Modifying Midi Keyboards For non 12 note Scales

I've been using Scala and a Yamaha PSR-175 midi keyboard to play in intonations other than 12 note equal temperament, but I think that the arrangement of the keys is unsuited to scales that do not have a pattern based on 12 notes.

I dismantled the keyboard and it seems that I could easily replace the keys with one row of evenly spaced keys that still push down on the existing rubber bits that trigger the notes. I intend to make the keys myself.

Has anyone here tried doing this, or played a keyboard with one row of equally spaced keys?

What do people think of this approach?

The keyboard I intend to modify is not velocity sensitive.

Would it make more sense to build an entirely new set of keys and trigger systems that plug into the wiring of the Yamaha keyboard to convert key presses to midi (so that I could swap quickly between conventional key positions and even positions)?

A further improvement to one row of evenly spaced keys would be (in my opinion) to have leds light up the keys in a pattern of two or more colours so it's still obvious which note is which in a variety of different intonations with octaves in different places. Have people here tried that and what do you think?

Love and Darkness,

Mark

Hi Mark,

I modified my Roland PC-180A keyboard to a pattern suitable to 22
tones back in 2003. There are photos of that arrangement in the
Photos-section of this group.

Later I got two more PC-180A's (were cheap), detached the black keys
from them and made one with all black keys which fits your
description. To aid navigation I used colored stickers. It really is
an improvement so you should do it if you are bothered by the
standard "two little pigs-three little pigs"-arrangement and don't
have the money to buy a two-dimensional controller. But since it is
still one-dimensional there is still the problem of more widely
spaced intervals if the tuning has more than 12 tones. But for
example Bohlen-Pierce is manageable because there are only 13
tones.

I now have a 16x16-monome (www.monome.org) which is not velocity
sensitive but is otherwise quite useful for playing in alternative
tunings and it has all those leds!

Kalle Aho

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "markallanbarnes" <mark.barnes3@...> wrote:
>
> I've been using Scala and a Yamaha PSR-175 midi keyboard to play in intonations other than 12 note equal temperament, but I think that the arrangement of the keys is unsuited to scales that do not have a pattern based on 12 notes.
>
> I dismantled the keyboard and it seems that I could easily replace the keys with one row of evenly spaced keys that still push down on the existing rubber bits that trigger the notes. I intend to make the keys myself.
>
> Has anyone here tried doing this, or played a keyboard with one row of equally spaced keys?
>
> What do people think of this approach?
>
> The keyboard I intend to modify is not velocity sensitive.
>
> Would it make more sense to build an entirely new set of keys and trigger systems that plug into the wiring of the Yamaha keyboard to convert key presses to midi (so that I could swap quickly between conventional key positions and even positions)?
>
> A further improvement to one row of evenly spaced keys would be (in my opinion) to have leds light up the keys in a pattern of two or more colours so it's still obvious which note is which in a variety of different intonations with octaves in different places. Have people here tried that and what do you think?
>
> Love and Darkness,
>
> Mark
>

On 12 March 2010 22:17, markallanbarnes <mark.barnes3@...> wrote:

> I dismantled the keyboard and it seems that I could easily replace the keys with one row of evenly spaced keys that still push down on the  existing rubber bits that trigger the notes. I intend to make the keys myself.
>
> Has anyone here tried doing this, or played a keyboard with one row of equally spaced keys?

Yes. I had two rows of evenly spaced keys. You can buy as many keys
as you like from Yamaha spares. Note that D keys may be slightly
wider than the others, so don't fill a keyboard with Ds. And all
white or all black notes probably don't want to sit next to each
other.

> What do people think of this approach?

I never got used to it. With all the keyboard looking the same,
there's no pattern to locate a position. I prefer alternative
mappings with the standard layout. For a microtonal keyboard, it's
better to have some two-dimensional, generalized layout, so that you
don't have to stretch over so many keys.

> The keyboard I intend to modify is not velocity sensitive.

Yes, that makes it easier.

> Would it make more sense to build an entirely new set of keys and trigger systems that plug into the wiring of the Yamaha keyboard to convert key presses to midi (so that I could swap quickly between conventional key positions and even positions)?

If you know how to do it, give it a try. There are kits you can buy
to handle the MIDI side.

> A further improvement to one row of evenly spaced keys would be (in my opinion) to have leds light up the keys in a pattern of two or more colours so it's still obvious which note is which in a variety of different intonations with octaves in different places. Have people here tried that and what do you think?

That's a great idea. It's beyond my ability to get working.

Graham

I have a keyboard re-keyed in binary fashion (black-white-black-white....)
for playing scales from the harmonic series.

On 13 March 2010 03:51, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

>
>
> On 12 March 2010 22:17, markallanbarnes <mark.barnes3@...<mark.barnes3%40ntlworld.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > I dismantled the keyboard and it seems that I could easily replace the
> keys with one row of evenly spaced keys that still push down on the
> existing rubber bits that trigger the notes. I intend to make the keys
> myself.
> >
> > Has anyone here tried doing this, or played a keyboard with one row of
> equally spaced keys?
>
> Yes. I had two rows of evenly spaced keys. You can buy as many keys
> as you like from Yamaha spares. Note that D keys may be slightly
> wider than the others, so don't fill a keyboard with Ds. And all
> white or all black notes probably don't want to sit next to each
> other.
>
>
> > What do people think of this approach?
>
> I never got used to it. With all the keyboard looking the same,
> there's no pattern to locate a position. I prefer alternative
> mappings with the standard layout. For a microtonal keyboard, it's
> better to have some two-dimensional, generalized layout, so that you
> don't have to stretch over so many keys.
>
>
> > The keyboard I intend to modify is not velocity sensitive.
>
> Yes, that makes it easier.
>
>
> > Would it make more sense to build an entirely new set of keys and trigger
> systems that plug into the wiring of the Yamaha keyboard to convert key
> presses to midi (so that I could swap quickly between conventional key
> positions and even positions)?
>
> If you know how to do it, give it a try. There are kits you can buy
> to handle the MIDI side.
>
>
> > A further improvement to one row of evenly spaced keys would be (in my
> opinion) to have leds light up the keys in a pattern of two or more colours
> so it's still obvious which note is which in a variety of different
> intonations with octaves in different places. Have people here tried that
> and what do you think?
>
> That's a great idea. It's beyond my ability to get working.
>
> Graham
>
>
>

--
Sincerely,
Nik Mikas

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