MusicScienceGuy

Dualo du-touch: The inside

To make an instrument ...

A new instrument is something that you are going to be spending serious time with, perhaps more than you do with your girlfriend/boyfriend. So it's not a bad idea to check it out, to see if it will hold out for the years that it will be your close friend. 

Also consider: there's a lot more expected in a modern instrument. A classical instrument really is just a few strings, some wood and some metal contrived to make a bit of sound.

A modern musical instrument does more; a lot more.

Carefully, carefully

I very gently took apart my Dualo (not without a lot of trepidation)  and took a peek.

There's really a lot in there; circuit boards for:

1.  Two different keyboards, each with variable-touch membrane buttons for sensing finger-touch
   - I didn't even know such buttons could be made!
2. A slide sensor, like a simpler (perhaps)  version of the Vmeter .
3. 3D motion sensors
4. A visual display
5. A motherboard with a lot on it: a powerful computer, interfaces of several kinds and lots of other functions.

Impressive: five computer-design-aided multiple-layer PCB boards,. The complex circuitry looks clean, with indications that it is very much a work in progress; several revision numbers, and lots of test points for checking the various components are correctly functioning.

<< looks simple? au contraire!

Each of these represents a blink'n lot of work (with perhaps the exception of the display which they may have been able to source from stock{but probably didn't!}), a lot of money, and rarest of all, a lot of expertise in this most highly specialized field.

 

This is eyebrow-lifting: my opinion of the French investment/manufacturing industry has jumped.  This seemingly casual group of people that developed the Dualo du-touch are not as they seem. This "modest" little device packs a lot of smarts, ingenuity and not a little state-of the art high-tech.

<< the shell that holds the many sensors

These guys have access to some serious expertise, more than a little money (!), and somehow have been able to avoid the many sneaky traps that ambush innovators like the inventors of the Axis-49 and the Thummer.   I did not think the French innovation culture was as progressive as this; I'm pretty sure the Canadian culture would not permit projects like this to go forward.

OK, OK, MusicScienceGuy likes it - but will it work reliably?

 Yes, each device should work just about forever, provided care is taken with the connectors (and these are cleverly placed in a protective alcove): these instruments have basically no moving parts (the bubble/membrane switches only move a tiny bit and are probably silicon-rubber).

 What else did they do?  So who are these guys?

Next we look at the other work needed to create the Dualo du-touch.

 

   

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The Dualo du-touch has arrived

Farewell to the AXiS Keyboards

Dualo du-touch: outside in

To make an instrument ...

The late Carl Sagan once said "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe" (link).

Well, creating an new instrument is not quite so complex, but there is still one heck of a lot to do. I'm sure the team that developed (and is still developing) this instrument must feel that they are indeed inventing the world.

Lets start with the outside of the Dualo, then in the following postings, take a glance inside and then look at the hidden work needed to create the du-touch.

 

 

Thinking outside: the box 

The first thing I noticed was the well-designed box: this was not just a simple picture on cardboard, with a bunch of foam pellets for cushioning. 

Everything was organized and neat, like opening an iPhone box on a larger scale.

Someone put this complex package together by hand, perhaps by a volunteer: I thank you, mon ami.

My serial number hints that this is the 24th output of the current assembly line.

 

A gourmet box

I'm reminded of a gourmet meal, such a meal that doesn't just have to taste good, it also has to appear to be a work of art.

 

How soup is served in Vancouver these days  ==>

 

 

 

So is this is the 21st-century reality for new instrument creation?

Does it not only have to sound good and play well? 

Does it need gourmet packaging, even though this is irrelevant to function (and looked at only for perhaps 2 minutes), while the new owner uncovers his/her purchase. 

I wonder how much this lovely package cost to design, and how many people it took. to create it.

 

 

At least the power supply is easy ...

So the Dualo developers apparently felt their instrument had to be designed and packaged to sell well in boutique stores.

What else does it need? Well it would be nice if it can work anywhere on the planet, regardless of the local electricity supply quirks.

This has become vastly easier with the emergence of the USB standard for devices. This is a wonder full innovation from our point of view, allowing a great increase in the number of easily available potential customers.

But the regulators require you dance with them ...

But you still have to pay the local authorities their economic rent : for example, the US Federal Communcations Commision requires the Dualo be certified (again) even though it was tested to identical standards for the EU. I suspect the FCC's primary motive is to collect its fees.

And that's just the beginning

Daunting requirements, mounting expenses, and that's just the box the thing is delivered in.

Next we'll look at the inside of the Dualo.

 

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The Dualo du-touch has arrived

My Christmas present arrived today, courtesy of my very understanding wife.  It's a Dualo du-touch, made in Fr ance and invented by an group of young enthusiasts. Price: about $1000 and change in Canadian loonies.  Duty and taxes added a bit over 20% to that. 

  Big caveat: anything I say about the Dualo people is impressions gathered by reading their websites and facebook postings and will not be 100% accurate.   

This is the second round of Dualo production: the first, in August & September, was almost late-stage prototypes. This batch, I gather, is a much more stable product, although they are still getting up to speed on side issues like English manuals.

Now, to get to the central question that my many blog readers (all three of you)  are asking: what gives;  have you given up on the jammer keyboard?

By no means; I'm just starting to do well on the jammer (and more on that shortly). I bought a Dualo because it has many "must-have" features for any practical portable 21st-century instrument, and I need to see how they are implemented so I can the design the next-generation jammer. I am not disappointed, the Dualo has solid features.

My wife has her own motives. She wants me to have an instrument that is not tied to a computer,  trains my ear, can be taken to parties, and does not lock me into a single instrumental view of music.

First impressions

Here on the west coast of Canada, we are swamped by devices made in Asian countries. they tend to have a standard, shiny "plastic-y" look and feel. It's nice to have in my hands a device that has a nice heft and feel; the texture is that of high-quality rubber/powder material; it's not slippery. 

The buttons are ... interesting ... They don't move like the keys of my Axis-49, instead they are rubbery and move by less than .5mm. Yet they have velocity sensitivity. My best guess is that they sense the shock-wave of the impacting finger, perhaps with tiny accelerometers? I'll reserve judgment pending some solid practice sessions.

The controls seem, at first touch, complicated but are starting to make sense.  The reality of holding the instrument and actually getting an audible response from it is very vivid; much more "real" than expected.

 

My fingers and mind are reeling

However, now I know exactly now an old-time pianist feels when I show him my jammer keyboard and gush that it's bigger than the invention of the grand piano.

After months and months of playing music on the jammer, and learning its particular "layout of music" deeply in my fingers and brain, it's a heavy shock to encounter a different layout. My fingers are having tough time even playing "Mary had a little lamb", and my brain - not too strong at the best of times - is reeling.

 

Shock! - someone actually was influenced by this blog ...

I recently e-conversed, with Bruno, one of the co-inventors of the Dualo, and he floored me with:

Many many thanks for your email. I know your blog and your website, and you were one of the first we saw on internet when we started to build the company. That was for us a source of motivation as we though that this is a proof of the existence of a community (and a market) for new layout.

Well knock me over with a feather. I'm glad that I was of help in deciding to get the Dualo into production. :)

Ken.