Eigenharp Pico - anyone??

[Andrew Tarpinian]

On Mar 9, 2010, at 1:59 AM, Peter Korsten wrote:

> Op 9-3-2010 7:16, Andrew Tarpinian schreef:
>
>> I used to think this, but I think it might be the controllers. Maybe
>> there has not been much advancement in new ways of creating sounds
>> because we are still using an antiquated way of playing them ->
>> Keyboards. Also maybe an antiquated way of composing and listening.
>
> See, I don't believe that everything is stagnated, because we're doing
> things wrong.
>
> Just to give a totally unconnected example. At work, we're basically a
> Java programming shop. Now, a colleague of mine decided that the error
> handling mechanism provided by Java (exceptions, which can be handled,
> and errors, which basically mean the end of the program; both are
> derived from the 'throwable' class) missed the 'application error'.
>
> Even though that Java has existed for 15 years, and hundreds of
> thousands of people use it for software writing, and that nobody has
> ever come up with this idea, that's what he thought.
>
> It took me about ten minutes to write a short example that showed he
> should have used run-time exceptions, part and parcel of Java, but the
> moral of this story is: if it's been done for ages, and it's been done
> by a lot of people, you should think twice before deciding that it's  
> the
> wrong approach.
>
> Of course, if we'd take this stand too strictly, the Music Bar would
> work by mail pigeon rather than the internet. You have to innovate  
> when
> there's a need.
>
> But I don't believe that the perceived lack of moving on has  
> anything to
> do with the interface; it's probably more due to economic reasons,  
> both
> that it's prohibitively expensive to develop a brand new instrument
> these days, that you don't get access to the big stars who would shell
> out the price of a nice car for such an instrument, and that selling
> over the internet means you have to keep your prices down. So, we  
> get a
> lot of software instruments.

Not saying it's wrong, just that current interfaces may not have the  
features to be able to express these new types of sounds or  
expressions that are yet undiscovered.

>> The Eigenharp is becoming more and more interesting the more I check
>> it out. Too bad the Pico is not nearly as fly as the Alpha
>
> The Eigenharp just doesn't do it for me, just by checking the videos.
> It's still just a controller connected to a laptop.

I don't think I have seen a video that really uses this thing to, what  
I think is, it's full potential, all I have seen so far is emulation,  
not creation.

The whole controller/laptop thing, as far as I'm concerned, I don't  
care anymore. Honestly, as long as the controller and software  
symbiosis is thought out and executed well the gains far outweigh the  
cons. Of course only in the last year or so have I changed my mind,  
what with some really cool products that have come out.

> The Chapman stick, now, that one I found fascinating, but when I  
> played
> Gert's one, I didn't really know what to do with it (even though I've
> played a guitar a handful of times).

This seems to me like kind of a digital chapman stick - I'm sure Gert  
could have had fun with this laying down bass parts for his track  
where he used the Chapman plug-in :)