Improving a jammer

Jul 13, 2008 at 11:40 PM
9 comments

Hi loyal readers. You sure are a varied lot. See: my site monitor .

While work goes forth on the Generalized Keyboard conversion kit, I'm refining the design of the jammer.
I had to take it apart to analyse the keys and to show to plastic makers. Now I'm improving it as I put it back together.

The main change is invisible: I've tuning the keys to the same, much lighter weight, so that I have more hope of learning to play it well. when first constructed I was happy to have a working instrument with all keys that worked and had pianoforte. Now, as I learn the details of construction and the mechanics of playing, I'm getting more fussy. When I measured the pressures required, I found they were way out of spec. The good part is that, now that I've found this out, others are saved the work.

But enough of technicalities. On to the important things: gadgetry.
Can you guess what I'm going to do with these items?

WhatIsIt

The first correct answer gets a free jammer conversion kit (when finally I start making them).

Ken.

Update: Here's what it looks like after the 1st assembly, but before refinement and styling.

JamStik 1st assemly

It does not make an ugly hand any prettier, that's for sure.

Attached to my hand is the "JamStik", my tentative, if obvious and ugly (not to mention suggestive) name.
Left to Right:
1) A brass rod lightly fastened to my finger with a loop of tape.
2) The joystick base from a Sony Playstation, bought from a thrift shop (you can also buy them)
3) A heat-reformed piece of plastic pipe
4) Double-sided Velcro
5) 8-lead wire, about a meter long

Now the question is, what would you do with a couple of these attached to your keyboard? Ideas requested!

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It's obviously a joystick, for controlling pitch and modulation (by default; since you're using Max/MSP, you could use it to dim the lights in two different rooms of your house if you wanted).

My guess is that it is designed to attached to your thumb, so you have the ability to modulate parameters without needing to keep your thumb in one particular spot. Do I win?

[this is good]

You win! You'll definately get your kit, some time before the next ice age, I hope.

The Thummer's joystick, mounted on the keyboard, placement is patented, so I could not use that.

Besides, the jammer design requires a mobile hand, so I wanted to be able to control effects in real time.

Do you have a suggestion for what to call it?

Ha! JamStik; I love it. If I wasn't already going to look like a weirdo showing up to perform with a laptop and this crazy box with a hundred colored buttons, I will certainly look TransHuman with these joysticks attached to myself.

As mentioned above, using Max (or in my case, Plogue Bidule, which is similar), we can control nearly anything imaginable with the joystick. The obvious would of course be pitch bend and vibrato amount, but we could borrow the idea of "dynamic tonality" from the Thummer, and use the stick to shift continuously through different temperaments while playing a tune. Having never been able to do this before, I'm not sure whether it will be amazing and useful or just make the whole thing sound out of tune, but it's certainly an interesting idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Tonality

Other, simpler uses would be to control harmonicity in FM synthesis, the ubiquitous filter cutoff/resonance for doing filter sweeps, or assigning an axis to each of 4 drawbars on an organ.

The options being as limitless as they are, I think sometimes it's hard to get anywhere with music these days. But we press on...

Aha a Max/MSP guru!
I have many things on my wish list, that require a programmer with such skills. Are you the anointed one that prophesy foretells?
While I have modest experience with programming, I have not spent the time needed to make my interface pretty, nor to make it do the cool things that would make my musician friends covet, nay, demand! a jammer.
Say it is so...

Seriously, I do need help.
Ken.
Thanks for the good suggestions on things to do with a Jamstik. I of course have some ideas, but other people often have better ones.

Sadly, no. I use a similar program called Plogue Bidule, and even in that I am far from a guru. I am just a musician/composer who likes to do some weird stuff. I wish I was little more adept at programming, but it's too easy to spend so much time working on that that I don't ever make any music.

Too true!
However, by pooling our abilities and our time, if we co-ordinate reasonably carefully, I'm hopeful that we can have fun and get much done.

Ken

Spider Robinson's Law: (a.k.a Callahan's Law) Shared pain is lessened, shared joy is increased (and bad puns are always appreciated).

I expect that the Jamstik will be pretty versatile - several orders of magnitude better that having mod wheels on the side.
One simple idea - strumming. What would not be cooler than being able to strum one's jammer like a guitar, or even ... a banjo.

More ideas please!
Ken.

I'm not sure I follow - do you mean that you would play a chord with your fingers, then use the joystick to (with software) strum through the individual notes in the chord? Sort of like the Q-Chord:

http://www.qchord.net/

That's interesting, though as a player of stringed instruments first, and keyboard player second, I would probably just use a real guitar or banjo. But the potential is definitely there to do some interesting things with arpeggios. You could hold down an entire diatonic scale with your fist, then use your jamstik to play entire ascending or descending scales, in a harp/koto style.

You got it. One could "build" a chord of arbitary complexity with apparently virtuoso skill.

Note that the thumb can 'pluck" a heck of a lot faster than most people can press keys.

Improving a jammer

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