in session..., I can close/open eigend after than and its fine. Now... point to note, is my EigenD setup is linked to my Virus midi. Initially I 'blamed' the Virus driver. But then, I cabled up the midi via my audio interface, and changed the EigenD setup to point to the AI midi interface... and it does the same thing. has anyone see anything similar?

still havent upgraded to 2.0 (well i had the upgrade, but i lost all my programs and my subscription ran out).... on the fence about upgrading.. how much better is it (in terms of stability ? ) ...im most interested in using the scroll keys to send midi messages... is anyone using the extra keys in cool ways?   i have  a pico btw

February - Susitna Glacier  A short journey across the Susitna Glacier, played on an Eigenharp Alpha with sound from the Access Virus TI. Part of my project to learn more about sound designt... a bit rushed in the end as I need to move on to other things, so consider this a 'taster' :o)  It was also getting a bit too complex for my skills at the moment, so will perhaps return to it (or something similar)  later this year. Thanks again to António Machado for suggesting the whole Earth As Art challenge... Id encourage others to give it a go, its great fun! https://soundcloud.com/thetechnobear/february-susitna-glacier