Generalized Keyboard

All,
While searching the web with the phrase "MIDI controller" I came across
the web page for Starr Labs. They appear to already make a generalized
keyboard. Here is something I cut from their pages to paste here:

"Uath-72 , Generalized Keyboard Specifications:

(documentation under construction)
The Uath-72 is the design of Erv Wilson who makes his home in Los Angeles,
California. Mr. Wilson has made a forty-year study in the area of musical
temperament which follows an ongoing thread of research and
experimentation, really from the dawn of Western Music. The Uath-72 is a
1990's rendition of the Bosanquet Generalized Keyboard built in the late
19th century. Bosanquet's original design was a takeoff on the standard
mechanical piano action, modified to present several ranks of keys
organized in levels or tiers. Generally speaking, deviations in pitch from
the standard 12-tone Equal Temepered pitches were organized into the
successive ranks of black and white keys. A full discussion of the
background of this instrument and the study of tunigs and temperament is
beyond the scope of this paper. The modern electronic version of the
keyboard configures the ranks into a flat 2-dimensional planar array of
keys. The onboard computer, the MIDI interface and the availability of
programmable synth engines all conspire to yield a truly programmable
instrument which may be retuned with a button press or two rather than a
week with a piano technician's tuning hammer!"

Their web address is http://www.catalog.com/starrlab/ for more
information. The information on this keyboard, also called the MicroZone
can be found at http://www.catalog.com/starrlab/uzone.htm

I could never have found this and other valuable microtonal information
without the web and the search engines therein.

---Fred

--------------------------------------------------------
Fred Kohler, #7-240 Burnside Rd E, Victoria, BC, Canada
phone:(250)388-7918 email:Fred_Kohler@bc.sympatico.ca
---------------------------------------------------------


Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 23:47 +0100
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA18340; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 23:48:59 +0100
Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA18182
Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
for id OAA23758; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 14:48:56 -0800
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 14:48:56 -0800
Message-Id:
Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu

>I saw a possibly incorrect reference to a 1940's
>newsreel documentary about a "Harry Patch" (sic)
>called "A New Note In Music " in an "underground"
>music magazine Jonathan Glasier brought back from
>the meeting in El Paso. Does anybody have any further
>details about this. I forgot to write down the naem of of the Zine
>but the date was Jan/Feb 1985.

At New Music America in Los Angeles in 1985 I saw a 1940s newsreel about
Harry Partch. It was at a showing of rare music videos. I don't know if
it's the same one. As I recall, it was short, done as a kind of novelty
filler that is still familiar to viewers of local news. The film included
bits of a performance and some close-ups of some of the instruments.

If I remember right, there was also a newsreel about John Cage's MOMA
percussion concert in the 1940s (I seem to remember the title "Music of the
Future!" or something). There was also a "rare color version" of a short
psychedelic music video (to use an anachronism) the Beatles did for
Strawberry Fields Forever. I may still have the program -- I'll take a
look.

Bill

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)621-8360 (fax) ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^




Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 20 Nov 1996 02:51 +0100
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA18545; Wed, 20 Nov 1996 02:52:40 +0100
Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA18531
Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
for id RAA27351; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 17:52:32 -0800
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 17:52:32 -0800
Message-Id: <961119203932_1420043881@emout20.mail.aol.com>
Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu