Imagine Gb Diminished or Dorian b2 😂

seems like c major is used as the base here

Seriously. Really shows you how unlimited the potential of musical instrumentation and it’s ability to change music is

This invention is actually relatively old. Search for Janko Piano.

@@Hvranq those are squares

I'm excited for you to have one too! :P I was lucky enough to try it at NAMM and I can't stress enough how nice the keys *feel* to play. That was one of my biggest concerns prior to trying it out, and it went well beyond my expectations.

The Lumatone can also render many varieties of minor, dominant and other scales. A good way to think about it is that, because the Lumatone accommodates a closer approximation to the pitch continuum, many more types of scales - Western/chromatic and other cultural scales - can be played on this keyboard.

Still waiting for mine to arrive

Thank Jesus Christ for Creating the GIFT of music. That’s just ONE of the gifts!

Am I in the Twilight Zone? Or you guy never heard of the pitch wheel? Also, perhaps I could appreciate this invention a bit more were I to hear actual consumable music, instead of just scales, using the lumatone. Nonetheless, still interesting!

These things are so cool! I have one too. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gp6qnrShmcvLoGQ.html

No way, if I'm gonna drop 3k on a keyboard I need at least three minutes of some guy tapping out farting synth noises.

That is an amazing area to explore! I guess at this point, I'm still trying to work out and explore the possibilities of polychromatic keyboard technique and an adaptable system for notation and learning. The Lumatone's keys are continuous controllers and as new features are implementaed in future firmware updates (and MIDI 2.0), we might be able to assign an overlay of CC messages to each key as well (i.e. modulation, filter sweep). With MIDI (1.0), I have run into 'buffer overload' type problems with using 16 channels of CC (pitchbend) messages simultaneously. Very exciting possibilities ahead!

I tried to report your comment but there is no option for "The world is not ready for Dolores, much less Dolores x Collier"

I was about to comment this exact comment lmao

@@PacificBird Mee too lol

Jacob turning Lumatone into his new harmonizer

I made this EXACT comment on another dolomuse video, mad bro

The Lumatone keyboard was designed with 275 instead of 280 keys and this left an asymmetry in the "B" column. My adaptation was to divide the octave into 55 EDO and workaround the 'missing' key.

I'm also going to try using braille stickers for tactile orientation. This could be helpful in navigating the keyboard for sight reading, and also as an orientation for visually impaired musicians.

I think it’s easier to think about it as an octave being divided into 55 pitches. The pitches are then assigned according to the physical layout of the Lumatone keyboard. The modal reference of A-G is only used as a known point of reference and departure - A-G aren’t related to each other in the same way as in the chromatic scale (i.e. E/F and B/C semitones). Instead, the white row notes are similar but not exactly the same as the white notes on the piano. 55 EDO 12 EDO A = 55/55 [1] A = 12/12 [1] B = 8/55 B = 2/12 C = 15/55 C = 3/12 D = 23/55 D = 5/12 E = 31/55 E = 7/12 F = 39/55 F = 8/12 G = 47/55 G = 10/12

​@@dolomuse Thanks so much for the reply, that helps a lot. You're right, it is easier to think of that way and makes a lot of sense. My thinking that the white keys on the Lumatome lined up with the white keys on a piano threw me off. I also understand now why the note names on the graphics moved later in the video (8:55) - you were showing patterns/shapes with the intervals of a major scale, for example C-white, D-green, E-cyan, F-yellow, G-white, A-green, B-cyan, C-white. Thinking of it as shapes like guitar chords makes a lot of sense for shifting scales up and down through the pitch colors. It's an amazing instrument, I'd definitely like to try one. Thanks again for demoing it and for the explanation.

Great observation! The Lumatone designers created a 275 hexagonal keyboard and this created an asymmetry in one column (the 'B' column has one less key). I just adapted to this by dividing the octave into 55 pitches, but the color layout reveals the missing key. The polychromatic system is flexible enough to work with unique keyboard designs like this.

@@dolomuse Fortunately they solved the issue with the final production model that has 280 keys.

From my practice with other micro-pitch keyboards like the Tonal Plexus and Microzone, I found a simple orientation by beginning from ‘C’. From here, comfortable technical anchors for the thumb exist at the root/octave and the fourth. For maximal pitch-resolution, I think of adjacent micro-pitches as being oriented on a rightward ascending axis on the Lumatone. From this basic pattern the rest of the modal A-G pitches were laid out. It is fascinating that pitch-colors seem to effectively replace accidentals and key signatures (a major problem with the many incompatible microtonal methods and symbols). The result is increased simplicity in this sense, along with immense new melodic/harmonic complexities possible within very minute divisions of the octave. The Lumatone layout was derived from the Terpstra, with a modification that eliminated the 8th key from certain columns. Within the color layout used here, this resulted in a missing 'B' violet in each octave.

@@dolomuse Thank you so much for your reply! Your layout here really IS fascinating and has my mental gears turning! In your basic layout here, I can imagine several logical reasons for even right-or left shifting your layout, such as having the first full rightward column on the left be "C," having it be "A," or having the abbreviated 7-key columns be "G" so that the last column before each new "A" column is the one that "ran out of keys" before starting fresh with "A," etc. It occurs to me that if you were to start with the first full rightward column on the left as "C", it would shift everything to the right by one column, and then your new "A" columns would then be the ones with only 7 keys and would then be the "odd-man-out" in each octave BOTH in terms of color AND number of keys!

I posted about color notation for just intonation in my channel.

