Amazing new controller ideal for tuning and more

http://www.snyderphonics.com/products

I am amazed. It seems to be a very adaptable, velocity and aftertouch sensitive controller with even further unique features. And the PRICE!!! Initially asking only $675. Not so little I'm ordering immediately, but that's way less than other things I've seen out there.

On 26 Jun 2009, at 15:48, Aaron Wolf wrote:
> http://www.snyderphonics.com/products
> I am amazed. It seems to be a very adaptable, velocity and > aftertouch sensitive controller with even further unique features. > And the PRICE!!! Initially asking only $675. Not so little I'm > ordering immediately, but that's way less than other things I've > seen out there.
Oh, that looks promising! At first I though that eight keys in a row (8x6 keys in total) is rather limiting for microtonal music, but then I reminded myself that the thummer only has two rows more.

Did you have any change to actually tough it? From what I read, it is not velocity sensitive, but instead sensitive to the touch-area -- which could well be mapped to, e.g., polyphonic aftertouch.

Note that it appears there are only 50 copies and noone knows whether they will produce any more..

Best
Torsten

--
Torsten Anders
Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research
University of Plymouth
Office: +44-1752-586219
Private: +44-1752-558917
http://strasheela.sourceforge.net
http://www.torsten-anders.de

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Torsten Anders <torsten.anders@...> wrote:
>
> On 26 Jun 2009, at 15:48, Aaron Wolf wrote:
> > http://www.snyderphonics.com/products
> > I am amazed. It seems to be a very adaptable, velocity and
> > aftertouch sensitive controller with even further unique features.
> > And the PRICE!!! Initially asking only $675. Not so little I'm
> > ordering immediately, but that's way less than other things I've
> > seen out there.
> Oh, that looks promising! At first I though that eight keys in a row
> (8x6 keys in total) is rather limiting for microtonal music, but then
> I reminded myself that the thummer only has two rows more.
>
> Did you have any change to actually tough it? From what I read, it is
> not velocity sensitive, but instead sensitive to the touch-area --
> which could well be mapped to, e.g., polyphonic aftertouch.
>
> Note that it appears there are only 50 copies and noone knows whether
> they will produce any more..
>
> Best
> Torsten
>
> --
> Torsten Anders
> Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research
> University of Plymouth
> Office: +44-1752-586219
> Private: +44-1752-558917
> http://strasheela.sourceforge.net
> http://www.torsten-anders.de
>

It is obviously truly VELOCITY SENSITIVE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCzj1wcUmfs

Wow, not bad :) Thanks for sharing.

Best
Torsten

On Jun 26, 2009, at 5:48 PM, Aaron Wolf wrote:

> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Torsten Anders <torsten.anders@...> > wrote:
> >
> > On 26 Jun 2009, at 15:48, Aaron Wolf wrote:
> > > http://www.snyderphonics.com/products
> > > I am amazed. It seems to be a very adaptable, velocity and
> > > aftertouch sensitive controller with even further unique features.
> > > And the PRICE!!! Initially asking only $675. Not so little I'm
> > > ordering immediately, but that's way less than other things I've
> > > seen out there.
> > Oh, that looks promising! At first I though that eight keys in a row
> > (8x6 keys in total) is rather limiting for microtonal music, but > then
> > I reminded myself that the thummer only has two rows more.
> >
> > Did you have any change to actually tough it? From what I read, > it is
> > not velocity sensitive, but instead sensitive to the touch-area --
> > which could well be mapped to, e.g., polyphonic aftertouch.
> >
> > Note that it appears there are only 50 copies and noone knows > whether
> > they will produce any more..
> >
> > Best
> > Torsten
> >
> > --
> > Torsten Anders
> > Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research
> > University of Plymouth
> > Office: +44-1752-586219
> > Private: +44-1752-558917
> > http://strasheela.sourceforge.net
> > http://www.torsten-anders.de
> >
>
> It is obviously truly VELOCITY SENSITIVE:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCzj1wcUmfs

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Wolf" <aaron@...> wrote:
>
> http://www.snyderphonics.com/products
>
> I am amazed. It seems to be a very adaptable, velocity and
> aftertouch sensitive controller with even further unique
> features. And the PRICE!!! Initially asking only $675. Not
> so little I'm ordering immediately, but that's way less than
> other things I've seen out there.

Good find, I hadn't seen this.

But the AXiS-49 costs $175 less and can send 49 unique
MIDI notes (one more than the Manta). And the keys actually
move like real keys, are velocity sensitive, and you get 98
of them so you can double notes for more flexible fingering.

http://www.c-thru-music.com/cgi/?page=prod_axis-49

-Carl

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Wolf" <aaron@...> wrote:
>
> It is obviously truly VELOCITY SENSITIVE:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCzj1wcUmfs

Technically it isn't. It's pressure sensitive.
The velocity of your finger is correlated to its
pressure when it hits the surface, but you can
change the pressure immediately after it hits, or
withdraw it before your fingertip spreads out.
There's a 'velocity' sensing piano for the iPhone
in beta right now, but it just kept crashing on
my phone.

-Carl

If it only measures surface area you could correlate this to velocity/speed
of the strike by measuring the speed of change in volume area.The finger
will if you play softly start with a very small contact and then more slowly
become more contact area than very you stike harder (faster increase in
surface area).
Combined with some optimal settings for pure surface area vs velocity this
would probably work best.
I'd imagine velocity purely based on surface area beeing kinda buggy.
So if it works well this is probably how it's done.

If one is going to be picky it is not pressure sensitive - it is area sensitive. Changing the angle of your finger contacting the device will do it as much as pressing harder and by doing so spread your finger out.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: "Carl Lumma" <carl@...>

Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:09:03
To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [tuning] Re: Amazing new controller ideal for tuning and more

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Wolf" <aaron@...> wrote:
>
> It is obviously truly VELOCITY SENSITIVE:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCzj1wcUmfs

Technically it isn't. It's pressure sensitive.
The velocity of your finger is correlated to its
pressure when it hits the surface, but you can
change the pressure immediately after it hits, or
withdraw it before your fingertip spreads out.
There's a 'velocity' sensing piano for the iPhone
in beta right now, but it just kept crashing on
my phone.

-Carl

Has anyone on this list acquired an Axis 64 yet?

I'd be interested in knowing how it performed in micro music

>
> Has anyone on this list acquired an Axis 64 yet?
>
> I'd be interested in knowing how it performed in micro music
>

Yes I'm interested in this aswell.
Specifically can it be set up so that all 192 keys transmitted on 3 midi
channels go in to Scala which then retunes a few octaves on a single midi
channel out?

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, chrisvaisvil@... wrote:
>
> If one is going to be picky it is not pressure sensitive - it is
> area sensitive. Changing the angle of your finger contacting the
> device will do it as much as pressing harder and by doing so
> spread your finger out.

You're right. -Carl

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Carl Lumma" <carl@...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, chrisvaisvil@ wrote:
> >
> > If one is going to be picky it is not pressure sensitive - it is
> > area sensitive. Changing the angle of your finger contacting the
> > device will do it as much as pressing harder and by doing so
> > spread your finger out.
>
> You're right. -Carl
>
Well, that youtube video looked to me like he was really playing with dynamic control and quick response. That's all I care about. But I'd have to play it myself to have an idea if it really works well.

From initial impression, it seems to me that this thing is more flexible in its control options and routing than the Axis stuff, but I'm not sure.