MATRIXSYNTH: The "Can't-Resist-A-Sizer"


Monday, March 13, 2006

The "Can't-Resist-A-Sizer"

The Eaton-Moog Multiple-Touch-Sensitive Keyboard. It has two rows of keys.

Update: Found a video link on The Ledger.

What if this is Moog's new announcement? Probably not, but who knows... ; )

Note: The sound of it reminds me of the Novachord Restoration Project.

Title link takes you to the full article on the Lost Eaton-Moog Synth Keyboard.

Note that Eaton will be performing in New York on March 19:
"Eaton's works will be featured in a concert at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at St. Stephen's Church, 120 West 69th St. in New York. The event is a collaboration of the New York Composers Circle and ModernWorks. The suggested donation is $15."

Some bits pulled from the article:
"It's called the Eaton-Moog Multiple-Touch-Sensitive Keyboard, a name only an engineer could love. That's fine with Eaton. He and Moog (rhymes with "vogue") spent four decades honing a tool for virtuosos, not a toy."

"It's very difficult to play. But an instrument should be difficult to play. That's the only way to master musical materials, by overcoming these difficulties," says Eaton, 70, surrounded in his cramped attic studio by upright pianos, ancient computers and programs and scores from his 20 operas."

"What is unique -- and challenging -- about the Eaton-Moog keyboard is how many ways each key can be programmed to respond. How far you depress a key matters. The actual area covered by your finger changes the sound. Sliding your finger across a key's length or width can approximate, say, a vibrato effect on a violin string. How hard you push a depressed key matters, too."

"Eaton jokingly dubs this keyboard the "Can't-Resist-A-Sizer."

"How does it sound?
Think theremin -- from quavering soundtracks of cheesy sci-fi movies -- crossed with a baseball organ. Throw in some psychedelic chemicals, and you begin to get the idea."

3 comments:

  1. Wow that's great! That dude is cool. How old is he now then?

    I'd love a keyboard with a touch sensitive / capacitive surface with poly aftertouch.

    The Kyma's great, but it has more to do with a violin than a keyboard - IMO.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, pretty amazing. The sound reminded me of the Novachord Restoration Project.

    BTW, if you are noticing mass changes to this post, apologies, I put it up the second I saw it, and I'm now cleaning it up. This is how it's done folks! Usually you just don't have to be subject to it in real time. : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. As long as you can side-to-side vibrato and control it properly, it sounds great (the other stuff is icing on the cake, although the more controls you have the longer it takes to get mastery, as you'd expect..)

    I've been championing realy vibrato control from side pressure on keyboards for some time...

    ReplyDelete

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