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

Joe,

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> 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.

Tres cool. Not to be incontrovertably pragmatic, but have they set any
kind of price range for these items?

Cheers,
Jon

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> 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... :)

I think I just peed my pants!!

I hope very much that its price is not prohibitive for poor college
boys like myself....

-Igs

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Igliashon Jones" <igliashon@s...> wrote:
> I think I just peed my pants!!
>
> I hope very much that its price is not prohibitive for poor college
> boys like myself....

Just what is it you are smoking up in the Bay area? You better get a
grip, this is no Wal-Mart panacea we're staring at. Look at the Starr
Labs Boards (though I think you have):
http://www.starrlabs.com/

Look at the Marimba Lumina:
http://www.buchla.com/mlumina/

Anything that is niche is for the riche...

Cheers,
Envoy (who, nonetheless, still thinks hope springs eternal)

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Szanto" <jszanto@c...> wrote:
> Joe,
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
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.
>
> Tres cool. Not to be incontrovertably pragmatic, but have they set
any
> kind of price range for these items?
>
> Cheers,
> Jon

***Hi Jon!

The price will depend on the number of people purchasing as advance
commitments. My understanding is that it will need to be over 30
for "mass production" to take place.

From the discussions with Dylan Horvath yesterday, it seems that if
there are more than 100 purchasers, the price can get below $2000.

Perhaps I say too much again... :) These deliberations are still in
flux!

Joe

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Szanto" <jszanto@c...> wrote:
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Igliashon Jones" <igliashon@s...>
wrote:
> > I think I just peed my pants!!
> >
> > I hope very much that its price is not prohibitive for poor
college
> > boys like myself....
>
> Just what is it you are smoking up in the Bay area? You better get a
> grip, this is no Wal-Mart panacea we're staring at. Look at the
Starr
> Labs Boards (though I think you have):
> http://www.starrlabs.com/
>
> Look at the Marimba Lumina:
> http://www.buchla.com/mlumina/
>
> Anything that is niche is for the riche...
>
> Cheers,
> Envoy (who, nonetheless, still thinks hope springs eternal)

***I should also mention that the instrument is based on Sieman
Terpstra's design (he's from the Netherlands), which was based on
Bosanquet.

Well, Otto Luening always used to say that one way was maybe to get a
bunch of composers together to *share* equipment and "group
purchase..."

But, of course, that means fewer sales one the overall and a higher
base price for the unit being purchased.

[My impression, and here I also say too much again... :) is if only
30 are sold it would be around $7,000.]

So, there could be a couple ways to go...

JP