generalized keyboard

All-
Brad Busley, our instrument maker (scientific instruments) at
University of Colorado at Denver Physics holds some basic patents (or
pending patents) on aspects of membrane technology for generalized
fingerboards for guitar like instruments. His work centers around a
pressure and position sensitive membrane that reads the finger position
on the "fingerboard" and translates position to pitch (which of course is
software assignable to anything MIDI can handle). Finger pressure can
then be translated into any controller stream desired. Brad can be
contacted at bbusley@carbon.cudenver.edu. Be warned, he's quite busy and
a little email negligent.

I have designed, but not implemented, a generalized keyboard as
follows:

A position and pressure sensitive membrane is connected via software to

1) Display a pitch area screen on the computer, which can then be divided
into pitch regions either with finger pressure tracing out the regions or
with a mouse on the screen or other means.

2) Assign pitch (or pitches) to the regions.

3) Act as a "keyboard" in accordance with software rules definable by the
user.

A keyboard of this type can of course use pressure as well as
position WITHIN a pitch region to modify pitches in any manner acceptable
to MIDI. One could, for instance, have side to side position within the
pitch region bend the pitch, up and down motion in the region change timbre
and finger pressure control the amplitude. Time, demand and money are all
that is keeping a generalized keyboard of this sort from the market. The
technology exists and the programming for something like this is not
exceptionally difficult.
I am posting a schematic of this keyboard on my web page the 15th
of this month. Let me know what you think of the idea.
My web page is http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret. Yes, that
really is a dash after www.

John Starrett

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