AFMM Bosanquet keyboard

Johnny Reinhard and I went out to Queens College today to see the
wonderful new Bosanquet keyboard implemented by Canadian Dylan
Horvath that will be available through the American Festival of
Microtonal Music.

This instrument does exist. I played it today... :) Lest anyone
doubt... :)

It's great... with touch-sensitive keys and a nice full layout --
five separate segments or "octaves"... if you program it that way.
There should be some pix up soon, but you can see this part from the
web so far:

http://www.cortex-design.com/project.htm

(What you see here is a prototype for one of the five "segments...")

We got it working with SCALA, although there needs to be a multi-
channel implementation of SCALA before the interface is fully
functional, since each segment should be on a separate MIDI channel.
However, this will be in the works.

The physical instrument, though, is very close to completion. Just a
few minor engineering "improvements" and it's here. Believe me... I
saw it, I played it. (I didn't "conquer" it, though... I'm a
Bosanquet-baby...)

The keyboard I saw is being manufactured for Joel Mandelbaum and
Queens College, and aside from seeing several of my old acquaintances
from Queens College (I've done collaborations), I was able to see the
older Scalatrons that George Secor had Motorola put together in the
70's.

I had never seen the Queens Bosanquet Sclatron, but only the more
conventional one with the Halberstadt keyboard. One reason is that
the Bosanquet one hasn't worked for many years. It has a very
colorful keyboard, though.

However, it isn't MIDI, and these huge machines are elephants
compared to the new sleek, light Bosanquet that Johnny and the AFMM
will have available for sale soon. Stay Tuned!

Joseph Pehrson

Joseph Pehrson wrote:

> Johnny Reinhard and I went out to Queens College today to see the
> wonderful new Bosanquet keyboard implemented by Canadian Dylan
> Horvath that will be available through the American Festival of
> Microtonal Music.
>
> This instrument does exist. I played it today... :) Lest anyone
> doubt... :)
>
> It's great... with touch-sensitive keys and a nice full layout --
> five separate segments or "octaves"... if you program it that way.
> There should be some pix up soon, but you can see this part from the
> web so far:
>
> http://www.cortex-design.com/project.htm
>
> (What you see here is a prototype for one of the five "segments...")
>
> We got it working with SCALA, although there needs to be a multi-
> channel implementation of SCALA before the interface is fully
> functional, since each segment should be on a separate MIDI channel.
> However, this will be in the works.
>
> The physical instrument, though, is very close to completion. Just a
> few minor engineering "improvements" and it's here. Believe me... I
> saw it, I played it. (I didn't "conquer" it, though... I'm a
> Bosanquet-baby...)

Drool! :-)

> The keyboard I saw is being manufactured for Joel Mandelbaum and
> Queens College, and aside from seeing several of my old acquaintances
> from Queens College (I've done collaborations), I was able to see the
> older Scalatrons that George Secor had Motorola put together in the
> 70's.
>
> I had never seen the Queens Bosanquet Sclatron, but only the more
> conventional one with the Halberstadt keyboard. One reason is that
> the Bosanquet one hasn't worked for many years. It has a very
> colorful keyboard, though.
>
> However, it isn't MIDI, and these huge machines are elephants
> compared to the new sleek, light Bosanquet that Johnny and the AFMM
> will have available for sale soon. Stay Tuned!

That's an amazingly good response time, from my recently-
voiced request of a few weeks back! :-) But more seriously, it's
fantastic to know that a playable microtonal MIDI keyboard will
soon be available. Any hints on pricing?

Regards,
Yahya

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--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Yahya Abdal-Aziz"
<yahya@m...> wrote:
>
> That's an amazingly good response time, from my recently-
> voiced request of a few weeks back! :-) But more seriously, it's
> fantastic to know that a playable microtonal MIDI keyboard will
> soon be available. Any hints on pricing?
>
> Regards,
> Yahya
>

***Hello Yahya!

Well, I've already said too much about this on the other list, since
deliberations are still in flux. So, I might as well say too much
about it on *this* list as well... :)

My impression is that 30 need to be made in order to "mass produce."
If 30 are made, the price would be around $7,000.

However, if we can get 100 to commit, the price would be around
$2,000.

This is the general ballpark that I got from hanging around the
discussions...

best,

Joseph

this is basically the same situation with the starr keyboard

Joseph Pehrson wrote:

>--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Yahya Abdal-Aziz" ><yahya@m...> wrote:
> >
>> That's an amazingly good response time, from my recently-
>>voiced request of a few weeks back! :-) But more seriously, it's
>>fantastic to know that a playable microtonal MIDI keyboard will
>>soon be available. Any hints on pricing?
>>
>>Regards,
>>Yahya
>>
>> >>
>
>***Hello Yahya!
>
>Well, I've already said too much about this on the other list, since >deliberations are still in flux. So, I might as well say too much >about it on *this* list as well... :)
>
>My impression is that 30 need to be made in order to "mass produce." >If 30 are made, the price would be around $7,000.
>
>However, if we can get 100 to commit, the price would be around >$2,000.
>
>This is the general ballpark that I got from hanging around the >discussions...
>
>best,
>
>Joseph
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> >
>
>
> >

--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

>>>That's an amazingly good response time, from my recently-
>>>voiced request of a few weeks back! :-) But more seriously, it's
>>>fantastic to know that a playable microtonal MIDI keyboard will
>>>soon be available. Any hints on pricing?
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Yahya
>>
>>***Hello Yahya!
>>
>>Well, I've already said too much about this on the other list, since
>>deliberations are still in flux. So, I might as well say too much
>>about it on *this* list as well... :)
>>
>>My impression is that 30 need to be made in order to "mass produce."
>>If 30 are made, the price would be around $7,000.
>>
>>However, if we can get 100 to commit, the price would be around
>>$2,000.
>
>this is basically the same situation with the starr keyboard

But this keyboard has some considerable design differences from
the Starr keyboard. The latter has .008" key travel (if memory
serves), while the former has .250" key travel. Starr won't
say how his action works, but I strongly suspect it's piezoelectric.
Horvath uses hall effect sensors that continuously measure key
position to get really good (in principle) velocity numbers. And
one can set the trigger point anywhere along the keystroke, so
that instead of being at the bottom-out point (like most MIDI
keyboards) it could be at, say (like a piano) the 3/4-way point.
I think both 'boards have replaceable keycaps. Horvath's
keyboard also uses torsion springs (instead of compression
springs), so the breakaway force isn't much greater than the
force required through the keystroke (as it is on most MIDI
controllers out there).

-Carl

The prices mentioned previously, 7000$ and 4000$ are in Canadian dollars I hope?

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Alexandros Papadopoulos
<Alexmoog@o...> wrote:
> The prices mentioned previously, 7000$ and 4000$ are in Canadian
> dollars I hope?

***Hello Alexandros,

Yes, as mentioned in the email, these are Canadian $'s, so it's a
little less in the American...

We're still hoping for the $2,000 slot, but that, of course, depends
upond 100 purchasers.

So far, there are no purchase numbers to support any of this, but
hopefully this will change when the product is ready for production
and advertised...

best,

Joseph