First of all, let me say I really do appreciate the comments and help from everyone.
(mikemilton)
I think a big part of the problem is that because the instrument is so new, not only are users coming from very different starting places, but they're probably trying to get to different ending places...I just don't think there's enough common ground to drive how the EigenHarp SHOULD be used.
My live keyboard rig is managed by Mainstage and I have zero interest in giving up that environment. Rather, I want to integrate the Eigenharp into my live performance. MainStage can handle splits and layers for me as long as the Alpha is configured properly. MainStage is an amazingly wonderful tool and it's extremely easy to use, particularly for new users, even though it had some serious bugs in its earlier versions and still has a few quirks.
I have tried various wind controllers in the past, (and guitar controllers, and various "alternative" controllers such as the Buchla Lightning) but none of them had the potential for expressiveness that I believe is possible with the Eigenharp. That's why I bought one, even though I had a lousy experience when I tried it out in a store. I fully expect it to be brilliant, but I just hate being at the bottom of this incredibly steep learning curve.
The EigenD seems to come with a lot of "stuff" in it, but the thing is, I already have extremely powerful software for actual sound creation. I have no interest in the drummer stuff (there's a real drummer in our band!) and I have no interest in backing tracks, although if I did, I would want to leverage stuff like Logic/MainStage, or tools like Max, perhaps Ableton Live and/or other sophisticated systems. The only meta-control (as opposed to actual performance stuff (vibrato, breath, filter cutoff, whatever) that I might want from the Alpha itself, at least for now, is the ability to send MIDI program change messages back to MainStage which will then reconfigure the sound being controlled the Eigenharp, etc.
It would certainly be useful to leverage OSC to get more fine-grained resolution, but even then, for me the Alpha is about playing, not about control.
I'm hoping the latest software release will help to get me to my goal.
(0beron)
First of all, I'm wondering if your username is related to a programming language developed by one N. Wirth (grin). I did finally manage to get an AU to open, following your suggestion, thank you.
I think the problem with the tutorials (and perhaps with the documentation) is that they are too bottom-up. Further, the Eigenharp is being explained as if it is a "machine" rather than a musical instrument. They are describing all the building blocks but leaving it up to the reader to figure out how to put stuff together. (There's no point in trying to explain to a new music student how to play an augmented 7th chord before they've actually learned what a chord is or how to play a basic scale)
To use an analogy from the software development world, it would be like trying to teach someone with zero programming language experience by providing them with a list of keywords, some syntax and then leaving the user to figure out how to do a loop or use a variable, before the user even knew what those things are for. Much better is to start with a "hello, world" and then build on it with real examples, adding new features as you go.
There's a certain arbitrary aspect to the usability of the instrument, with the same keys doing different things depending on what mode you're in. (Modes, by the way, are a huge no-no in the usability world). The Quick Reference guide introduces sophisticated setups with complicated splits and "forward references" to things like "Arrangers" and "Drummers" which have not yet been introduced. If one looks at pages 10, 11, or 12, for example, there are shaded sections of the keyboard with absolutely no anchor points, i.e, there's no way to tell WHERE these key groups are actually located on the instrument....you have to jump around all over the place to try and figure out what's going on. Then, depending on where you are, there are lots of lights just "on", some red, some yellow (amber?), green....what do those mean (for example).
I think the first things that new users need to learn are
1) How to access your own audio units, select a sound
2) How to play basic scales and chords using those AUs
3) Practice the above
4) How to begin to add expressive control into the mix, i.e, assign up/down, left/right, in/out, ribbons, breath, to parameters of your AUs
5) Introduction to the physical models included with EigenD
6) How to create/use/change different scales
The other stuff can come after that.
My sense is that these documents were written by people who understand the system deeply and assume that readers will know almost as much. But people new to the instrument don't have any existing common ground from which to start. By the way, this is a classic well-known problem, very well explained in the famous bestseller, Make It Stick. (E.g, CEO is explaining new direction of company, is puzzled why employees don't share enthusiasm, reason is because CEO knows a lot more than he has actually said, and forgot that employees don't know what he knows)
I think it would be really worth while to consider bringing a tech writer with strong usability experience on board and have them rewrite the documentation (including the stuff on the wiki) in a form that's more suitable to people who don't already have domain knowledge. I don't know what kind of focus groups have been put together but I can tell you that it is a very humbling experience to develop a product which you think works great and which which you can quickly do magical things and then watch newcomers (even smart ones) try to use it and be at a total loss.
I don't know if you've ever seen the books written by Scott Kelby to teach people Photoshop but they are brilliantly written so that you can just open to any chapter and learn how to do something, without prerequisites. That means, for example, that whenever you introduce a new feature and want to show someone how to use it, rather than writing
Step 1: Press the Main Mode Key
Step 2: Switch to Advanced Control Mode
.....
you would write
Step 1: Press the Main Mode Key, which is the bottom right key
Step 2: Press the Advanced Control Mode key, which is the middle key of the top row (or whatever)
.....
Just my two cents....but I'm hoping you can ignore the "rant" in my text and extract the spirit of where I'm trying to go (grin). Now, because my wife and kids are away for the weekend, I'm going to spend the rest of the day trying to make some progress without interruptions!
UK
