Winter Studio

Winter Studio
Originally uploaded by mikemilton

The Alpha and Pico with all their friends.

Click on the picture to see this in Flickr with notes!

Canadian Distributor

There is now a distributor in Ottawa, Canada
http://www.crystal-harp.com/default.aspx

Root Lights Chromatic

NEOLOGIC (http://twitter.com/neologicjapan) shared some belcanto to light up the root notes on split 1, Alpha factory 3, set to chromatic. It can be found here: NEOLOGIC Blog.

This can be turned into a script for easy use. See the details on scripts at the Eigenlabs WIKI here: http://eigenlabs.com/wiki/Belcanto_Scripts/.

And here it is as a script (you can cut and past this into textedit and store / use it as described at the link above)


description
Script by NEOLOGIC to light led root notes on keygroup1, chromatic scale
script
gain create


it to light gain name ify


talker create


it to light talker name ify


kgroup 1 output 41 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 42 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 63 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 64 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 65 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 85 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 86 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 87 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 88 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 107 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 108 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 109 to light talker connect
kgroup 1 output 110 to light talker connect


light talker listen


light gain listen


volume to 0 when 13 set
volume to 0 when 31 set
volume to 0 when 43 set
volume to 0 when 49 set
volume to 0 when 61 set
volume to 0 when 79 set
volume to 0 when 97 set
volume to 0 when 115 set

Sampling rate hint

I noticed that the cello model was aliasing at higher pitches (hey, it IS a cello, and this is above its proper range). Anyway, increasing the sampling rate to 96K helped substantially.

Tritone Substitution

So, here is a tritone substitution showing C7 to F#7. These chords share two notes.

You may want to read this: Wikipedia, Tritone Substitution

The fingering charts shown here work for improvisation between these two chords.

One could also start the F# chord at 7 (ie in the centre course) and the C chord at '5 to get more even a spread of notes around both roots. In fact, that would probably be a better approach.

I've probably missed a few of the blue notes as well but you get the idea. Corrections or additions are welcome

Alpha Chromatic Chord Shapes

Here are a couple of chord shapes for an Alpha set to chromatic. Click the diagram for a bigger view.

The numbers relate to the keys on the alpha with 1 being C in the centre course counting up towards the spike and down towards the headstock. 'N moves one course towards the breath pipe, N' one away, etc. 

The basic triad is shown in black. One can make various variations by using the coloured entries.

Note that the shapes are exactly the same.

Another Approach...

... might be based on this http://numberednotes.com/

One could consider numbering Alpha keys from 1, starting from the C in the middle course (chromatic) with 'prime' markings for different courses 

So: 
C would be 1 , 
E would be 1' , (or 5 if played in the center course) 
g# above would be 1'' (or 5' )
while g# below would be '1 (or -4 if played in the center course) 

A numbering system like this could be overlaid on the either a chromatic staff (described in an earlier post) to better suggest fingering or it could be overlaid on a standard staff. 

Exactly the same numbering system could be used in different scales (since it is key not tone oriented) for music that does not include notes outside of the scale used. While this does not work on the chromatic scale I've been toying with, it would work on standard notation.


This would certainly be an advantage to anyone approaching a new song. One could also consider adding chord diagrams much like guitar above the staff to suggest a 'home' position for the phrase in question.