Presenting the new Alternate Keyboard website

The new website is up and organized.

If you want information on jammers, sonomes, jankos or all manner of new two-dimensional keyboards you will find it at www.altkeyboards.com.

If you have information that you would like to share, please contact me. I am getting tired of seeing my own words, and would love to see good information, especially in areas, like the sonome and janko, that I need help in understanding.

The new site is not just about the instruments themselves, it is about how to set up, use, any learn any new, 21st century musical instrument.

Comments

[iPad Game Development]

Today's computer workstation has few hazards other than ergonomic that the typical worker will be exposed to if all components are functioning properly

[Ken/MusicScienceGuy]

Thanks for the feedback,
You can easily be right .

I encourage you to experiment and document the pros and cons of the "Gerhard" layout. Do so well and it will become the "James" layout.

Seriously

Gerhard has no hard claim to it; he just staked a name claim on the ITunes site but has yet to publish anything substantive. The entry cost is very low: just the cost of an Axis-49 for serious work. the remapping is done by free and simple to use software.
Be the first to publish a decent overview and it is yours forever. I'll even help to write the wikipedia article.
Of course, the real cost is your time, but I suggest that you'll have a ball discovering and exploring an amazing musical world.

I suggest publishing on the www.altkeyboards.com -the formost (and only) alternate musical keyboard site on the web. I know the owner, so have an in.

As far as coloring goes: go ahead and try it without coloring on your keyboard. I prefer it and think it looks pretty, but YMMV.

[Jim]

I have never played one of these isomorphic keyboards before, but the Gerhard appears to be the most intuitive layout on your site. It puts lower notes on the lower-left and higher notes on the upper-right.

If you take the Harmonic and flip it on a diagonal axis (lower-left/upper-right), you get something that looks like Gerhard, with the thirds at 60 degrees instead of 30 degrees.

I prefer an angled-square layout that's in between those two, with thirds at 45 degrees; it has a simpler appearance. Gerhard would perhaps be more comfortable to play, and Harmonic allows you to play whole triads with a single finger. And obviously, hexagons have two more sides than squares, which enables you to finger-roll across an additional angle. However, my square design (I don't know what to call it) is better for visualizing harmony due to its relative simplicity.

Also I think isomorphic keyboards and apps would be more popular if they had classier designs. Slicker contours. Get rid of the different colors - ebony and ivory only. Don't label the keys - they should be memorized just like any other instrument.

[Andrew]

Good work on the new site. Keep it up.