You are not only a critically underrated youtuber, but underrated musician as well. Just watching this video alone allowed me to grasp concepts about Microtonal tuning, polychromatic music and just music theory in general. You are awesome, this is so cool.
I love how the first thing you do when playing is just listen and appreciate all the different tones and colours :) the work you’re doing is amazing!!!!
I think ignoring the chromatic notes closes so so so many possibilities. It means your harmony will always have its centre at the major scale. At least using the chromatic scale opens you up to most global music.
The Lumatone can also render many varieties of minor, dominant and other scales. A good way to think about it is that, because the Lumatone accommodates a closer approximation to the pitch continuum, many more types of scales - Western/chromatic and other cultural scales - can be played on this keyboard.
Just WOW !!! and thanx for this wonderful presentation! I'm so thrilled with the new Polychromatic Music Instruments who fit just perfect to my stage designs in creating costumes and shows! What a fantastic new option! Can't wait to see how this is going on ! And again, thanx for the introduction 🖒
I'm having one of those moments where I've stepped through some sort of portal and can't go back - or be the same musician that I was yesterday after watching this. Mind blown 🤯 Thank You💯🌌
I’d love to connect this to a eurorack modular synth. Please do what you can to encourage them include some kind of CV out as well. Having a dedicated CV out for eurorack modulars would be extremely helpful because most of us don’t use standard 12 keyboards anyway. We mostly rely on the onboard 16 step sequencer. Some of us don’t even use a DAW. Also transparent labels to manually assign root/octive, 3rd, 5th, 7th, (9th), 11th and 13th harmonic overtones would be nice. You wouldn’t even need symbols for the overtones, just assign them by number value. FAR OUT INTERFACE! It effortlessly incorporates theory without any translation. I think it’s very intuitive based on your demo.
Thanks so much for this video! I'm eagerly awaiting a Lumatone! I can't wait to get it under my fingers. This was the first demonstration I've seen that illustrates moving around the instrument more. It looks like a joy!
I'm excited for you to have one too! :P I was lucky enough to try it at NAMM and I can't stress enough how nice the keys *feel* to play. That was one of my biggest concerns prior to trying it out, and it went well beyond my expectations.
I remember discovering Just Intonation through Wendy Carlos, and it was a musical epiphany...this video about polychromatic music ("and" the Lumatone) is equally fascinating .Thanks for introducing me to another level of music where the visual and the audible merge even more than traditional notation. Greetings from Memphis. Tennessee. .
Am I in the Twilight Zone? Or you guy never heard of the pitch wheel? Also, perhaps I could appreciate this invention a bit more were I to hear actual consumable music, instead of just scales, using the lumatone. Nonetheless, still interesting!
Fascinating and inspiring. I love when I run across people who are studiously deep-diving with minimum restrictions into their passion. A very sharp mind and set of ears are at work here.
This is very interesting. Let us not forget however that musical "interfaces" with continuous pitch (besides the human voice, obviously) have existed for eras under the form of fretless string instruments. That natural notion of continuity has been integrated for long into both North-African and Classical Indian music traditions, to name only two examples. In 2023, we definitely need both modern keybeds able to allow full access to that larger spectrum, and also a proper, unified notation system that gets away from the classical microtonal "accident" syste ( which is way too referential towards the diatonic tradition). Such explorations as this instrument here and your music are great steps in that direction.
i cant wait to get my hands on one of these i might never put it away because i think i just fell in love with the most beautiful man made music maker ive ever seen in my life im die im die im die and im blessed and glad to do sooo
Love your channel love it love it love it Van Halen’s “1984” the track leading into “Jump” the synth intro that’s some polyphonic sounds and Eddie described a “Brown Sound” everyone thought it meant his amplifier and guitar He heard his brother Alex drum playing as a “Brown Sound”
Loving finding Lumatone, the Bosanquet-Wilson isomorphic keyboard, and your presentation! Would be helpful to flip the video from above when you are playing to show keyboard from your perspective (i.e. right side up) to also see the patterns as you do ;)
Like the pitch bend wheel that you can control. Fascinating. I bet the intervals can be mid blowing. Is the world ready for this? This is an evolved approach.
I really appreciate your methodical approach to exploring this instrument - looking forward to some inspiring new music! I know you like the focus to be on the harmonic interactions, but I wonder if you’ve thought about mapping the polychromatic dimension to other parameters besides pitch to create variations in timbre as well?
That is an amazing area to explore! I guess at this point, I'm still trying to work out and explore the possibilities of polychromatic keyboard technique and an adaptable system for notation and learning. The Lumatone's keys are continuous controllers and as new features are implementaed in future firmware updates (and MIDI 2.0), we might be able to assign an overlay of CC messages to each key as well (i.e. modulation, filter sweep). With MIDI (1.0), I have run into 'buffer overload' type problems with using 16 channels of CC (pitchbend) messages simultaneously. Very exciting possibilities ahead!
