Eigenharp Tau gifted to me- but where do I start?

Jan 30 2023 : I have recently been given a Tau in good condition together with standard Base station and all leads ,but no installation usb.I have Windows 10. What and where do i find the latest download program to be able to produce sounds from it.With thanks from a novice Eigenharper.

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Wow, that is a very, very nice gift! The Eigenharps are all fantastic, and the Tau is my personal favourite among them.

Don’t worry about not having the USB stick. The contents of that is old and not very useful anymore anyways. The latest official EigenD software release is old, and it makes much more sense to grab the Community version maintained mainly by TheTechnoBear.

This is a nice summary of where to find stuff:

It has been a while since I last did a clean install, so check the install instructions in the EigenD community release. But if I recall correctly you will need the official Runtime and Drivers.

Once those are installed, then install EigenD Community 2.1.7 and you should be ready to go. There is an optional Resources download with some VST plugins, audio loops, etc. I don’t find it useful personally, but nice to know it exists, I guess.

Note: EigenD is a very powerful and flexible piece of software, but can also be very confusing at first. To get the most out of your Tau you will might want to dig in and create setups specific for your use-case. I don’t know if you are very tech-savvy or not, but be aware that this takes a bit of effort and patience. If you need help getting to grips with things, I’ll gladly do a video session. I’m not an expert, but I (sometimes) use EigenD on Windows and I own a Tau. You will discover that there are a lot of helpful people in here. So for specific questions fire away.

Tip:
EigenD can host plugins, but most of us(?) prefer to send midi or osc out of EigenD and into our DAW/VST of choice. One option is to check out Madrona Labs Aalto/Kaivo. These plugins can receive high-res osc data from EigenD, bypassing midi altogether. There are lots of good options for MPE-midi VSTs. My personal favourite is Roli Equator 2. A good UI that is fast to patch in, tons of useful presets and a synth engine that can provide a wide range of sounds.

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everything @Kai said… + of course, any questions, come back and ask here :slight_smile:

yeah, Id add … try not to get overwhelmed by EigenD.
Id recommend loading the standard factory tau setup, and just enjoy it as an instrument…

don’t think at all about how to ā€˜customise’ it initially :slight_smile:
its totally true the software is amazingly flexible, and you can change it to how you think you need it.
but its a huge can of worms, with a steep learning curve. and that can become a huge distraction.

frankly, time better spent just enjoying playing the Tau.
(of course, later, you’ll know it well enough, you can start open that can of worms)

yeah, Id also recommend Aalto… its my ā€˜go to’. I think it demonstrates really well, how a good sound and a little expressive modulation is all you need for a patch.
Eigenharp + Aalto + Vahala Reverb (+ solar panels!) is what Id take to a desert island :wink:

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Congrats, the Tau is a great instrument indeed!
Agreed, playing with the standard setup sounds like an excellent advise.

Another excellent (open source) synth for MPE controllers is Surge XT with Roger Linn’s well-made ā€œLinnstrument MPEā€ presets: Surge Synth
Surge XT is for the Linnstrument what Aalto is for the Soundplane - the synth with the most available presets fine-tuned for this particular instrument.
In contrast to Aalto which supports OSC, Surge is currently ā€œonlyā€ MPE (thus MIDI), but imho you can get a long way with that already. (If you want to go the OSC route for Aalto you would have to modify the default EigenD Tau setup, so MIDI, which is preconfigured in the standard setup already, might also be easier for the start, even for Aalto)

There is currently no 1:1 equivalent for Eigenharp (besides perhaps the modular synth inside EigenD - which is great, but there are only a hand full of ā€œpresetsā€ and making your own is a little more challenging). But even though not ā€œEigenharp-nativeā€ Surge, Aalto and Equator are still good starting options for Eigenharps, also.

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