Also, I do think that even though this controller has 55 keys per octave, you would probably find 46EDO, 53EDO or 58EDO would suit your purposes better than 55, which is a meantone tuning without the excellent approximations to higher harmonics and interval regions I often hear in your other work. Sure the approximations are close, but I think the general intonational bent leans the other way, and you'd really love the virtually pure (2:3) or slightly (1-3c) sharp fifths of those systems better than the mellow flat fifths of meantone. I know you know 106EDO well so I imagined you would be playing in 53EDO here, but 55 surprised me. Cool to see nonetheless, and the approximations are close enough not to disturb your soundworld too much, but I think the tuning system should go even further in enhancing that soundworld! Best, Cam

@Cam Taylor Thanks Cam, it would be great to hear more about your approach! My approach is more practical than theoretical in the sense that I want to explore the maximum pitch-resolution ergonomically possible on any keyboard design. I think of the natural state of pitch as being a continuum, so any method of pitch division is a “temperament”, based on one of many possible numerical perspectives. Because the many methods for creating micro-pitch scales are so complex in their musical possibilities, I keep things basic in this area by using equal divisions of the octave as a framework. Isomorphism is an interesting area. I appreciate the polymorphism of the piano, especially in the way that each scale/chord/arpeggio feels and looks different. Because of this, you can play by the feel of these patterns without having to look at which key you are in. The guitar/bass has an isomorphic quality to it, but it also has multiple position patterns which are different-and yet the same for each key. Isomorphism is definitely a great technical perspective… I guess the best analogy I can think of at the moment is the steepness of the the ‘learning curve’. 55 EDO was just the limitation of the Lumatone key layout. I enjoy exploring the way the pitch-colors and micro-intervals interact in these large pitch sets. I just look at it as blending colors like a painter, hearing the interactions of sound and space, and am not very oriented in the numerical relationships involved.

Thanks so much Dolores for your detailed reply. I totally see where you are coming from, and things like getting the maximum resolution, keeping a unique shape and feeling for each key seem at first to fit with your musical goals, however considering how much time it often takes a musician to master 12 keys as well as they have learnt 1 or 2, cutting the time taken to really master 55 keys with different shapes and "feel" under the hand is really going to come in handy for most people. For me, I feel the different look and the same shape goes a long way, so one uses the isomorphic nature of the keyboard mapping and the multicolour layout to see the key relationships and the sets of (in my case 7+5, in your case 7) similar coloured keys per octave to guide the way, more than memorising the shape and feeling of individual scales. While I like the idea of equal divisions of the pitch space, and using all varieties of intervals equally, every division has certain biases, and while I think 53 (106) and 72 suit your aesthetic they also provide fantastic approximations of the lower primes that I think make the biggest impact on your musical sound, 2, 3, 5 and 7, but also opening the doors for good approximations of higher primes too. Under many metrics, 55 doesn't do nearly so we'll, and also its melodic step sizes are not quite so appealing as those in or close to Pythagorean intonation. When I get my hands on my own Lumatone I'd love to try to convince you that 46 or 53-equal (in a fully isomorphic fashion), or 58-equal (as two separate isomorphic rings of 29-equal, itself a closed chain of fifths, and so moving between the rings breaks isomorphism) would serve you even better than 55 on the Lumatone. Even though I don't have an instrument big enough, my favourite equal division of the octave is probably into 94 parts, and that is not because of simply maximum resolution, but also the consistency of all ratios up to the 23-odd-limit (primes very well tuned up to 23), and how their approximations are inter-related. While 55edo for me is chiefly ruled by its meantone temperament (suggested by Mozart's father as a sort of master tuning with each whole tone divided into seven parts, and the difference between a standard C# and Db a single part or comma) and its division into 5 parts (equal pentatonic 0-240-480-720-960-1200c), 94edo tempers out the schisma so that the most sonorous 4:5 major thirds are mapped on the keyboard as diminished fourths (-8 fifths), but the fifths are just very slightly sharp of a just 2:3, so super sonorous, great Pythagorean diatonic intonation, plus the syntonic, Pythagorean and septimal commas are all equated, as they are in 41 and 53-equal. Plus the sizes of seconds and thirds for example just all feel musically useful for me, while some of the sizes in 55 for example don't feel quite right, even if you're not using any kind of JI, rational, or concordance reference. Hard to say exactly what I mean without the keyboard in front of me.

@@camtaylormusic That sounds amazing Cam! I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing your pitch layout implementations on the Lumatone. It is groundbreaking that the Lumatone can accommodate so many layout methods. They are planning on establishing a library of iso/polymorphic presets as users develop them. I hope the simplicity of the polychromatic system will replace the complexity of microtonal notation symbology/terminology, so we can focus our time on implementing any conceivable scale method (pitch palette) and quickly focus on creating/performing new micropitch music!

@@camtaylormusic Do you have any idea why the Lumatone is designed with (only) 55 keys in the repeating geometry instead of, say, 72, with more vertical rows like the MicroZone? Might the creators eventually come out with one that has more keys in the vertical direction to allow for higher EDO's more easily?

They are both great controllers, but quite different in specs and design. The LinnStrument has square shaped silicone keypads (multidimensional sensors). They are color-programmable and can render MIDI data in the X (left/right), Y (front/back), and Z (pressure) dimension. The keypads have no movement with playing. It is an amazing instrument with open-source firmware. The LinnStrument has 128 or 200 color/tuning assignable keypads. The Lumatone has lever-action, color assignable plastic hex keys, so there is motion of the key when played. Each key has a Hall-effect sensor (like the Continuum), so it can, with firmware updates, render precise position and pressure data (Z dimension). No X or Y data can be rendered with the keys on the Lumatone, but you have more keys to assign pitch values to. The Lumatone has 275 LED color/tuning assignable keys and an editor for programming.