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The fourth scale in the scale browser should be a regular chromatic scale with all 12 keys of an octave. Doesn't it?

Sam,

I discovered this truth myself this evening. I'm on setup 2, but when I configure it for a single split, the scale selection process works like a charm... black keys and all. I would appreciate you describing the process for setup 2 (I'm not brave enough for setup 3 just yet) split 2.

I greatly appreciate your responsiveness. I can't always tell at this point if I'm doing something wrong, or if the issue relates to a bug or malfunction.

Pat

You should just be able to continue the scale with more notes and define each and every note. I've done this on the Pico and you can exactly say which note each key has to play.

Hmm, might be something different in the setups of the Alpha and the Pico, worth filing a bug report over. I've been able to define a different note for all 16 playing keys on the Pico.

Hi Pat,

In Alpha Setup 2 and 3, there is a secondary mode key (referred to a 'Scale mode key' in the "A note about Scale and Tonic controls" diagram on p12 of your Alpha Quick Reference guide) which gives you access to the different controls which change the scale of individual keygroups.

In Alpha Setup 2, if you navigate to the Scale and Tonic control mode, then press and hold the 'Scale mode key', you will see three LEDs light up, adjacent to the keys marked '1, 2 and 3' on the diagram. Selecting these modes will then give you the option to configure the scale of the keygroup which corresponds to the number labelling the key on the diagram.

You will then see the generic 'Scale and Tonic controls' view as shown in Diagram C on p12 of you Quick Reference Guide. If you were to press the key labelled '5' on the diagram, you will change the scale of the keygroup number you have previously selected.

This convention is also followed in Alpha Setup 3 - you just have more keygroups that you are able to configure, so more LEDs light up when you press and hold the 'Scale mode key'.

However in Alpha Setup 3, there is also a 'Global Scale and Tonic controls' mode. If you select this, the scale/tonic that you select (you will get the same generic Scale and Tonic control mode' as referred to in Diagram C p12) will be apply across ALL the keygroups (i.e. wherever you play on your Alpha, that scale/tonic will apply).

I hope this is helpful - if you have any more questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Sam
Eigenlabs Software Department

Has anyone developed a chromatic cello scale for the alpha? I'd like to try playing the instrument in chromatic mode but keep the top key in each course mapped like cello strings CGDAE from low to high. This way I can finger the alpha more or less like a cello.

This is only my second day with the instrument and I can see a lot of potential and for me less of a learning curve than traditional keyboards. I've been running through right, left, and two handed scales, instrument position, shifting and hand crosses. Since I haven't seen any videos where these techniques are used to any extent on the Eigenharp I've been watching the techniques people are using with Chapman Sticks as the closest parallel. RIght now it seems like fast shifts may be a little tricky. Going back to the beginning cello trick of placing masking tape on the neck will help with tactical queues for shifts. Time and practice will tell.

It would be useful for string and guitar players if it would be possible to reduce the key sensitivity so you could slide up and down the keyboard with a very light touch without activating a key.

Does this mean that, if the offset is set to 22 rows, the courses can be entirely independent?

This would be very handy. I quite fancy trying out the chromatic mode but with some different offsets - I think a 3 or 5 key offset (as opposed to 4) will make scales trickier (bigger gaps between duplicate keys) but make the major/minor triads easier to reach with three fingers of one hand. At the moment they are stacked more or less horizontally across the keyboard, so your fingers get in each others way or you have to contort your wrist and point your fingers up/down the keyboard instead of across it.

Hi bbcello,

Defining scales on the Alpha is the same as on the Pico. Please see this FAQ on how to do this :-
www.eigenlabs.com/faq/eigend/can-you-define-your-own-scales-to-use-with-the-ei

Any problems do let me know.

Regards

Aaron
Customer Support

Hi Pat

The unstable release of EigenD is exactly that, unstable. It is quite likely (due to new features being introduced) to have new bugs, and you should not run it unless you are happy that you might experience such things. It might crash. The name is in fact meant to do the very opposite of inspire confidence, it is meant to put you off!

There are three flavours of release for EigenD, Stable, Testing and Unstable. Stable is currently available on the website, and the latest version of that was shipped with your instrument when you bought it. This is currently the 1.0 version. Once we have made a Stable release we only apply bug fixes to it and make a new version for serious bugs that might make the software crash.

The unstable release has features added to it for a while, then when we are done adding features becomes a testing release. Once we have no significant reported bugs in the testing release, it becomes the new stable release. We always advise the use of the stable release when playing live - you can have multiple versions of EigenD installed on your computer at once so you can play with the newest versions whilst keeping the most recent stable release for gigging.

The current unstable is nearly done - we have a few new features to go in the next week or so then it will move into testing as a candidate for the 1.1 stable release. In parallel with this there will then be a new unstable release, 1.2.

I think that the keyboard layout that you want is quite simple to define (it's not a matter of software that stuff - you can script such configuration yourself). What exactly did you want to do?

John