I'd like to be able to use all 24 rows of the Alpha for notes.
Is there any way to change the setup so that the mode keys, and the octave up/down live in the percussion section?
written by: 0beron
@mike - awesome find with the Hornpipe - I was actually toying with the idea of a sop Sax at some point, but getting one in C or D is nigh on impossible - this neatly solves the problem. Agggh - I told myself I'd stop spending money this year but this might tip me over the edge again..!I'd like to be able to use all 24 rows of the Alpha for notes.
Is there any way to change the setup so that the mode keys, and the octave up/down live in the percussion section?
Ok - I just have to ask. Why on earth do you need one more row of keys (i'm assuming in keygroup 1 / alpha1?)
Inquiring minds want to know
Hmmm, is that like asking someone why they need 88 notes on a piano?
I don't want one more row --- I'm quite happy with 24 rows, which is the same number as frets in many electric guitars, including mine. I'd like to be able to use all 24 rows (frets) for playing rather than control. By the way, that presumes no splits --- as soon as one starts splitting, then multiple rows get lost for playing.
In the short term however, the pragmatic answer is that as I practice playing scales and even a few tunes, I'm finding that far too often I touch one of those control keys near the bottom and change the octave by mistake --- I'd much rather have the full range available so I don't have arbitrary stops....again would be even worse if splits were in use.
I have no interest in multiplexing the main keyboard between playing and control, or at least not for initiating any control. I've got perfectly good MIDI foot pedal controllers for changing sounds quickly if that's what I need to do. Further, I have no need for the percussion keys, at least not for percussion, so might as well use those to get into and out of control mode.
Well, it is clear that you have a clear and focussed notion of where you want to go. It is interesting to me that the instrument can be tailored for that use.
On reflection I realize that I have been more focussed on exploring the overall potential of the instrument and what it enables rather than fitting it to some preconceived application.
As an aside, one place this took me was to set up sampler 3 to crossfade between a Chinese flute and an irish whistle on yaw, both with pressure controlling volume and pitch controlling bend.
If one does that then you have the perfect setup for most celtic roots music complete with all the ornamentation usually applied on the tin whistle (achieved by lightly sliding from one ket to the next). A corner to corner 'vibrato' gives a nice pitch and timbre change. Of course, you will also have a $6000 instrument faithfully emulating a $6 one.
I'm keeping this setup (because it can be useful in a small keygroup) but I also bought a nice $10 penny whistle just for fun.
Now I really need to find some good celtic percussion loops
While I don't have a goal, I do have a direction in which I want to go.
I'm not interested in changing my musical interests but I am extremely interested in ways of making my performance of the music I like more expressive. I have tried many alternate controllers over the years but upon first reading about the Alpha, I was convinced that the sensitivity of the keys (in three dimensions) would give me a lot of expressive power.
The difficulty for me is the integration of "play" and "control". I want to use the alpha solely as a controller. I have no interest in the built-in drumming/sequencer nor the built-in instruments. There are extremely mature software packages (as well as live musicians) already available for doing these things. Unfortunately, configuration is strangely complication and although I recognize that the approach addresses the vision of the designers, it doesn't work for me.
Now that I know the mechanism for getting a script into the EigenD, if I could only get a decent full description of that scripting language, I could quickly build my own little GUIs that would generate the necessary scripts to do what I need.
All I want (at least at this point) is full control of what MIDI data (and ideally OSC data if possible) is produced when a key is touched, moved, shaken or stirred. The sooner I can have that, the sooner I can be on my merry way (grin).
The sooner the fabled workbench arrives, the better - hopefully it will open up a few of these things. I'd also love to be able to reconfigure the percussion keys, since I don't use them for percussion much. What would be nice is to move the drummer controls off the main keyboard (saving 5 whole rows) and to have 12 loops toggleable on the percussion keys. Some of the other controls like scales etc. would also fit nicely.
I second (third? eighth?) the request for more belcanto documentation!
What would be REALLY nice, although probably in need of a C++ implementation rather than belcanto, is to go back to using the percussion keys for percussion, but to add some automatic quantisation (only on loop playback, otherwise you need a time machine to play notes before you hit the key...)
@mike: I have a low D chieftan whistle that cost about $200, that's only one order of magnitude off an Alpha :)
@0beron These are good ideas.
Google 'the whistle players hornpipe'. There are a few samples at the page. I have one. You might find it interesting. I'm actually thinking of buying a set of whistles - can you recommend one? I'm tiring of my Guinness (Walton) toy.
On documentation to date. It is a nice reference but, like the reference sections for PS or FCP it provides syntax but not purpose. We really need the 'other' manual. The one that documents tasks. I look forward to the workbench with the caution that better tools don't necessarily help when one does not know what one is doing or might do
I was actually wondering whether it would be useful to use some of the percussion keys to implement "transport" controls including MIDI clock along with a decent tap tempo implementation.
But the quantization question seems to me to be another example where one might be better off leveraging the advanced real-time quantization/groove algorithms and overdub facilities available in tools like Ableton, Logic and other such environments.
@mike - awesome find with the Hornpipe - I was actually toying with the idea of a sop Sax at some point, but getting one in C or D is nigh on impossible - this neatly solves the problem. Agggh - I told myself I'd stop spending money this year but this might tip me over the edge again..!
As regards whistles (here in the UK anyway, there may be other people who make great whistles in Canada and the US), the Chieftan ones are very nice but expensive, there are the Tony Dixon whistles which have a full range of options but include some of the better sounding low priced whistles, and there are the Shaw whistles which have some rough, hand made edges (you can see all the solder blobs, the seam at the back where a sheet of metal has been bent into a tube, and the mouthpiece is wooden and can give you splinters), but they sound gorgeous and aren't too pricey. There's a comprehensive list here:
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/low.html
Sorry for the thread hijack...
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