Two things strike me as intriguing here. I’m not suggesting that these are “bad” choices, by any means; just “curious” ones. You’re making intriguing music, and that’s all that ultimately matters, so “keep it coming”! First, it’s interesting that it appears at least (9:30) that you’re not mapping an upward whole step to the key directly to the right (and slightly above). Instead, you appear to be mapping it to the key directly above that. Again, not necessarily good or bad, but interesting. Second, 55TET strikes me as a … curious … choice. To whatever degree it’s about approximations to small harmonic ratios (2:1, 3:2, 5:4, 7:4, etc.), 41TET and 53TET get a lot closer. Of course, Just-Intonation approximations are just one dimension of the question. They’re not necessarily a goal, but are a factor.
Maybe also there could be an instrument which either changes roughness of the texture of each note or height of each note, alongside the colors, or keeping one row a certain roughness or texture to distinguish a "home row" and keep the color aesthetic uniform.
I would be really interested to hear you take a stab at creating a Melody like in "resonance" or an arpeggiation progression along the lines of the song "Hold" both by the artist Home.
Fantastic video Dolores. I have several questions about why you chose the layout you did, but I think I know some of the answers. I was one of the backers for the Terpstra campaign back in 2013, so good to see this keyboard is finally (almost) ready for the world, and so excited to get my hands on one this year! I am actually writing a book about generalised hexagonal keyboard layouts, using the Lumatone to display coloured shapes and layouts on, and writing about exploring microtonal intervals, scales and chords in a generalised (key agnostic) manner. I see that although you have your natural row as usual in a single chain of fifths from F-B, with the 12:30 (almost horizontal) axis mapped to the major second, 196c in 55EDO, and the 2:30 (down-right) axis mapped to the minor second, 109c in 55EDO, across the central (white) natural row. I can understand your wanting to get rid of "black" key pentatonic sets, although I find they are incredibly useful in helping you find your way around without thinking or working anything out, with sharps above and flats below the central natural row, and they help transfer knowledge across keyboard instruments, as well as incorporating standard music theory, across many tunings. One of the problems I see with your layout of using a single degree vertically (where the sharp would normally sit, we instead have 1\55=22c), is that the isomorphic nature of the keyboard is broken, and so you need very slightly different shapes for different keys, as I can see with your "major" (actually a little supermajor) scales on white C (C natural) and red A (one degree above Ab). Another problem I can see is that while you get a few doubled keys (blue E, two keys above white E = red F, three keys below white F = 20\55 = 436c above C, indigo E = orange F = 21\55 = 458c above C, violet E = yellow F = 22\55 = 480c above C, ditto indigo B = orange C, etc), you actually lose 5 pitches per octave, the regular flats Db Eb, Gb Ab and Bb in 55EDO, which I believe are pretty important for performing a lot of music. My solution that also incorporates colour is to maintain both heptatonic (natural) and pentatonic (sharp/flat) groups, but to colour each differently. I have managed to colour most EDOs featuring a fifth in the range [686c, 720] up through about 60, plus a few other higher EDOs I really like, and I would love to hear your ideas on that too, though I can understand wanting to get rid of "black key" groups. I believe there might also be a better solution for you that gets rid of those groups but also lets you keep the isomorphicism which is one of the generalised keyboard's strong features, and allows you more freedom with less thinking and counting of keys. Amazing of course that you've gained the virtuosity you have in such a short time, and fantastic explanations otherwise. Would love to connect either here or over on Facebook. Thanks, and love your work. Cam
Also, I do think that even though this controller has 55 keys per octave, you would probably find 46EDO, 53EDO or 58EDO would suit your purposes better than 55, which is a meantone tuning without the excellent approximations to higher harmonics and interval regions I often hear in your other work. Sure the approximations are close, but I think the general intonational bent leans the other way, and you'd really love the virtually pure (2:3) or slightly (1-3c) sharp fifths of those systems better than the mellow flat fifths of meantone. I know you know 106EDO well so I imagined you would be playing in 53EDO here, but 55 surprised me. Cool to see nonetheless, and the approximations are close enough not to disturb your soundworld too much, but I think the tuning system should go even further in enhancing that soundworld! Best, Cam
@Cam Taylor Thanks Cam, it would be great to hear more about your approach! My approach is more practical than theoretical in the sense that I want to explore the maximum pitch-resolution ergonomically possible on any keyboard design. I think of the natural state of pitch as being a continuum, so any method of pitch division is a “temperament”, based on one of many possible numerical perspectives. Because the many methods for creating micro-pitch scales are so complex in their musical possibilities, I keep things basic in this area by using equal divisions of the octave as a framework. Isomorphism is an interesting area. I appreciate the polymorphism of the piano, especially in the way that each scale/chord/arpeggio feels and looks different. Because of this, you can play by the feel of these patterns without having to look at which key you are in. The guitar/bass has an isomorphic quality to it, but it also has multiple position patterns which are different-and yet the same for each key. Isomorphism is definitely a great technical perspective… I guess the best analogy I can think of at the moment is the steepness of the the ‘learning curve’. 55 EDO was just the limitation of the Lumatone key layout. I enjoy exploring the way the pitch-colors and micro-intervals interact in these large pitch sets. I just look at it as blending colors like a painter, hearing the interactions of sound and space, and am not very oriented in the numerical relationships involved.
