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A new instrument found unusual success

theguardian.com

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Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#71

Post by rollcat »

Jeff_Brown wrote: post #59

This needs to be multiscale. The treble sounds strained and whiny, because it's at too much tension, because it's too long. The bass sounds farty and unfocused, because it's at too little tension, because it's too short. There's a good reason bass guitars are bigger than guitars. Multi-scale guitars have been out of patent for years now. And if the harpejji was invented in 2007, then I believe it should go out of pat…

+1 for multi-scale. While on the topic: I have thrown some hard-earned cash at a multi-scale guitar a couple years ago (a Strandberg), and it both sounds great (well also thanks to craftsmanship), and is much more comfortable to play in the higher positions: the way the frets are fanned, the left hand's wrist remains in a more natural position. It'd be difficult to switch back.

I've worked on my own instruments many many years ago (with a little help from a professional luthier). I'd say if you're designing a new instrument, multi-scale should be a consideration; even if it's just a plain old boring guitar, your biggest constraint is the choice of a bridge.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#72

Post by HelloNurse »

uxp100 wrote: post #47
MrScruff wrote: post #41

This kind of has the sound of someone playing an acoustic guitar patch on a keyboard. It seems to lack the expressive dynamics you would expect with a guitar, almost like the velocity is clamped.

It is noise gated, which could be what you’re hearing. (This lets you play more piano like and not have to mute all those open strings)

Why do the strings need to be muted? Is there so much resonance that playing quickly would produce indistinct humming?

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#73

Post by lightlyused »

jasonjmcghee wrote: post #30

Jacob Collier (relatively famous musician) has a number of videos playing the Harpejji. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5T-9RPW4pg He has a lot of great content in general and musical talent, if you’ve never come across him before. Worth diving into.

Well worth going to see live. You will not be disappointed.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#74

Post by jamesash »

A childhood friend of mine invented the Lumitone, a microtonal keyboard with colored backlit hexagonal keys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfNIxTiApig

About 10 years ago I visited him in his studio where he had all mocked up in paper and cardboard, putting all the pieces together. Fun to see it finally out and in people's hands.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#76

Post by chris_st »

rollcat wrote: post #71
Jeff_Brown wrote: post #59

This needs to be multiscale. The treble sounds strained and whiny, because it's at too much tension, because it's too long. The bass sounds farty and unfocused, because it's at too little tension, because it's too short. There's a good reason bass guitars are bigger than guitars. Multi-scale guitars have been out of patent for years now. And if the harpejji was invented in 2007, then I believe it should go out of pat…

+1 for multi-scale. While on the topic: I have thrown some hard-earned cash at a multi-scale guitar a couple years ago (a Strandberg), and it both sounds great (well also thanks to craftsmanship), and is much more comfortable to play in the higher positions: the way the frets are fanned, the left hand's wrist remains in a more natural position. It'd be difficult to switch back. I've worked on my own instruments many…

I love my multi-scale bass (the poetically named Ibanez EHB1265MS :-). Possibly the weirdest thing about playing a multi scale instrument is that my eyes just... adjust the frets to look like they're normal, vertical frets when I'm playing. And, it really took less than half an hour of playing to get used to it.

Glad to hear Strandbergs are nice... I'm sorely tempted by one.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#77

Post by Taikonerd »

jamesash wrote: post #74

A childhood friend of mine invented the Lumitone, a microtonal keyboard with colored backlit hexagonal keys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfNIxTiApig About 10 years ago I visited him in his studio where he had all mocked up in paper and cardboard, putting all the pieces together. Fun to see it finally out and in people's hands.

Isomorphic keyboards are so cool! I hope the Lumitone comes down in price and becomes more of a "regular instrument"... AFAIK it's just as suited for regular tonal music as microtonal.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#78

Post by unwind »

franky47 wrote: post #65

I remember at NAMM about 10 years ago, the company I worked for made a touchscreen-based mixing console. The CEO insisted to have Stevie Wonder try it. What surprised me is that he (SW) looked impressed doing so, moving virtual faders on a glass screen with no tactile feedback. That was my first realization that music is a business like any other, and getting a famous person doing a PR stunt for your product may be b…

Uh in case someone doesn't know. Stevie Wonder is blind. Having him test a non-tactile instrument is non-obvious at best.

Obviously he has a couple of metric tons of experience as a musician so can probably make a potato sound interesting, but still ... odd choice.

Re: A new instrument found unusual success

#79

Post by Taikonerd »

One cool thing about the harpejji: it's isomorphic. That means that the "shape" of a chord will be the same, everywhere on the playing surface. So, switching from playing in C major to D major just means moving your hands over one string. (Guitar and piano players know that it's more complex than that on their instruments.)
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