Eigenharp Google+ Community Archive

Is it just me or is the cello model harder to play in the low range? It can make sense given the logic of physical modelling, but the effect is somewhat unexpected. Been using the clarinet model to practice scales. Rather satisfying for something so repetitive. Tried doing the same thing with the cello model and it feels like it’s more difficult to play low notes quickly. It could be a psychological effect. Noticed something a bit similar while changing scales. But the effect remains rather strong in the low range of the cello model, as though each note took longer to articulate.

I don't suppose there's any way to make the "Arm Recording" key visually indicate that it is armed, such as by turning its LED green or blinking? I'm recording a lot of blank loops, and sometimes failing to record at all, because I can't tell when I've hit the arm button firmly enough. Admittedly, I've only had my Tau for all of two hours...

July Eigenchallenge incoming.  As soon as my computer can deal with the video that is.  Finally had a chance to have a deeper dive into the Alpha and I'm so glad that I have now.  Played with arrangers and workbench today.

Not sure if anyone's already seen this, but someone posted a link in the Leicester Ableton Users' Group on Facebook.  The relative notation works really well with the Eigenharp and is a nice way of visualising chord and melody progressions.    http://www.hooktheory.com http://www.hooktheory.com

Hi, Just got word that the alpha build is proceeding, so I'll have one later this year...very excited. One thing I've run into with the pico I was wondering if anyone had insight into - as an EWI player I was able to achieve very short articulations using my tongue to modulate my breath as I did as a saxophonist.  I'm having trouble doing the same with the pico mouthpiece; something about the way it channels the air and the width of the opening makes it very difficult to tongue rapidly.  Has anyone found a way around this? Thanks!

Practicing for Moogfest ... finally found a good stand configuration to put two iPads, a microphone and my Apogee One all together in my personal space.

Gnossienne 1- apologies to Satie... http://youtu.be/EZ6LHpz910A I'd given myself a target to get something finished by the end of the year, so here it is. Far from perfect... as soon as I turn on the camera I start making lots of mistakes. but a start, hopefully more to come. (oh and next time the camera will improve too... didn't cross my mind vertical would not work too well on you tube ;o)) http://youtu.be/EZ6LHpz910A

After spending about 2-3 months away from the Eigenharp (I've been spending my free time on the latest Coursera Scala course, but the assignments are all done now) I finally picked it up again yesterday. It felt good to be playing with it again. I'd forgotten lots of basics, but remembered more than I expected of the tune I was last learning. The path to musicality is far too long, but the journey continues to have its moments of satisfaction.

Came upon an interesting text about learning motoric skills.  It's a review of the research done in the area with some emphasis given to musical technique. Being about 72 pages, it's reasonably short and provides a nice compilation of facts, learning techniques and scientific reasoning.  http://mechnerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Learning-and-Practicing-Skilled-Performance.pdf

I've been working with a lot of my soft-synths recently, auditioning patches that work well in a mono output.  My new Bose L1 is mono, so I'm finding patches, i.e.: leads, pads, arps, etc. that do not have a lot of phase, panning, and/or broad stereo effects.  This has been interesting. First, the setup I'm using is a simple, 1 keygroup (full) with a scale selector for 8 scales.  I have an audio unit rig and a MIDI rig int he setup.  Plus, I have a metronome for syncing to some arp patches and Abelton Live and octave up/down keys on the percussion group. Why has finding mono patches been interesting?  I guess the biggest interest is that I'm finding I enjoy the patches that are not overly theatrical and, dare I say, gloomy.  I'm finding some patches that are beautifully and subtly modulated by MIDI modulation.  Patches that are percussive or string based sound wonderful through the L1. I thought I'd miss stereo.  In truth, I don't.  Stereo in performance can...

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.

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...

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)

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.

Hi, I've been learning to play Alpha for a month and there is some thoughts to share and questions to ask. I began by trying every layout available through Mark's Creator utility (thank you very much, by the way). My goal was to find a layout that is most suitable for playing chords and which could accommodate the grand staff. I ended up with 4xn and 3xn to choose from. As a test case I used a small piece consisting mostly of four note chords. Initially, I wanted to use 4xn but found it to be really uncomfortable with chords containing seconds. On the other hand 3xn was much better in that respect, moreover the chords were accessible with both hands. The reason for it was that it's very convenient when a chord aligns along a diagonal and they do that in 3xn. The main disadvantage of 3xn is that is less compact than 4xn so one needs flexible hands to play jumps in legato. I'm not a musician on any scale, so I wonder maybe there are some crucial disadvantages that I misse...

Have been playing around with the diagonal chromatic layout Mark Harris  and António Machado proposed. Very interesting! For some things I still have to find a good fingering - but it's definitely a possibility... Jim Self might like the chord shapes (many adjacent keys :) )

Try this scale:[0,2,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,12]. This gives you access to the blues notes and major/minor 7th if played from root. Try shifting the root to the 2nd and 3rd note of the scale. Opens up some tonal possibilities. Of course, don't try just playing all of the notes. The 1/2 steps are there for embellishment and producing other harmonic progressions. So an 8 note scale might be: [0,2,3,4,7,8,10,12] or [0,2,3,4,6,8,11,12], etc. Let me know what think.

My next Eigenharp project is to fully explore the parameter mapping on a few choice plugins, I.e.: Omnisphere, Alchemy and Zebra. This is an area that I know offers a lot of promise on the live performance space but is one I've hardly touched.

Can someone score this for eigenharp?  http://i.imgur.com/kCNMKAn.jpg http://i.imgur.com/kCNMKAn.jpg