Thanks so much Dolores for your detailed reply. I totally see where you are coming from, and things like getting the maximum resolution, keeping a unique shape and feeling for each key seem at first to fit with your musical goals, however considering how much time it often takes a musician to master 12 keys as well as they have learnt 1 or 2, cutting the time taken to really master 55 keys with different shapes and "feel" under the hand is really going to come in handy for most people. For me, I feel the different look and the same shape goes a long way, so one uses the isomorphic nature of the keyboard mapping and the multicolour layout to see the key relationships and the sets of (in my case 7+5, in your case 7) similar coloured keys per octave to guide the way, more than memorising the shape and feeling of individual scales. While I like the idea of equal divisions of the pitch space, and using all varieties of intervals equally, every division has certain biases, and while I think 53 (106) and 72 suit your aesthetic they also provide fantastic approximations of the lower primes that I think make the biggest impact on your musical sound, 2, 3, 5 and 7, but also opening the doors for good approximations of higher primes too. Under many metrics, 55 doesn't do nearly so we'll, and also its melodic step sizes are not quite so appealing as those in or close to Pythagorean intonation. When I get my hands on my own Lumatone I'd love to try to convince you that 46 or 53-equal (in a fully isomorphic fashion), or 58-equal (as two separate isomorphic rings of 29-equal, itself a closed chain of fifths, and so moving between the rings breaks isomorphism) would serve you even better than 55 on the Lumatone. Even though I don't have an instrument big enough, my favourite equal division of the octave is probably into 94 parts, and that is not because of simply maximum resolution, but also the consistency of all ratios up to the 23-odd-limit (primes very well tuned up to 23), and how their approximations are inter-related. While 55edo for me is chiefly ruled by its meantone temperament (suggested by Mozart's father as a sort of master tuning with each whole tone divided into seven parts, and the difference between a standard C# and Db a single part or comma) and its division into 5 parts (equal pentatonic 0-240-480-720-960-1200c), 94edo tempers out the schisma so that the most sonorous 4:5 major thirds are mapped on the keyboard as diminished fourths (-8 fifths), but the fifths are just very slightly sharp of a just 2:3, so super sonorous, great Pythagorean diatonic intonation, plus the syntonic, Pythagorean and septimal commas are all equated, as they are in 41 and 53-equal. Plus the sizes of seconds and thirds for example just all feel musically useful for me, while some of the sizes in 55 for example don't feel quite right, even if you're not using any kind of JI, rational, or concordance reference. Hard to say exactly what I mean without the keyboard in front of me.
@@camtaylormusic That sounds amazing Cam! I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing your pitch layout implementations on the Lumatone. It is groundbreaking that the Lumatone can accommodate so many layout methods. They are planning on establishing a library of iso/polymorphic presets as users develop them. I hope the simplicity of the polychromatic system will replace the complexity of microtonal notation symbology/terminology, so we can focus our time on implementing any conceivable scale method (pitch palette) and quickly focus on creating/performing new micropitch music!
@@camtaylormusic Do you have any idea why the Lumatone is designed with (only) 55 keys in the repeating geometry instead of, say, 72, with more vertical rows like the MicroZone? Might the creators eventually come out with one that has more keys in the vertical direction to allow for higher EDO's more easily?
It seems a little odd that each column has 8 keys, except the B columns, which have 7. Why is that? Is it related to the limitation on the number of different notes in MIDI? Also, I would have thought an odd number would be better anyway, so that there is always a central key. It's an amazing controller though! Did Elaine Walker have anything to do with it? I know she has advocated in the past for hex keyboards that light up and can be configured to arbitrary patterns.
Wow thank you! Really struggling to write in 24 edo. Just can’t feel natural chord progressions, unsure of which part of the chords to raise or lower in pitch. Any ideas for song writing?
I wonder if the secrets are demonstrated in the video? I'm starting to think dolomuse's practice regime might help unlock the potential. Which input system/control surface are you using to play? I'm really interested in this type of thing at the moment.
I had to watch this and do some thinking before it occurred to me that the keys of the same color are dividing the octave into 7 equal intervals, or the 7th root of 2. Edit: I realize that the interval between keys of the same color must be very slightly wider than the 7th root of 2 since one "column" in each octave has one fewer key than the other "columns." At any rate, it seems like that would really take some getting used to!
Great observation! The Lumatone designers created a 275 hexagonal keyboard and this created an asymmetry in one column (the 'B' column has one less key). I just adapted to this by dividing the octave into 55 pitches, but the color layout reveals the missing key. The polychromatic system is flexible enough to work with unique keyboard designs like this.
You don’t need black or white keys to play the lumatone, but you need color-vision. And how are blind musicians supposed to find where they are on the instrument without the tactile land marks offered on the piano/ keyboard?
I'm also going to try using braille stickers for tactile orientation. This could be helpful in navigating the keyboard for sight reading, and also as an orientation for visually impaired musicians.
