Re: Digest Number 488

In-Reply-To: <947837814.309@onelist.com>
> I agree with all that. Though acoustic instruments give a sort of sound
> that electronic ones cannot. But none of this invalidates my
> application
> of things I noticed on a DS keyboard to MIDI keyboard designs.

The number of notes you can reach with one hand is far more important if
you're playing live than recording each part to a sequencer. And having
interchangeable keyboard mappings means each needn't be as useful on its
own as if that were all you had. If a keyboard's cheap, it doesn't matter
so much if it's useless for most music.

> >Yes, but think of what you'd be giving up by *not* having such a
> >keyboard/mapping! You can't sit down and play a few different
> >permutations of diminished chords to see which best fits the
> progression.
>
> What's that??

A diminished triad contains two minor thirds. Either could be subminor,
and with the right keyboard you can try all three versions to see which
you want. And do that really easily.

> >You can't be playing simple chords, and decide to throw in a sharpened
> >third on a whim.
>
> On an octave-reachable Bosanquet, sure.

Sure, if you've got one.

> >Unless you're a dab hand with a pitch wheel, you can't play a melody
> >teasingly out of tune with the accompaniment. Compared with all this,
> your
> >objections seem so arbitrary.
>
> Caring about what voicings I can reach is arbitrary?

Insisting on reaching an octave with one hand is arbitrary.

> Please don't take my use of "serious" too seriously. I'm talking for me
> more than you or anybody else. Remember, I said one could spend a
> lifetime
> playing cool music on something like your schismic halberstadt mapping.
> It's just not something I'm interested in.

You can play cool music on a bad instrument. My contention is that
extended mappings allow you to do cool things that wouldn't otherwise be
possible. And if you're interested in the right scales, it may be worth
rebuilding a keyboard to make them work better. So long as that's
understood, no problem.