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Background for my thinking here: While playing on the Pico, I was fiddling around with the pitch bend, and while it's very easy to play a note and then bend it down or up, it's virtually impossible to start off with a 'bent' note and 'unbend' it, like you can on a guitar. I then thought maybe you could do something with the Stringer agent, which already deals with monophony along single courses (i.e. strings).

Would it be possible (in the future) to set a keygroup/instrument so that pressing the notes does nothing, until you also press the buttons at the end of the course? This would almost emulate guitar playing, and you could start with bent notes and unbend them, too.

So for example, you'd hold a few keys with your left hand, then run a finger from your right hand along then end-course buttons, and this would 'strum' the strings.

Just though I'd throw this wild, crazy, half-formed idea out to you guys ;)
Tene.

0beron, I've definitely seen mention from Eigenlabs about being able to 'bow' the Cello (for example) using the percussion key(s)... but I'm thinking that would be a single bow across all held notes, rather than individual control of courses.

Thanks for the input guys - sometimes I feel a bit awkward putting these random ideas out into the open but I'm certainly glad they spark some conversation and other ideas :)

I suppose for a proper guitar mode you also need the strumming keys to trigger a default 'open' note ( ie on course 1 and 2 in Tenebrous's picture).

Another idea that is a bit more far out perhaps, is that it is hard to get a realistic guitar strumming sound without the ability to damp the strings with your palm. Perhaps a way to simulate this would be to move the strumming keys up a couple of rows (maybe even make them 2 rows wide so you don't have to strum in a dead straight line), and then use the keys just below the strumming keys to detect pressure from your palm and damp the notes. Easy to lay out, but probably really hard to get a synth to react to this input in an intuitive way?

Hmm - you'd end up having to use a rather odd technique to make that work, although I suppose that the beauty of the Eigenharps is that either way would work!

Thanks for starting the discussion.

Actually, here is what I'd like to see.

1) add a plucked string model with a choice of plectrums (flesh, nail, various pics) and a few useful IRs (guitar, mango, banjo, user). If possible a choice of material (metal, nylon, or simply a parameter or so about the material)

2) great, play this if you want -- or, better still --

3) add an agent to map notes to keys. So a given key in an upper keygroup maps notes to the first or second six (or 4 or 5) keys on the lower keys.

4) set up an upper keygroup to include a full set of guitar fingerings and tunings. For example, the first row might be tunings starting with eadgbe with 4 others all
from a user editable text file similar to scales) subsequent rows would include a single key for cords in various positions arranged nicely in circle of fifths groupings. One could also have a row for chord position (allowing a smaller keygroup than if the positions were discrete). Most of this should use a text file for the fingerings so that brave souls can play with them)
- pressing an upper key sets the notes on the lower keys

5) select a chord and strum or finger-style the lower keys

Conceptually this is not much different than an autoharp

Mangolin! lol, 0beron :)