I have a general interest in the way "new" controllers integrate the possibility of microtonality. This Lumatone instrument is definitely exciting and also extremely pleasing on the visual side (which, I find, is also a meaningful characteristics of musical instruments beyond the mere cosmetics). It raises a few questions or issues however, and maybe somebody here has clues about them. 1. Why choose a hexagonal structure ? Why not a cartesian (x,y) rectangular grid ? I fail to see the meaning of the intermediate directions, or rather, it seems to me that there is a lack of symmetry between some of the hexagonal directions (like right ascending vs left ascending for instance). Any idea what the creators had in mind with this kind of layout ? 2. One difficulty I see both playing and "reading" the keyboard is that contiguous notes (in the sense of pitch) end up being very far from one another sometime (like, the red value of each classical chromatic note is tonally contiguous to the purple value of the next one, and yet the two corresponding keys are as far apart as they can be). Maybe it would make sense to extend the colour spectrum up and down (at the cost of redundant notes) to keep some degree of microtonal continuity when needed Just my two cents/interrogations on the system. This is all very interesting anyway.
They are both great controllers, but quite different in specs and design. The LinnStrument has square shaped silicone keypads (multidimensional sensors). They are color-programmable and can render MIDI data in the X (left/right), Y (front/back), and Z (pressure) dimension. The keypads have no movement with playing. It is an amazing instrument with open-source firmware. The LinnStrument has 128 or 200 color/tuning assignable keypads. The Lumatone has lever-action, color assignable plastic hex keys, so there is motion of the key when played. Each key has a Hall-effect sensor (like the Continuum), so it can, with firmware updates, render precise position and pressure data (Z dimension). No X or Y data can be rendered with the keys on the Lumatone, but you have more keys to assign pitch values to. The Lumatone has 275 LED color/tuning assignable keys and an editor for programming.
Wonderful video. Can I become your student and learn more about the interaction between a controller and software in terms of microtonal music and in general?
The Lumatone has a lever-action for each key. All the other microtonal keyboards I know of have electronic switches/pads (minimal movement/excursion of the key, or a pressure sensor). The Lumatone's lever-action gives a piano-like movement to the key, but it is non-weighted. You may want to check out Elaine Walker's keyboards, she makes microtonal 'vertical' keyboards, but I'm not sure if they have weighted key action.
@@dolomuse Thank you for your answer. Which ones you know have pression sensors? I'm looking for a microtonal keyboard suitable for performance which will allow me to play as many as sounds as possible but will not neglect dynamics. I find switches not convenient enough as I'm often losing in fluidity while using them. Elaine Walker's keyboards don't seem to allow any change in dynamics, I don't think they have weighted key action.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 89 | คู่เอก "ยอดไอคิว vs คิริลล์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z3vYkHJ_5Ig/mqdefault.jpg)
I’ve never been less sure of my ability to execute a C Major scale
Imagine Gb Diminished or Dorian b2 😂
seems like c major is used as the base here
You are not only a critically underrated youtuber, but underrated musician as well. Just watching this video alone allowed me to grasp concepts about Microtonal tuning, polychromatic music and just music theory in general. You are awesome, this is so cool.
This invention is deeply inspiring.
Seriously. Really shows you how unlimited the potential of musical instrumentation and it’s ability to change music is
This invention is actually relatively old. Search for Janko Piano.
@@Hvranq those are squares
this is one of the most mind blowing videos on music i’ve ever seen
This instrument is incredible
I love how the first thing you do when playing is just listen and appreciate all the different tones and colours :) the work you’re doing is amazing!!!!
I want to see Jacob Collier in this room
I tried to report your comment but there is no option for "The world is not ready for Dolores, much less Dolores x Collier"
I was about to comment this exact comment lmao
@@PacificBird Mee too lol
Jacob turning Lumatone into his new harmonizer
I made this EXACT comment on another dolomuse video, mad bro
You make this all seem so accessible. Thank you soooo much! Your videos are not just calling into the void, we're LEARNING from you!!!
I think ignoring the chromatic notes closes so so so many possibilities. It means your harmony will always have its centre at the major scale. At least using the chromatic scale opens you up to most global music.
The Lumatone can also render many varieties of minor, dominant and other scales. A good way to think about it is that, because the Lumatone accommodates a closer approximation to the pitch continuum, many more types of scales - Western/chromatic and other cultural scales - can be played on this keyboard.
Fantastic stuff! - now I just need another lifetime to do music . .
Just WOW !!! and thanx for this wonderful presentation! I'm so thrilled with the new Polychromatic Music Instruments who fit just perfect to my stage designs in creating costumes and shows! What a fantastic new option! Can't wait to see how this is going on ! And again, thanx for the introduction 🖒
I'm having one of those moments where I've stepped through some sort of portal and can't go back - or be the same musician that I was yesterday after watching this. Mind blown 🤯 Thank You💯🌌
Woah so exciting! I love your ideas and I can’t wait to see what you’ll do with this instrument! It’s also really pretty. And yes collaboration!!!
So cool! I thought polychromatic music was mind blowing on its own and this controller really seems like a perfect fit. Thank you for showing it!
Loved the info and music. Didn’t want it to end
A very nice and clear presentation ! Thank you, Dolores...
congratulations. so nice to explore the music this way
This is so awesome. Thanks for making a video about it!
