Ganryu

I've received a comment from the designer of the Sonome (different version of Axis 64). He claims the plastic button caps are a custom design and that they are pricey when not bought in large quantities. He reccomends using circular button caps instead.

That won't be compatible with the split function :(

Thanks for those links. I've looked around there but it seems hexagonal keys caps are difficult to find. A friend of me reccomended I'd try contacting a company in china to make them for me by specification. Seeing that I need about a hundred of them this might actually work. As for the switches, they are EXPENSIVE. 3 euro per switch is like 300 euro for just the switches. Insaaaaane. Add to that the cost of plastic caps and it's quite a hefty sum. Anyway. This is a summer project, and then I will hopefully have a job and get some more money. Now for a few questions Suppose I buy the MIDIO128 and 80 switches and I link all the switches up to the card. Each switch is "assigned" it's own note value. Now imagine that I press the C# switch and hold it down. The C# note-on will be sent by the midi cable. If I release the switch, the note-off message will be sent for C#. The harmonic table is interesting because unlike other keyboard layouts you can find the same key at different positions. There's a degree of redundancy. This means that while C# is pressed you can actually press ANOTHER C#. This leads to a midi conflict as midi data doesn't transmit whether or not a key is being pressed but rather if it has been pressed down or released. It actually CAN'T tell you anything other than what the midi data tells it it last saw (note-on or note-off). In the above scenario this means that when one of the C# switches is released a note-off message is sent even if the other C# is still being held down. As you see above the actual length of the note will be shorter if either of the keys is released while the other is held down. This is bad.

Before I get started I must clarify two things. This is NOT my own original idea. Secondly: This is a project I will begin much later. At the moment I'm too much of a n00b to even begin buying parts for it. First look at this: http://www.c-thru-music.com/cgi/?page=prod_axis-64 This is a midi keyboard with hexagonal keys. Ridiculously overpriced, but the concept is very nice. I've been thinking about building something similar, but right now there are two obstacles. A: How do I produce 192 hexagonal keys? B: How do I aquire switches for those 192 keys? In terms of capabilities most of the features of that thing are unecessary. I will have no pitch wheel, no mod wheel, no preset buttons. The only advanced features I need to replicate iare s the single and split functionality. Single mode: The whole keyboard transmits midi data on one single channel through the OUT port. Split mode: The keyboard is split in three different sections each one sending data on a separate channel through OUT. This means I need to be able to configure which part of the keyboard uses which midi channel. Secondly, this layout means one more unique feature: The same NOTE can be played on different KEYS. That are multiple ways to play the same note. I'm not sure how the midibox will deal with this but look at this example below: If I hold down one A(1) while rapidly pressing down and releasing another A(2) then the first A(1) will stop sounding because the second A(2) transmitted a note-off message BEFORE A(1) did. This seems like it might create some complications.

I've always wanted a midi pedalboard but they are ridiculously expensive for a student. It so happens that my father has quite an extensive workshop, however, and I will have access to it for quite a while now. I decided to spend that time well... It seems electric organs are quite cheap nowadays. They're so cheap that they're free. If I could get my hands on one I could slaughter it for the pedals and then with slight help from here turn it into a working midi pedalboard! Alas, I'm a n00b with electronics (not with programming, though) so I will need some help. From the website it seems this is what I need: 1 x MBHP_CORE 1 x MBHP_DINX4 (it will only have 13 "keys") I don't need any douts do I? I haven't yet gotten my hands on the organ in question but that will happen soon enough. I will need switches for the pedals. Anything else I need and if possible anything else I need to pay attentiont to? Edit: Just realized one more thing. I forgot to discuss the specifics. There are a few features which will be important to this project: A: The ability to transpose by octave is important. B: I would like it to have two midi outs. Each midi out would then connect to a separate midi device. With a switch near each out I would be able to turn it on or off. (I will use this to control a Nord Modular and a Nord Electro 2 on stage) C: I need to be able to select on which midi channel data is sent to the devices (does not have to be separate for the different ports. It should be global to both)

That looks interesting. I'm buying an old organ myself in order to steal the pedals from it for use with my synths. I'm thinking of using the two manuals I'll get left for some later project. Edit: If you have the money you could use Hauptwerk instead of Miditzer, but it might be too expensive. If you really want quality then I think you should go for that, however.