Ever since I got the Eigenharp Alpha I’ve been thinking of changing the key layout to have a larger range of notes. I wanted to be able to use it like a piano with both hands, having one hands play base sections of chords and the right hand play melodies.
The standard chromatic layout is inspired by a guitar neck where frets develop along the neck as well as across the neck. This essentially limits the maximum range of the Alpha keyboard in the chromatic scale to a bit less than four octaves, I wanted to have at least five octaves and preferably seven.
I’ve been trying out various layouts and finally settled on one about a month ago. I’ve been playing it ever since and it totally opened up my creativity on the Eigenharp Alpha.
You can try it out yourself by running the Belcanto script that’s attached to this post with Alpha Factory Setup 3 (it requires EigenD 1.3.14-testing or later). It will change the layout of the upper keygroup in the third split to a range of seven octaves in the chromatic scale. It preserves the traditional layout for the bottom keygroup, which you can use with a major scale for instance for quick leads or for any kind of control (I like changing the tonics of the upper keygroup).
I’ll record some demo and tutorial videos about this layout in the weeks to come, but I thought I’d already post what I have so that others can try it out.
Enjoy!
Alpha New Chromatic Overview PDF
Alpha New Chromatic Script (unzip and put it in
I’m not actually playing an Eigenharp but I’m thinking a lot about possible scales.
Here is my favorite for the Tau:
C 1|F 1|A#1|D#2
D 1|G 1|C 2|F 2
E 1|A 1|D 2|G 2
F#1|B 1|E 2|A 2
G#1|C#2|F#2|B 2
A#1|D#2|G#2|C#3
C 2|F 2|A#2|D 3
… and so on
Playing a major scale using this pattern, starting on every note you like:
1|4|-|-
2|5|1|4
3|6|2|5
-|7|3|6
-|-|-|7