A very efficient, synesthetic system, congratulations. a very insightful and detail explanation Thanks for sharing.
That instrument looks so fucking awesome!
Still waiting for mine to arrive
I’d love to connect this to a eurorack modular synth. Please do what you can to encourage them include some kind of CV out as well. Having a dedicated CV out for eurorack modulars would be extremely helpful because most of us don’t use standard 12 keyboards anyway. We mostly rely on the onboard 16 step sequencer. Some of us don’t even use a DAW. Also transparent labels to manually assign root/octive, 3rd, 5th, 7th, (9th), 11th and 13th harmonic overtones would be nice. You wouldn’t even need symbols for the overtones, just assign them by number value.
FAR OUT INTERFACE! It effortlessly incorporates theory without any translation. I think it’s very intuitive based on your demo.
Happy to see more content from you dolomuse
I am absolutely amazed with your work! Love from Brazil!
Excellent video
Thanks so much for this video! I'm eagerly awaiting a Lumatone! I can't wait to get it under my fingers. This was the first demonstration I've seen that illustrates moving around the instrument more. It looks like a joy!
I'm excited for you to have one too! :P I was lucky enough to try it at NAMM and I can't stress enough how nice the keys *feel* to play. That was one of my biggest concerns prior to trying it out, and it went well beyond my expectations.
Excellent demo and impressive playing! 😎👍
I remember discovering Just Intonation through Wendy Carlos, and it was a musical epiphany...this video about polychromatic music ("and" the Lumatone) is equally fascinating .Thanks for introducing me to another level of music where the visual and the audible merge even more than traditional notation. Greetings from Memphis. Tennessee. .
Jesus christ, this is so inspiring... my god thank you for researching and sharing this.
Thank Jesus Christ for Creating the GIFT of music. That’s just ONE of the gifts!
Am I in the Twilight Zone? Or you guy never heard of the pitch wheel? Also, perhaps I could appreciate this invention a bit more were I to hear actual consumable music, instead of just scales, using the lumatone.
Nonetheless, still interesting!
Such a lovely well organised review. Thank you!!
Fascinating and inspiring. I love when I run across people who are studiously deep-diving with minimum restrictions into their passion. A very sharp mind and set of ears are at work here.
This is very interesting.
Let us not forget however that musical "interfaces" with continuous pitch (besides the human voice, obviously) have existed for eras under the form of fretless string instruments. That natural notion of continuity has been integrated for long into both North-African and Classical Indian music traditions, to name only two examples. In 2023, we definitely need both modern keybeds able to allow full access to that larger spectrum, and also a proper, unified notation system that gets away from the classical microtonal "accident" syste ( which is way too referential towards the diatonic tradition).
Such explorations as this instrument here and your music are great steps in that direction.
Thank you for this video! Really insightful look at the instrument that makes me even more excited to get my own.
We're reaching an age where we can notate our sheet music with crayon. This is truly the future.
Hi Dolores, this is just what I’ve been looking for and from a fellow Canadian! Thank you
Love your channel!!
You are making me want to spend serious time on the artiphon instrument 1 editor… :)
As always… your massive expansive mind is the coolest.
i cant wait to get my hands on one of these i might never put it away because i think i just fell in love with the most beautiful man made music maker ive ever seen in my life im die im die im die and im blessed and glad to do sooo
I was just watching your old videos, glad your well and still micro!
Fascinating!
Fantastic video, thank You!
These things are so cool! I have one too.
th-cam.com/video/L8zkQp4egp0/w-d-xo.html
This looks cool with a dark lighting and shadow hands.
The only instrument microtonal musicians are always in tune on. :D
- How would the room of your dreams look like?
- 2:40
Mind. Blown.
this is beautiful.
Looks incredible, love it!
Wonderful stuff
Love your channel love it love it love it
Van Halen’s “1984” the track leading into “Jump” the synth intro that’s some polyphonic sounds and Eddie described a “Brown Sound” everyone thought it meant his amplifier and guitar He heard his brother Alex drum playing as a “Brown Sound”
Loving finding Lumatone, the Bosanquet-Wilson isomorphic keyboard, and your presentation! Would be helpful to flip the video from above when you are playing to show keyboard from your perspective (i.e. right side up) to also see the patterns as you do ;)
This makes me so happy!!!
SO COOL!
I haven't seen a video from this channel for a really long time
I’ve been playing this kind of music for years when I’m tuning my guitar 🙃
Jokes aside, this looks really fun to play music with!
Nobody:
Piano companies during pride:
Like the pitch bend wheel that you can control. Fascinating. I bet the intervals can be mid blowing. Is the world ready for this? This is an evolved approach.
you are a wizard! let me know when these hit the streets?
i love your set up lol wish i had the all black controller
Now I'd like a lumatone.
So anyway I play the honeycomb
I really appreciate your methodical approach to exploring this instrument - looking forward to some inspiring new music! I know you like the focus to be on the harmonic interactions, but I wonder if you’ve thought about mapping the polychromatic dimension to other parameters besides pitch to create variations in timbre as well?
