A few weeks ago Greg from Orange Tree Samples was so kind to send me a pre-release of his upcoming Evolution Acoustic Guitar – Steel Strings (EAG) product.
I set it up so that the first six percussion keys of the Alpha correspond to the strings of an actual guitar for which I play the chords on the upper split of the keyboard with the EAG strum instrument. The lower split of the main keyboard also uses EAG but with the lead instrument to play the melody line. I also use a foot pedal to sustain notes and chords when needed.
I’m really amazed by how natural the combination of the Eigenharp Alpha together with Evolution Acoustic Guitar feels. You can strum, pick, release chords to play muted strums, do hammer-ons and pull-offs, … etc.
I’ll be looking at an even tighter integration to correctly play up and down stroke samples based on the direction by which you’re strumming over the percussion keys … stay tuned.
Wow….just wow…I knew the Eigenharp had potential, but this I did not see coming at all.
My Pico looks so feeble in comparison…Wish I had an Alpha.
Just giant respect to you though, your work is incredible.
Thanks! I’ll be communicating closely with Greg from Orange Tree Samples for the next version of his instruments to ensure that they’re perfectly suited for the Eigenharp Tau and Alpha! 🙂
Cool! Is it possible to have a similar setup for Pico (to strum and pick guitar strings)?
Theoretically, yes. Practically, I have doubts that you would find it comfortable to play. You’d have to create a custom scale that only uses certain notes for the strum keys and a scale for the others.
Can I assign 6 keys (from one row) to guitar notes so that will be used for strumming?
And say, another 6 or so keys from another row for chords? One hand will select a chord, another hand will strum..
Yes, it’s all part of the scale you define and activate in EigenD. Depending on your software instrument the notes that are used for strumming the individual strings are different.
The idea I had was to setup the top 10 keys as “one key chords”, the bottom 6 as strings (strum/pluck).
This is kind of how the iPad “Smart Guitar” instrument on Garage band works.
You could utilise the bend on the pico to pick up to 4 alternate chords – eg.
maj, min, 7, dim.
It’s possible, but I’m not sure how the bottom six in 2 rows of 3 would feel for strumming. I have doubt about it being intuitive. I think you need to have 6 keys in one stroke, like guitar strings.
Hi, wonderful work. You say that you map 6 percussion keys to strings – how do those strings map to the 5 rows of buttons on the Alpha? Also do you think this will work well on the Tau (mine is due to arrive soon I hope)?
if someone creates a setup like this, how easy is it to roll it out to other people?
Thanks! This will work well on the Tau. The way EAG works is that it knows a whole collection of guitar chords played across the six strings. So the percussion keys trigger the strings that are set up in the chord mappings. By playing the requires notes of a chord you can trigger those chord mappings.
Wow that was great and what a great voice.