Have you tried the AXiS-64 controller with Live.

[Ahtune]

I am loving it. I made a short animated video as a contest entry for an AXiS-64 from C-Thru-Music. I did all the animation and all the voices. Would you take a minute and check it out? You might laugh. If you do would you leave a comment for me. Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O64JK33TVGs

[Ahtune]

This is nothing more than a shameless self bump.

[Ed J]

Dude, that must be some heavy shit you are smoking

To be honest, good idea, but it takes a lot of the work out of the theory, so I'm not sure I approve: work and practise makes perfect, after all!

[Ahtune]

To be honest, good idea, but it takes a lot of the work out of the theory, so I'm not sure I approve:

Listen to what you are saying. Theory has to be hard work? Why should we complicate something so beautiful and evocative as music? Why should we make it much more difficult than it has to be? The arrangement of the notes on a conventional piano is based upon a centuries old understanding of music theory. This new layout shows the same notes with our modern understanding. Why are we burdening our children with ancient musical constraints? You wouldn't give them a science book from 1700 AD would you? (Pouring it on a little thick, tongue in cheek.)

work and practise makes perfect, after all!

This is still true. Practice makes perfect, but imagine where a student might take music if there were only 1 set of fingerings to learn for all keys. A virtuoso on this instrument could do things impossible on any other instrument.

[Ed J]

Sorry, I think you missed what I was saying a bit.

Sure, the theory shouldn't be hard work, but the idea that you can just go "oh, this is a minor (presses keys)" without knowing the notes that make it up and the various scales, arpeggios and inversions for that chord means that your overall understanding will be worse off. And with a diminished understanding of the theory comes a diminished musical skillset, which leads to, well, shit music using the same 3/4 chords all the time and not even knowing why they sound good together.

Besides, it's pretty much already like that with a guitar, and look how many small annoying children/people are playing them badly because it's easier (and cooler) than a keyboard

[Ahtune]

Well I have to say that I agree with you on the point that with the democratization of any medium the overall quality of output decreases. For example, affordable video cameras makes for tons of lousy videos on YouTube.

That said, it doesn't dissuade me at all. I would rather have 1000 crappy pieces of music be created to find the 1 amazing breakthrough than create a barrier that prevents them all.

I do however disagree on your premise that if someone merely presses buttons without understanding their regimented meaning that somehow their artistic expression is less valid. Also, I am not suggesting that simply putting a keyboard in front of someone will give them insight into all aspects of music theory. They will need instruction and guidance to fully understand the convoluted system we have created to notate our music.

I guess this goes further into my mind than I have previously ventured. I take issue with the entire naming scheme of our 12 note musical scale. 7 note names with sharps and flats to cover all 12 tones doesn't make fundamental sense since it is biased toward one key, C Major. This is a function of the way music was discovered and the taste preferences of those that established its formal notation. I am not saying that I have any better solution because at this point I do not, what I am saying is that if a better way is found it would be foolish to simply keep the old way because that is the way we have always done things.

Oh, by the way, Happy New Year.

[Pyramid Audio]

Great video.

[Ed J]

Well I have to say that I agree with you on the point that with the democratization of any medium the overall quality of output decreases. For example, affordable video cameras makes for tons of lousy videos on YouTube.

That said, it doesn't dissuade me at all. I would rather have 1000 crappy pieces of music be created to find the 1 amazing breakthrough than create a barrier that prevents them all.

I do however disagree on your premise that if someone merely presses buttons without understanding their regimented meaning that somehow their artistic expression is less valid. Also, I am not suggesting that simply putting a keyboard in front of someone will give them insight into all aspects of music theory. They will need instruction and guidance to fully understand the convoluted system we have created to notate our music.

I guess this goes further into my mind than I have previously ventured. I take issue with the entire naming scheme of our 12 note musical scale. 7 note names with sharps and flats to cover all 12 tones doesn't make fundamental sense since it is biased toward one key, C Major. This is a function of the way music was discovered and the taste preferences of those that established its formal notation. I am not saying that I have any better solution because at this point I do not, what I am saying is that if a better way is found it would be foolish to simply keep the old way because that is the way we have always done things.

Oh, by the way, Happy New Year.

I guess I'm just annoyed by the sheer volume of competition

But no, I don't think that putting a keyboard in front of someone will give them insight, I just think the more difficult control method increases the focus on learning the whys, as opposed to just plonking out a tune, because a keyboard almost requires you to do so. I know a lot of musicians in jazz bands and brass bands and the really talented ones are the ones who also learned piano on top of their instrument of choice. co-incident? I doubt it

One thing to remember about our musicial notation is that it was invented for western ears, you'll find that people tend to like c-based scales more than, say, bflat, simply due to some wierd wiring in the way our brains work, whereas there are parts of the world where singing in seconds is considered very harmonious. It's all relative, the fact that we even have 12 notes to describe a huge array of frequencies is idiocy in itself

Happy new year to you too

[Ahtune]

Great video.

Thank you.

[MOSQUITOMAN]

or the AXiS 49

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTaVTp9p4vs

[ze2be]

Great video.

+1
You should send the link to C-Through Music, im shore they would love to see it!