That is an amazing area to explore! I guess at this point, I'm still trying to work out and explore the possibilities of polychromatic keyboard technique and an adaptable system for notation and learning. The Lumatone's keys are continuous controllers and as new features are implementaed in future firmware updates (and MIDI 2.0), we might be able to assign an overlay of CC messages to each key as well (i.e. modulation, filter sweep). With MIDI (1.0), I have run into 'buffer overload' type problems with using 16 channels of CC (pitchbend) messages simultaneously. Very exciting possibilities ahead!
Two things strike me as intriguing here. I’m not suggesting that these are “bad” choices, by any means; just “curious” ones. You’re making intriguing music, and that’s all that ultimately matters, so “keep it coming”!
First, it’s interesting that it appears at least (9:30) that you’re not mapping an upward whole step to the key directly to the right (and slightly above). Instead, you appear to be mapping it to the key directly above that. Again, not necessarily good or bad, but interesting.
Second, 55TET strikes me as a … curious … choice. To whatever degree it’s about approximations to small harmonic ratios (2:1, 3:2, 5:4, 7:4, etc.), 41TET and 53TET get a lot closer. Of course, Just-Intonation approximations are just one dimension of the question. They’re not necessarily a goal, but are a factor.
Theese are so amazing I want one so much
omg gives me motivation to work to bad im broke this is my life and the one instrument that was disigned for someone that only sees spectrums
Fancy!
Maybe also there could be an instrument which either changes roughness of the texture of each note or height of each note, alongside the colors, or keeping one row a certain roughness or texture to distinguish a "home row" and keep the color aesthetic uniform.
This is so amazing
So cool....
as a finger drummer this is some very interesting stuff.
I love it, I want it!!!
Is this what Bobbi Krilc is doing with the Midsommar soundtrack, except he's just fluctuating the frequency of a mono synth?
very cool!
Bruh this needs to be used to make the most epic edm/trance music. Please Please Please
I would be really interested to hear you take a stab at creating a Melody like in "resonance" or an arpeggiation progression along the lines of the song "Hold" both by the artist Home.
Fantastic video Dolores. I have several questions about why you chose the layout you did, but I think I know some of the answers. I was one of the backers for the Terpstra campaign back in 2013, so good to see this keyboard is finally (almost) ready for the world, and so excited to get my hands on one this year! I am actually writing a book about generalised hexagonal keyboard layouts, using the Lumatone to display coloured shapes and layouts on, and writing about exploring microtonal intervals, scales and chords in a generalised (key agnostic) manner.
I see that although you have your natural row as usual in a single chain of fifths from F-B, with the 12:30 (almost horizontal) axis mapped to the major second, 196c in 55EDO, and the 2:30 (down-right) axis mapped to the minor second, 109c in 55EDO, across the central (white) natural row. I can understand your wanting to get rid of "black" key pentatonic sets, although I find they are incredibly useful in helping you find your way around without thinking or working anything out, with sharps above and flats below the central natural row, and they help transfer knowledge across keyboard instruments, as well as incorporating standard music theory, across many tunings.
One of the problems I see with your layout of using a single degree vertically (where the sharp would normally sit, we instead have 1\55=22c), is that the isomorphic nature of the keyboard is broken, and so you need very slightly different shapes for different keys, as I can see with your "major" (actually a little supermajor) scales on white C (C natural) and red A (one degree above Ab). Another problem I can see is that while you get a few doubled keys (blue E, two keys above white E = red F, three keys below white F = 20\55 = 436c above C, indigo E = orange F = 21\55 = 458c above C, violet E = yellow F = 22\55 = 480c above C, ditto indigo B = orange C, etc), you actually lose 5 pitches per octave, the regular flats Db Eb, Gb Ab and Bb in 55EDO, which I believe are pretty important for performing a lot of music. My solution that also incorporates colour is to maintain both heptatonic (natural) and pentatonic (sharp/flat) groups, but to colour each differently. I have managed to colour most EDOs featuring a fifth in the range [686c, 720] up through about 60, plus a few other higher EDOs I really like, and I would love to hear your ideas on that too, though I can understand wanting to get rid of "black key" groups. I believe there might also be a better solution for you that gets rid of those groups but also lets you keep the isomorphicism which is one of the generalised keyboard's strong features, and allows you more freedom with less thinking and counting of keys.
Amazing of course that you've gained the virtuosity you have in such a short time, and fantastic explanations otherwise. Would love to connect either here or over on Facebook.
Thanks, and love your work.
Cam
Also, I do think that even though this controller has 55 keys per octave, you would probably find 46EDO, 53EDO or 58EDO would suit your purposes better than 55, which is a meantone tuning without the excellent approximations to higher harmonics and interval regions I often hear in your other work. Sure the approximations are close, but I think the general intonational bent leans the other way, and you'd really love the virtually pure (2:3) or slightly (1-3c) sharp fifths of those systems better than the mellow flat fifths of meantone. I know you know 106EDO well so I imagined you would be playing in 53EDO here, but 55 surprised me. Cool to see nonetheless, and the approximations are close enough not to disturb your soundworld too much, but I think the tuning system should go even further in enhancing that soundworld!
