Would you buy a kit to build a jammer?

Jan 29, 2008 at 8:57 PM
7 comments

A Jammer kit?
Hello good people who read this odd website / blog hybrid. Your numbers are slowly climbing.

I've just realized that I could totally eliminate the sawing step in converting an M-Audio 88es keyboard controller to "ZipEx" (extended Wicki-Hayden or Janko) design by having replacement keys made up.

In other words, I could create a simple kit to do the conversion (better yet, sub-contract it to some friends in India or Hong Kong), and the conversion would then take a single weekend and the change would be reversible. Do you think there's enough interest? I have yet to get a quote, so have no idea of the price.

Ken, MusicScienceGuy

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jammer making

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[this is good]

I am looking for anything like this in line with the Janko keyboard, I am working on a mallet percussion layout based on the whole tone layout. I have used the patent of Roy Pertchik with a simple visual modification. I am looking into the Chromatone also, so this would be a great way to adapt my thinking to the new method. I teach young students percussion and piano and thats where a change like this will take seed. I am working on proto types in the vibraphone, marimba and xylophone media.

It's all in the programming - if you want this generalized keyboard to be a janko layout, just change the mapping table. If you have students who wish to take on the challenge it would be a good class project.
MSG.

Would this kit then leave you with a keyboard the same size as the "host" keyboard? One thing that draws me to the Thummer is the small size - I like the form factor of your original jammer, and especially that of the Thumtronics keyboard. I would buy a kit to make a jammer like your first one, and possibly one more like your second, but if it's going to be the same size as a regular keyboard (which I'm assuming would be necessary for the conversion to be reversible) it loses much of its cachet. Now that you have your version 2.0, any chance you'd sell your first one (or a kit to make one)?

Hi, My first unit is on loan to a friend who wants to learn music. It's also not perfect, as the buttons I could not get to move 100% smoothly, and not all the keys have pianoforte. It was however enough to encourage me to make the second and confirm ideas about coloring and other tricks being useful. (color BTW is turning out to be _very_ useful - I see a note on the score and the position gives it a color, and the color gives me my fingering).

If Jim P. does not get funding for his Thummer in a month (by May 1st), then I'm definitely going to have the generic keyboard modification key caps made.
They will probably be about 1-2 cm longer than the black keys I was forced to trim the white keys off level with, to give better action and feel, so the unit will be 2-4 cm wider, but about 1-2cm lower in height. The changes will be reversible (just put the old keys back on), so that you can restore your M-Audio. I've also got provisional agreement from m-audio for them to sell us their warranty returns.
The keys will allow us to create flexible generic keyboards of 4 rows (with 2 optional dummy rows) by n rows wide - up to 88 (using 2 m-audios es88s) , 66, 69 or 49, and you can program them to be Janko, jammer (Wicki/Hayden) or the C-thru Axis (C-system).
Price? I'm guessing that creating the molds and creating a couple of dozen kits will be within my budget and what I'm willing to gamble away. I'll sell them to cover costs - would $200 be too much? or would $100 be better?

One thing for you to do - I'd dearly like to have a reduced-size keyboard (ideally a usb-powered controller like the m-audios) to work with - see my jammer improvement notes. If you could find one, it would be _great_.
Also dearly hoped for is switches that could be used to sense velocity, that is, they would trigger twice when depressing.

Sincerely,
Ken.

Also note that the keyboard is shorter that the original.
The new version is portable, but not wearable.
Ken.

Hey, that's interesting!

[참 좋습니다]

Just can't wait to get my hands on a Janko keyboard... :)

Would you buy a kit to build a jammer?

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