Silicon Labs MusicKeyboard-EK

Here's an odd find sent in via MATRIXSYNTH reader Kaden who had the following to say about it:

"This isn't really a synth... more of a controller development toolkit apparently, but by far, it's weird. It's a Silicon Labs QuickSense Music Keyboard with accompanying Toolstick [USB] dongle. Aside from the descriptive PDF I've attached, there's no information whatsoever available about it; the silab.com site has been wiped clean of all mention, and there's no sign of the requisite software package *anywhere*.

Capacitive keyboard, and the graphics seem to indicate 12 buttons, a slider, and a rotary controller, all capacitive, with a few position indicator leds scattered about, all in a USB powered package about 1/8" thick. I plugged it in and it lights up, but I can't be arsed figuring out how to access it without the dedicated software.

I pulled this out of a gaylord full of scrap salvaged from a company that manufactures radar detectors; I guess one of the R&D grunts there dabbled in music software development."

You can find screenshots of the complete PDF here in this post. The following is from page 4:

"The Music Keyboard application plays musical notes and other sounds whenever a user presses a capacitive sensing key on the Music Keyboard. Figure 4 shows an example of the Music Keyboard application when connected to a Music Keyboard EK. To connect the Music Keyboard to the application, follow these instructions.

1. Run the Music Keyboard application, which is found by clicking StartSilicon LaboratoriesMusic Keyboard App.
2. Click OptionsKeyboard Input... and select the connected Toolstick Base Adapter from the list. The ToolStick Base Adapter will be a device on the list that begins with the letters “TS”.

For detailed instructions describing how to use Music Keyboard Application, see the application’s Help documentation
Note: The Music Keyboard Application uses MIDI sound information that is included with a PC’s sound card. To hear notes when keys are pressed, the PC being used must have the capability of playing MIDI sounds, and the audio must be enabled and audible."