Best,
Cam
@Cam Taylor Thanks Cam, it would be great to hear more about your approach! My approach is more practical than theoretical in the sense that I want to explore the maximum pitch-resolution ergonomically possible on any keyboard design. I think of the natural state of pitch as being a continuum, so any method of pitch division is a “temperament”, based on one of many possible numerical perspectives. Because the many methods for creating micro-pitch scales are so complex in their musical possibilities, I keep things basic in this area by using equal divisions of the octave as a framework.
Isomorphism is an interesting area. I appreciate the polymorphism of the piano, especially in the way that each scale/chord/arpeggio feels and looks different. Because of this, you can play by the feel of these patterns without having to look at which key you are in. The guitar/bass has an isomorphic quality to it, but it also has multiple position patterns which are different-and yet the same for each key. Isomorphism is definitely a great technical perspective… I guess the best analogy I can think of at the moment is the steepness of the the ‘learning curve’.
55 EDO was just the limitation of the Lumatone key layout. I enjoy exploring the way the pitch-colors and micro-intervals interact in these large pitch sets. I just look at it as blending colors like a painter, hearing the interactions of sound and space, and am not very oriented in the numerical relationships involved.
Thanks so much Dolores for your detailed reply. I totally see where you are coming from, and things like getting the maximum resolution, keeping a unique shape and feeling for each key seem at first to fit with your musical goals, however considering how much time it often takes a musician to master 12 keys as well as they have learnt 1 or 2, cutting the time taken to really master 55 keys with different shapes and "feel" under the hand is really going to come in handy for most people. For me, I feel the different look and the same shape goes a long way, so one uses the isomorphic nature of the keyboard mapping and the multicolour layout to see the key relationships and the sets of (in my case 7+5, in your case 7) similar coloured keys per octave to guide the way, more than memorising the shape and feeling of individual scales. While I like the idea of equal divisions of the pitch space, and using all varieties of intervals equally, every division has certain biases, and while I think 53 (106) and 72 suit your aesthetic they also provide fantastic approximations of the lower primes that I think make the biggest impact on your musical sound, 2, 3, 5 and 7, but also opening the doors for good approximations of higher primes too. Under many metrics, 55 doesn't do nearly so we'll, and also its melodic step sizes are not quite so appealing as those in or close to Pythagorean intonation. When I get my hands on my own Lumatone I'd love to try to convince you that 46 or 53-equal (in a fully isomorphic fashion), or 58-equal (as two separate isomorphic rings of 29-equal, itself a closed chain of fifths, and so moving between the rings breaks isomorphism) would serve you even better than 55 on the Lumatone.
Even though I don't have an instrument big enough, my favourite equal division of the octave is probably into 94 parts, and that is not because of simply maximum resolution, but also the consistency of all ratios up to the 23-odd-limit (primes very well tuned up to 23), and how their approximations are inter-related. While 55edo for me is chiefly ruled by its meantone temperament (suggested by Mozart's father as a sort of master tuning with each whole tone divided into seven parts, and the difference between a standard C# and Db a single part or comma) and its division into 5 parts (equal pentatonic 0-240-480-720-960-1200c), 94edo tempers out the schisma so that the most sonorous 4:5 major thirds are mapped on the keyboard as diminished fourths (-8 fifths), but the fifths are just very slightly sharp of a just 2:3, so super sonorous, great Pythagorean diatonic intonation, plus the syntonic, Pythagorean and septimal commas are all equated, as they are in 41 and 53-equal. Plus the sizes of seconds and thirds for example just all feel musically useful for me, while some of the sizes in 55 for example don't feel quite right, even if you're not using any kind of JI, rational, or concordance reference. Hard to say exactly what I mean without the keyboard in front of me.
@@camtaylormusic That sounds amazing Cam! I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing your pitch layout implementations on the Lumatone. It is groundbreaking that the Lumatone can accommodate so many layout methods. They are planning on establishing a library of iso/polymorphic presets as users develop them. I hope the simplicity of the polychromatic system will replace the complexity of microtonal notation symbology/terminology, so we can focus our time on implementing any conceivable scale method (pitch palette) and quickly focus on creating/performing new micropitch music!
@@camtaylormusic Do you have any idea why the Lumatone is designed with (only) 55 keys in the repeating geometry instead of, say, 72, with more vertical rows like the MicroZone? Might the creators eventually come out with one that has more keys in the vertical direction to allow for higher EDO's more easily?
Could you try using the whole tone scale or the chromatic scale in the middle?
Man I really want one of those
It seems a little odd that each column has 8 keys, except the B columns, which have 7. Why is that? Is it related to the limitation on the number of different notes in MIDI? Also, I would have thought an odd number would be better anyway, so that there is always a central key. It's an amazing controller though! Did Elaine Walker have anything to do with it? I know she has advocated in the past for hex keyboards that light up and can be configured to arbitrary patterns.
