TBX2 Microtonal Tuning Machine Box Handmade in Germany

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
2018 videos by Aaron Andrew Hunt. The TBX2 is from Hi-Pi Instruments. They also made a TBX1 MIDI Tuning Box.

Playlist:
TBX2 - The Instant Chromelodeon
TBX2 - Programming Sample Tunings
TBX2 unboxing 100 bare units
TBX2 rev3 3D Models

via this auction

Check out the foot pedal input label on back.

"Only 100 were manufactured several years ago. With this device you can plug into your computer (USB to USB) and play microtonal music after preloading your tunings.

TBX2 outperforms its predecessor (TBX1) in every way. This faster, smaller, sturdier second-generation device not only retunes GM (multichannel) synths, but also monophonic synths, MTS synths, and even proprietary sysex synths. If you thought the 512 tunings TBX1 offered was a lot, try 8,192. That's almost twice the size of the Scala Archive. Each input channel can be assigned to a unique tuning table, providing full compatibility with multichannel controllers like MIDI guitars and MIDI organs, as well as microtonal controllers like the Tonal Plexus, Microzone, Axis 64, and Terpstra keyboards. Supports both MIDI DIN input, and USB-MIDI input. Navigate 40 presets hands-free. Edit existing tunings or create your own with Universal Tuning Editor (UTE) cross-platform software (free license included). Set up your tunings, upload them to the unit, plug in your controller and synth, and start making music. Ready for the stage, its built-in rechargeable battery will run for days. Firmware is user-upgradable via UTE, so features can be improved or added at any time, and you never have to worry about swapping out a chip.

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Hi-Pi TBX-1 Tuning Box - Microtonal Keyboard Converter

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"This allows you to convert a keyboard/synth's scale to anything that you like. You can create your own scales/tunings or choose from thousands of Scala files online. You can play, for example, ancient Greek scales on your synth or experimental tunings like those used by Harry Partch."

I believe this is the first post to feature the TBX-1. Hi-Pi is known for their Tonal Plexus microtonal keyboards. See the Hi-Pi label below for more.

3-Octave U-PLEX Improv

YouTube Uploaded by AaronAndrewHunt on Sep 9, 2011

"A little improv on a custom-order 3-Octave U-PLEX Tonal Plexus microtonal keyboard (they are usually 2 octaves, and usually white keyboards). For more info, visit www.h-pi.com"

Tonal Plexus Layout

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"Letter names for key regions are shown, followed by diatonic and chromatic halfsteps subdividing the fifth. Find out more about the Tonal Plexus at http://www.h-pi.com"

Lament

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"The forbidden wavy narrow line - whether you spell it Do Re Me Re or La Ti Do Ti, in my experience it's some kind of archetype, and I use it here as a ground bass. There is a little otherwise diatonic melody which features a falling microtonal glissando, and then I'm obviously improvising the rest, for admittedly too long, and it might be boring, so I added some visual effects for interest. The sound is coming from the TPX2s internal synth. Find out more about TPX keyboards at http://www.h-pi.com"

J.S. Bach C Major Prelude & Fugue, Book 1, BWV 846

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"Here's a rendition of Bach's C Major Prelude and Fugue (opening) played in Just Intonation on a Tonal Plexus keyboard. Obviously, Bach did not write this music to be played in Just Intonation (the "Well Tempered" part of "Well Tempered Klavier" has a specific meaning for tuning), so this is an experimental performance which uses pure 3rds and 5ths, natural 7ths in dominant chords, and harmonics reaching the 17-Limit in diminished chords. In several places, a common tone can be heard to 'bend' from one chord to the next (usually in ii-V progressions) where a pitch has to move by a septimal comma; the pitch is changing in real time by JND steps. This is a single take. I played only the opening of the fugue, very slowly ; ) This is for two reasons. First, so my fingers will behave and play the right keys, and second, so the sounds of Just Intonation can be savored a bit. Find out more about the Tonal Plexus at http://www.h-pi.com"

Sigur Rós Glósóli played on a Tonal Plexus

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"This is my rendition of Glósóli by Sigur Rós, from the 2005 album Takk. It really doesn't take 211 keys in an octave to play this, but it's nice to be able to play it in Just Intonation, with different pitches depending on the voice leading. This is a single take. I tried to capture some of the grandeur of the original, though that is really impossible, and I hope you won't think my effort is too lame ... get the real thing here - IMHO possibly the best music video ever made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr_MJA... ... more about the Tonal Plexus at http://www.h-pi.com"

Tonal Plexus - 31ET / Bohlen-Pierce / Partch

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"This shows a custom tuning table built in TPXE, with 4 octaves of 31ET, 2 octaves of the Bohlen-Pierce 13th root of 3 scale (in two different patterns), and Harry Partch's 43 tone JI scale (also in two different patterns). The tuning software is here: http://www.h-pi.com/TPXEsoftware.html and the tuning file used is http://www.h-pi.com/tpxfiles/31ET-BP-... in the scale archive at http://www.h-pi.com/cgi-bin/filearchi..."

