The jammer support system thingys

Sep 30, 2009 at 4:46 PM
4 comments

I am a systems analyst by day (BTW, it's a curse - I can't look at anything without analysing the blink'n thing in great detail); jammers like the AXiS and Thummer are wonderful challenges for my brain. Here I'm trying to make a blessing out of my affliction and do what I can to set in motion development of the myriad things that jammers need to become successful. A number of the ideas I have originally posted here have been determined, so progress is being made.

Ways to make sounds

What sound production software goes well with it?

e.g. Garratin Personal Orchestra
What computers go well with it? - netbooks do well.
What amps go well?

Jammer support

books
manuals
Teachers
fingerings and techniques for playing

Training and lessons

Is there a way to interface to any of the existing piano courses?

Interface to other kinds of training i.e reading piano lesons.

Hardware needed.

Jammer accessories
pad,
controls
footpedals - Korg nano series.
joysticks

Incidental stuff like stands

Software needed

Key remapping software

Software to play midi files on screen to demo fingerings & how to play - Notation Composer does the trick.

What else works well with the unit?

Better USB connectors.
Music notation, packaging for travel, easy gig setup?

4 comments

Tags:

jammer basics

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I've been working on this, on paper, or quite some time.

Please consider sharing your thoughts and ideas. With luck your ideas will come back to you polished and improved. Everyone will benefit.
Ken.

This bears some further thought, but I have a few comments.

Here's how I would use a jammer: I use a laptop to compose. It's cool to be able to sit in bed, with a pair of headphones on and make music. This is hampered somewhat by dragging a big keyboard into bed, so I want the jammer to be smaller than a usual keyboard. I like the form factor chosen by Thumtronics. Having never played one, I suspect the keys/buttons may be on the small side for my taste. I use my computer keyboard in a Wicki layout to play some things, but many software instruments like pianos sound very dull when played without velocity.

So I see the jammer as tying in perfectly with the modern approach to music workstations, which is a (Mac) laptop, small audio interface, pair of headphones. Having a cute little keyboard there that has all the same functionality as a big one, but in a laptop-comparable size, just fits.

Second, of course, is the ability to play in all kinds of keys with ease, though I'm beginning to doubt the importance of this. The same software I use for music can quite easily transpose all my notes to any key I choose with a button press. I began following the progress of the Thummer and Ken's DIY jammer about a year and a half ago, and at that point, I was an awful keyboard player. However, in the intervening years, I have (perhaps unfortunately) been gaining facility with the old white and black keyboard.

I am beginning to wonder if the symmetry actually is an impediment to learning music. I haven't been able to explore colored keys, and this may be precisely what does the job, but so far it seems that the symmetric grid of buttons leaves me with no "landmarks", so I don't have any visual memory that I can tie to a sound, as there is in the 7/5 keyboard. For example, I usually play in G minor, so the A# gives me an immediate synaesthetic reaction of the relative major. Just looking at it, I know what it's going to feel like.But I do need to consider colored keys.

I don't think there's anything about the jammer that makes it work better with particular amps, computer, etc. One thing that really does matter is software.

I use a program called Plogue Bidule. It is a graphical modular environment, like Max/MSP or Puredata. This makes for an intuitive music process, since you don't need to configure I/O ports or devices, you just drag and drop and connect with wires, just as you would in a physical music studio. I have found it to be more intuitive and less irritating to work with than either Max or PD, but this is a personal thing. But it is cheaper - Bidule is $75 vs. $600ish for Max. PD is free, but probably the least fun for non-programmers.

Creating a layout to convert your (whatever) keyboard into (whatever) new layout is quite simple with Bidule. I made one to make my QWERTY boards into Wicki. I can give this patch to anyone using Bidule.

And when I speak about a lack of landmarks, I don't mean I have trouble playing in key. I can do that just fine. I just can't yet see a chord shape and know what it will sound like in the current key before I play it.

The jammer support system thingys

Ways to make sounds

Jammer support

Training and lessons

Hardware needed.

Software needed

What else works well with the unit?

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