So cool
Sevish needs a crack at one of these
ableton live's max for live community might be really helpful in terms of microtonal midi devices
Hexagons are the bestagons
Wow thank you! Really struggling to write in 24 edo. Just can’t feel natural chord progressions, unsure of which part of the chords to raise or lower in pitch. Any ideas for song writing?
I wonder if the secrets are demonstrated in the video? I'm starting to think dolomuse's practice regime might help unlock the potential. Which input system/control surface are you using to play? I'm really interested in this type of thing at the moment.
pick 5 tones randomly, try to make anything randomly and then remove the parts you don't like.
I would start with flatting Maj 7th’s and then work off chord extensions based on that. That interval kind of feels like the entry point
I had to watch this and do some thinking before it occurred to me that the keys of the same color are dividing the octave into 7 equal intervals, or the 7th root of 2. Edit: I realize that the interval between keys of the same color must be very slightly wider than the 7th root of 2 since one "column" in each octave has one fewer key than the other "columns." At any rate, it seems like that would really take some getting used to!
Why isn't there a B####? Sorry if I missed that explanation
I love that you spent time talking about notation from a human factors standpoint :)
Great observation! The Lumatone designers created a 275 hexagonal keyboard and this created an asymmetry in one column (the 'B' column has one less key). I just adapted to this by dividing the octave into 55 pitches, but the color layout reveals the missing key. The polychromatic system is flexible enough to work with unique keyboard designs like this.
@@dolomuse Fortunately they solved the issue with the final production model that has 280 keys.
You don’t need black or white keys to play the lumatone, but you need color-vision. And how are blind musicians supposed to find where they are on the instrument without the tactile land marks offered on the piano/ keyboard?
I'm also going to try using braille stickers for tactile orientation. This could be helpful in navigating the keyboard for sight reading, and also as an orientation for visually impaired musicians.
I have a general interest in the way "new" controllers integrate the possibility of microtonality. This Lumatone instrument is definitely exciting and also extremely pleasing on the visual side (which, I find, is also a meaningful characteristics of musical instruments beyond the mere cosmetics). It raises a few questions or issues however, and maybe somebody here has clues about them.
1. Why choose a hexagonal structure ? Why not a cartesian (x,y) rectangular grid ? I fail to see the meaning of the intermediate directions, or rather, it seems to me that there is a lack of symmetry between some of the hexagonal directions (like right ascending vs left ascending for instance). Any idea what the creators had in mind with this kind of layout ?
2. One difficulty I see both playing and "reading" the keyboard is that contiguous notes (in the sense of pitch) end up being very far from one another sometime (like, the red value of each classical chromatic note is tonally contiguous to the purple value of the next one, and yet the two corresponding keys are as far apart as they can be). Maybe it would make sense to extend the colour spectrum up and down (at the cost of redundant notes) to keep some degree of microtonal continuity when needed
Just my two cents/interrogations on the system. This is all very interesting anyway.
Play a shepards tone... Because you can!
I would like to do some heavy shredding with this thing
Trippy!
you should find a way to make a visualization that blends the colours that you use!
Is it released yet? Very exiting!
damn i love both this lady and the instrument. Please Dolores be my second mother
Can you put Wicki-Hayden layout on it? Looks as if you can’t unless you tilt the keyboard sideways
So, the colors are microtones?
I need a micro tonal keyboard sooooo badly...
Still waiting for mine to arrive
how would you compare this to a LinnStrument programmed to have a similar pitch layout?
They are both great controllers, but quite different in specs and design. The LinnStrument has square shaped silicone keypads (multidimensional sensors). They are color-programmable and can render MIDI data in the X (left/right), Y (front/back), and Z (pressure) dimension. The keypads have no movement with playing. It is an amazing instrument with open-source firmware. The LinnStrument has 128 or 200 color/tuning assignable keypads.
The Lumatone has lever-action, color assignable plastic hex keys, so there is motion of the key when played. Each key has a Hall-effect sensor (like the Continuum), so it can, with firmware updates, render precise position and pressure data (Z dimension). No X or Y data can be rendered with the keys on the Lumatone, but you have more keys to assign pitch values to. The Lumatone has 275 LED color/tuning assignable keys and an editor for programming.
Wonderful video. Can I become your student and learn more about the interaction between a controller and software in terms of microtonal music and in general?
I had a similar one by “C-thru music”
Hello Dolores, thank you for your work. Do you know any weighted keys microtonal keyboards?
The Lumatone has a lever-action for each key. All the other microtonal keyboards I know of have electronic switches/pads (minimal movement/excursion of the key, or a pressure sensor). The Lumatone's lever-action gives a piano-like movement to the key, but it is non-weighted.
You may want to check out Elaine Walker's keyboards, she makes microtonal 'vertical' keyboards, but I'm not sure if they have weighted key action.
@@dolomuse Thank you for your answer.
Which ones you know have pression sensors? I'm looking for a microtonal keyboard suitable for performance which will allow me to play as many as sounds as possible but will not neglect dynamics. I find switches not convenient enough as I'm often losing in fluidity while using them.
Elaine Walker's keyboards don't seem to allow any change in dynamics, I don't think they have weighted key action.
very cool :-)
Do you have a composition where you combine and layer all your microtonal instruments?