Tonal Plexus Editor (TPXE) Part 2 and 3

Tonal Plexus Editor (TPXE) Part 2

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"... how to use the software to create Region Maps on the keyboard. Get the software, free for Mac and Windows: http://www.h-pi.com/TPXEsof..."

Tonal Plexus Editor (TPXE) Part 3


Part 1 here.
Be sure to see these previous posts featuring for some examples of the Tonal Plexus in use.

Lassus: Ave Regina

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"This excerpt by Lassus presents a puzzle for tuning with pure intervals, where the closing chord should be the same as the opening chord, but if strict theoretical rules are followed the closing chord will fall about a quartertone lower than the opening chord. The passage is played twice here on a 2 octave Tonal Plexus keyboard, showing how this pitch shifting occurs. In the first performance, only pure intervals are used, which lead to the quartertone lower closing chord. The drop in pitch at 2 junctures should be clearly audible. The second time the quartertone distance between the opening and closing chord is distributed throughout the passage at almost every change in harmony, so that the final chord ends up being the same as the opening chord instead of lower. This means that common tones and pitches normally held as suspensions (which should not change) actually do change in the second example, shifting up by 1 JND at almost every change of harmony. This is usually called 'adaptive' tuning. I limited the adaptive shifts to 1 JND, which is the distance between 1 key vertically and the next in the default tuning of 205ET which is used here. The adapting could be done in slightly different ways to end up with the desired outcome. I personally like the small lift in pitch which is felt with every change in harmony in the adaptive version. This lifting of pitch gives a feeling that the piece is constantly rising when in fact it is just compensating for the naturally falling pitch. I like the subtle changes. A different example could show the opposite, where small lowing of pitch over time could compensate for rising pitch, and a longer passage could mix both things. Just a note here - I have changed some registers of pitches in this example because the bass notes would not all fit on a 2 octave keyboard. Also, I admit that I did not consult a score for this; I only listened to a tuning example made by Kalle Aho and figured out the passage by ear at the keyboard. The basic voice leading should be correct. Thanks to Kalle for posting the example which gave me the idea to do this. And, thank you for watching and listening (and reading). Check out the Tonal Plexus at http://www.h-pi.com"

The Paul Jankó keyboard

"It is difficult to realize the manifold possibilities which this keyboard opens up for the composer and performer. Entirely new music can be written by composers, containing chords, runs and arpeggios, utterly impossible to execute on the ordinary keyboard, and thus does the Jankó keyboard make the piano, what it has often been called, a veritable 'house orchestra'."

You can find more info on the Janko keyboard here. Be sure to see the C-Thru and Tonal Plexus labels below.

Tonal Plexus Editor (TPXE) Part 1

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"Download TPXE for free (Mac and Windows) at http://www.h-pi.com/downloa..."

Tonal Plexus Li'l Improv

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"Just a little single-line meandering microtonal Tonal Plexus improv using an Edirol SD-20 tone module (piano patch). http://www.h-pi.com"

Tonal Plexus with Edirol SD-20


Tonal Plexus - some examples


"Some random examples shown on a green TPX4s Tonal Plexus. (Note: sound quality is not very good on this video). http://www.h-pi.com"

TONAL PLEXUS TPX4s

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt

"I was messing around with different tunings of a Gm7 chord and came up with this. The sounds are coming from the TPX internal synth, except for the drums. Check out the Tonal Plexus at http://www.h-pi.com"

Tonal Plexus TPX6s

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt. sent my way via fischek.

"Here is a sketch using 2 main ideas. The first is a motive including the 11th and 13th harmonics, and the second is a sequence using natural 7ths. Sorry, the camera angle is not the greatest as it hides what my right hand is doing. The sound is 019 ChrchOrgn from the internal synth, with reverb setting on 07 (delay), all max values. This was a single take. See more at http://www.h-pi.com"

Hi-Pi Tonal Plexus Now Shipping

"Have you ever considered what kind of music might be possible if your keyboard had more than just twelve keys per octave? If so, you are not alone. In fact, it's been one of the most enduring and puzzling questions in all of music history. The Tonal Plexus is not just a product of years of research and development, but is a result of literally hundreds of years of experimentation with musical tuning, keyboard design and research in human pitch perception. The Tonal Plexus provides no fewer than 211 keys per octave, allowing the finest discrete control of tuning expression ever available on a MIDI keyboard. If you want to make music that truly sounds new and different, then this is the keyboard for you! Take a closer look..."
via Deviant Synth

TONAL PLEXUS - TPX6s Live Control 1

YouTube via AaronAndrewHunt. via Nusonica

"The new TPX6s ($3109) from H-Pi Instruments has a matrix-style interface for controlling global synthesizer parameters, and a joystick option for controlling global pitch bend. This is a demonstration of those features, although I forgot to demonstrate one of the parameter sets, and the wide variety of settings options is not really shown here in this one example modification of an organ patch. Find out more at http://www.h-pi.com"