For the VST host, consider Gig Performer. Just have the keyboard put out MIDI, and let Gig Performer handle the rest. It supports scripting, so you could map most any tuning or micro tuning to the keys that you might like. Another consideration is key trigger points. For piano sounds, you definitely want velocity, etc. For organ and non-velocity sensitive synths, it’s better to trigger immediately, so you can get sounds with light, fast playing. Some Hammond digital organs have multiple trigger points, and they send the note on messages from the various triggers on different MIDI channels. The high end Hammonds trigger the tone wheels progressively with the different triggers. In the 80s, I owned a Juno 60. I was frustrated that modern controllers don’t feel nearly as good, and recently learned that it was due to the Juno’s medium-long pivot arms and high trigger. For piano, I own a Kawai VPC1, with grand piano action. It’s luxurious for piano, but completely wrong for organ and old-school synths.
At the moment I plan on using Pianoteq as the VST, mainly because I used it before and between it and other VSTs based about sampling I find it to sound better (at least V8 - back when I first tried it with V5 it was a bit... lacking). Much the same way the entire focus is more towards the piano side of things, hence the 'realistic' action, complete with weighted hammers and actual letoff via the hickman action (currently putting together a video about that). So naturally it will feel quite realistic in terms of an acoustic piano, but will be quite different if compared to an organ or synth. In terms of sensors I am going with a dual-sensor for hammer velocity that will record key-on events right at the very end of the hammer's swing, which should in theory lead to a more 'realistic' velocity profile (though I do plan on adding a velocity curve modifier to translate velocities to midi. I also plan on adding a magnetic sensor for actual key position (so if you press the key halfway, the keyboard would know about it, though currently its only used for key-off events). Once I get to working on the 'finalized' version of the firmware I do plan on having several 'channels' for key-on events (ex: one based on hammer velocity, another based on key velocity) that I will be able to select, but thats quite far in the future for now.
I also use Pianoteq for piano sounds, using Gig Performer as the host. Gig Performer can do automation, splits, change presets, etc. Much better than a DAW for live use. Best wishes on your project. I’ve subscribed.
Probably not (and definitely not on a 'large scale'). If I was I would have to price them in the 6,000$ - 10,000$ range just purely off the price of materials + the insane amount of time I need to assemble one. If you think about it, the complexity of this design is quite close to an actual acoustic grand piano - so imagine how much it would cost to get a 'custom hand made grand piano action'... I might make one or two more specifically as 'custom orders' if someone truly wants one and is willing to shell out the price, but to be more realistic I am thinking of scaling down and seeing if I can put together a more 'sane' version built on top of an existing digital piano (more along the lines of 'replacing the keys with parallelogram based janko layout keys' while keeping the case + electronics). I think Rico Raven (www.youtube.com/@rico-raven) has in fact mentioned he plans on making his version be available for purchase, though even though its not a full janko (it still features the 6.5 inch octave span of a traditional keyboard and uses his own variation of the keys)... it is a fully isomorphic keyboard and is definitely not going to cost you half a car.
Nice program!
Thanks. Hopefully I can keep people interested throughout the entire process (and possibly even after when I start trying to learn how to play it)
For the VST host, consider Gig Performer. Just have the keyboard put out MIDI, and let Gig Performer handle the rest. It supports scripting, so you could map most any tuning or micro tuning to the keys that you might like.
Another consideration is key trigger points. For piano sounds, you definitely want velocity, etc. For organ and non-velocity sensitive synths, it’s better to trigger immediately, so you can get sounds with light, fast playing. Some Hammond digital organs have multiple trigger points, and they send the note on messages from the various triggers on different MIDI channels.
The high end Hammonds trigger the tone wheels progressively with the different triggers.
In the 80s, I owned a Juno 60. I was frustrated that modern controllers don’t feel nearly as good, and recently learned that it was due to the Juno’s medium-long pivot arms and high trigger.
For piano, I own a Kawai VPC1, with grand piano action. It’s luxurious for piano, but completely wrong for organ and old-school synths.
At the moment I plan on using Pianoteq as the VST, mainly because I used it before and between it and other VSTs based about sampling I find it to sound better (at least V8 - back when I first tried it with V5 it was a bit... lacking).
Much the same way the entire focus is more towards the piano side of things, hence the 'realistic' action, complete with weighted hammers and actual letoff via the hickman action (currently putting together a video about that). So naturally it will feel quite realistic in terms of an acoustic piano, but will be quite different if compared to an organ or synth.
In terms of sensors I am going with a dual-sensor for hammer velocity that will record key-on events right at the very end of the hammer's swing, which should in theory lead to a more 'realistic' velocity profile (though I do plan on adding a velocity curve modifier to translate velocities to midi. I also plan on adding a magnetic sensor for actual key position (so if you press the key halfway, the keyboard would know about it, though currently its only used for key-off events).
Once I get to working on the 'finalized' version of the firmware I do plan on having several 'channels' for key-on events (ex: one based on hammer velocity, another based on key velocity) that I will be able to select, but thats quite far in the future for now.
I also use Pianoteq for piano sounds, using Gig Performer as the host. Gig Performer can do automation, splits, change presets, etc. Much better than a DAW for live use.
Best wishes on your project. I’ve subscribed.
will you sell these
Probably not (and definitely not on a 'large scale'). If I was I would have to price them in the 6,000$ - 10,000$ range just purely off the price of materials + the insane amount of time I need to assemble one. If you think about it, the complexity of this design is quite close to an actual acoustic grand piano - so imagine how much it would cost to get a 'custom hand made grand piano action'...
I might make one or two more specifically as 'custom orders' if someone truly wants one and is willing to shell out the price, but to be more realistic I am thinking of scaling down and seeing if I can put together a more 'sane' version built on top of an existing digital piano (more along the lines of 'replacing the keys with parallelogram based janko layout keys' while keeping the case + electronics).
I think Rico Raven (www.youtube.com/@rico-raven) has in fact mentioned he plans on making his version be available for purchase, though even though its not a full janko (it still features the 6.5 inch octave span of a traditional keyboard and uses his own variation of the keys)... it is a fully isomorphic keyboard and is definitely not going to cost you half a car.