The Eigenharp

Here you can discuss details about instruments, equipment and all those other bits that non-musicians won't understand !

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Sue
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The Eigenharp

Postby Sue » Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:05 pm

This looks kind of interesting - they reckon it could be the end of keyboards on stage for people like Rick Wakeman, and maybe drummers and guitarists would be redundant too...... :shock:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8294355.stm

Will it take off ( once the price comes down ! ) ???

Sue
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Mike Stranks
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Postby Mike Stranks » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:27 pm

Hey Sue

Thanks for that; really interesting!

Your post on this sent me on a 'rummage' and I've found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJhiY3oQRIk

which shows a lot more of the sounds and effects you can use; and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVqJh0qEMc&feature=related

which demos a tune showing what you can do with this.

OK Mr G; when can we expect to hear "The Dodo's Dream" played on one of these? 8)
The older I get, the better I used to be

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Russ Gannicott
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Postby Russ Gannicott » Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:13 am

Is it me, or have they neglected to mention the amount of pre-programming that would be required to play something like the Bond theme? Also, there must surely be some better samples around than those dreadful 1980's 'Lin drum' type sounds that they were using? I'm sorry, but I'm not convinced. To me this is just another way to re-invent the wheel and is considerably less inovative and expresive than the good old theramin or even a Rhythm Stick (anyone remember those?).

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Bob Wilson
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Postby Bob Wilson » Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:41 am

Very interesting concept, although I don't know where it would be categorised. Maybe just 'an electronic synth instrument'.
Looking like a small Chapman Stick with extras, it is obviously capable of a lot of sounds and uses many different methods of getting them.
It will be good to see how its market develops. I would think any 'synth' bands will want one and if it gives a different sound then maybe another genre will develop.
Well worth keeping an eye on!
Bob
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Phill Brown
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Postby Phill Brown » Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:12 pm

[Begin waffle mode]
I love the feeling when I get together with four mates, Im on the guitar, another is on the bass, one is on the drums, the third on the keyboard and the other is singing. I love the fact that we all have our own instrument, we all have something we can contribute seperately and I just think that a group with a load of these things would lose that feeling.
They can all contribute to a song sure, but when you have an instrument that can do everything, it makes none of the intruments special or really unique in any way and you lose that real appreciation for what the instrument can do I think.
But still, that said, it's a clever bit of kit! :D
[End waffle mode]
I got music, I got rhythm...actually, who COULD ask for anything more?

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AndrewD
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Postby AndrewD » Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:58 pm

I feel fairly sure that some pundit somewhere must have been predicting the demise of nearly every traditional instrument when the first "chunky" synths came along that were capable of emulating everything from milking machines to toothpick use. Have any "traditional" instruments vanished as a result? I think not. Don't get me wrong - I like electronic music, in fact my real love affair with music was initiated by Jean-Michel Jarre (I still think his early albums are his best, particularly Oxygene and Equinoxe), but there is something about playing an instrument which relies on resonance to produce the sound, rather than electronics, which really grabs the imagination. Plus you don't need to plug an acoustic guitar into anything, or carry spare sets of batteries!


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