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Monday, October 19, 2009

Eigenharp? WTF is an Eigenharp?

From BBC News:

What is claimed to be ''the most revolutionary new musical instrument of the last 60 years'' has been unveiled after eight years in development.

The Eigenharp is designed specifically for live performance, enabling a wide range of sounds to be played and improvised.

It is the brainchild of John Lambert, a musician and software entrepreneur.

David Sillito was given a demonstration of its range by three musicians.

Don’t know how to embed the video from there, so you should go check it out. Dunno what else to say. It looks like the first step towards what these guys are playing:

All I have to say is: Dammit. Now there’s a reason to buy a Mac. Eigenharp’s software doesn’t support Windows yet.

8 comments:

  1. did not. Somebody else put it on facebook. I didn't even know you knew about it.

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  2. You didn't see that in my shared RSS items 2 weeks ago? hmmm.....
    aight.
    :D
    anywho, it is pretty cool, but the price is a BIT steep. :|

    Its not rocket science, a person could build one on their own and interface to something like Reason on the PC. It would not be an EASY build, but shit it wouldn't be anywhere near impossible.

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  3. Ok, I finally watched the presentation video at
    http://eigenlabs.com/roadshow/
    holy
    crap
    Yes, its a midi instrument with a MUCH easier fingering, cool.
    Yes, its also a stand alone instrument. They wedged in a computer so that you can play it stand alone, cool.
    Yes, its also a sequencer that you can use live, damn near super cool.

    You add that all up and you have "nearly impossible". It is amazing. But again, the price is just WAY to high. (~$6,300) If they had a studio version for 1/3 of the price that would rock. Take out the sequencer and the onboard sound generation and just let me hook it up to my MIDI station via firewire.

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  4. yeah. That would be cool. Did you see they have a smaller one that seems to be just that?

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  5. And no, I haven't been keeping up with your RSS feed. But now that it gets posted on Facebook, I will be.

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  6. Yeah, I dont like the smaller one, the "pico".

    But I really do HAVE to have one of these. :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. So the eigenharp is pretty cool, no doubt.
    But have you been following Karma at all?
    http://www.karma-lab.com/main.html
    To oversimplify, its an uber arpeggiator. What would be cool is to have Stephen Kay integrate Karma into the eigenharp.
    like peaches and cream.

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  8. couldn't find the Karma videos you were talking about, but I did hear some of the music it makes. If that comes from a keyboard, holy shit. That's way beyond just a synthesizer.

    While I agree it would be interesting to integrate Karma into the Eigenharp, I don't really see that it would add much functionality. It seems to me (never having touched one) that you could play the keys on the E-harp (you're welcome) to simulate the strum of a guitar. That being said, I think the E-harp is more geared toward wacked-out synth music (as in Strange Ways, as played in the video I linked in the OP). THAT being said, when I get one (used and half the lights won't work for the low low price of $arm), I'll get bored of synth pretty quick and teach it to play real instruments.

    ReplyDelete