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A new instrument found unusual success

theguardian.com

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Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#31

Post by eesmith »

flangola7 wrote: post #14
donatzsky wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A patent is a time-limited monopoly on an invention, so yes, preventing others from making the same thing is exactly what a patent is for. The idea being that during this time, the inventor can either be the sole source of the widget, thus profiting from it directly, or licence it to someone else. Either case means that they get "compensated fairly".

That is not what a patent is for. It may unfortunately currently be legal, but that isn't its true purpose.

That's exactly what a patent is. The purpose (at least for the US) is stated in the US Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 8:

> [The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

Now quoting from the US Patent and Trademark Office at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/essentials#questions

"A U.S. patent gives you, the inventor, the right to “exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” an invention or “importing” it into the U.S. ... What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import the invention, but the right to stop others from doing so. If someone infringes on your patent, you may initiate legal action."

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#34

Post by elihu »

raincole wrote: post #32

Slightly off topic, but I really want an instrument that works like LinnStrument but with a synth built-in (so you can actually play it without connecting to something else).

Haken Continuum, perhaps?

The same Eaganmatrix engine used in the Continuum has also shown up in the Expressive E Osmose, so apparently Haken is willing to work with other companies to integrate their synth in more products -- and the result is quite an amazing device. Haken also makes a standalone Eurorack module.

I'm not sure if there's a good open-source MPE synth that's easy to port to microcontrollers. Surge is really impressive but it's not made to run on simple embedded platforms.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#35

Post by p0w3n3d »

coldtea wrote: post #22
silversmith wrote: post #6

Soo... Electric version of concert kokle? And that got patented?

In the same sense that "Dropbox is a version of curlftpfs plus SVN, and still it got funded!".

but dropbox is not patented and you are not prevented from making your own CurlFtpFS and SVN system

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#38

Post by elihu »

taylorius wrote: post #15

I'm surprised they got the patent on this thing - seems pretty similar to a Chapman stick.

If I understand right, the Harpejji uses individual per-string pickups and uses an electronic muting system. Touching a string to any of the frets completes a circuit that causes the onboard electronics to unmute that particular string.

That's pretty unique.

The Chapman Stick just uses a mechanical damper where the nut is so the open strings don't ring out, and fairly standard magnetic pickups.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#39

Post by tiniuclx »

taylorius wrote: post #15

I'm surprised they got the patent on this thing - seems pretty similar to a Chapman stick.

Chapman Stick player here! The Harpejji has a very different tuning and technique. The melody side of the stick is tuned in fourths (like a guitar), and the bass side is tuned in fifths (like a cello). The Harpejji is tuned in whole steps, meaning the strings are much closer in pitch than they are on the stick.

The implication is that the technique used for the Harpejji is much more similar to piano: every note in a scale is played on a different string, and chords are produced by 'skipping' notes / strings. Whereas scales on the Stick are usually laid out using 3 notes per string on the melody side (exactly like the guitar), and 4 notes per string on the bass.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#40

Post by elihu »

Mizza wrote: post #8

I came up with something similar, in the opposite direction: https://github.com/Miserlou/LaunchBoard It's an Ableton device to map the keys of a Novation LaunchPad as if it were an 8 string, 8 fret guitar. I play the guitar but not the piano, but play a lot of synths. This bridges the gap for me, and it's so, so, so much fun. I'm thinking about doing a dedicated hardware version with proper midi out, touch sensitivit…

There are some reasonable ways to do pressure-sensitive buttons cheaply.

I'm also working on an electronic instrument. What I do is glue felt on the back of a sheet of 1/8" birch ply (using liquid hide glue), and then laser cut all my button tops out of that.

The buttons are held in place by a laser-cut wooden frame, also 1/8" birch ply but without the felt. I stick packing tape to the back of the frame sticky-side up, so I can drop the button-tops in place (felt side down) and they stay put without falling out. The felt is there so the bottons have a little give to them when you press on them.

This wood/tape/felt assembly sits on top of a sheet of force-sensitive resistor, which in turn sits on a printed circuit board. Under each button there are two sets of exposed (ENIG-plated) copper traces configured like interdigitized fingers.

Pressing on the button presses on the FSR which presses against the traces, and the electrical resistance between both sets of traces drops. You can measure the drop with a simple voltage divider circuit connected to an ADC.

By using a lot of multiplexers or certain kinds of shift registers, it's possible to read hundreds of buttons.

Sensitronics makes a very nice FSR material, but I've found Velostat works quite nicely too and is vastly cheaper.

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