Exquis - new hex-layout keyboard

[BJG145]

Earlier I was reading a description that @Bruno posted in another forum…

“Horizontally, in a row, you have semi-tones. Vertically, from one row to the one just under or above, you jump of a third, and you have to go left or right to get a minor or a major third. If you jump two rows, then you can find a key that is vertically aligned with your start key, and you have a perfect fifth. Then if you jump to the next row, you will have a 7th, and you would have to choose the major or the minor one. It also means that on the same row of the perfect fifth, you have the augmented and the diminished fifth.”

…but I can’t really imagine what that’s like.I might have a go at copying it on my Axis. @Clarinette pointed out that there’s a useful online hex layout player here…

http://terpstrakeyboard.com/play-it-now/

(The Terpstra was an early ancestor of the Lumatone.)

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I’ve tried a couple of different concertinas; an Anglo, and I’m currently messing around with a 48-button English, but I’ve always been intrigued by the Wicki/Hayden layout and I’d like to get hold of a Duet sometime. The tunes posted by @Didie, who commissioned the first “Striso duet”, have done nothing to put me off…

Roslin Castle (Scottish traditional) on duet concertina

Great playing. (Lovely instrument too, a Beaumont from The Button Box.)

Back on topic though, the scales on the Exquis are customisable so you can set it up however you like.

The default layout on their previous instrument, the Dualo, was split across the left and right hands as you say, but I never got the hang of that. The Dualo had three or four preset layouts, and I ended up using one called “Universal” (which is the one @Clarinette also uses).

[jaygalfo]

I believe the layout is similar to the harmonic table layout. When I look at the chord shapes and scale shapes it looks like harmonic table (c-thru axis, lumatone, hyve, etc.)

[colpitts]

Thanks! I suspect you are correct; I will look at my tried and true MusixPro and see if it matches.

If it does, I think I’ll just bite the bullet (a thought I’ve had before…) and just buy the Striso, before it’s gone for this cycle. I play it all the time.

[greaterthanzero]

I believe there was talk on the french-language Dualo forums of a few popular hex layouts being supported.

(I’m not sure if those make as much sense in this vertical orientation; you might end up turning it sideways)

Unfortunately, I’m not really equipped to search there and retrieve the info.

[Didie]

I took a look to the main layout proposed with the Exquis or the Dualo in order to compare with the Wicki layout of the Striso.
The big difference is that with this layout it seems quite easy to play chords but you will need your 2 hands to play consecutive notes or melodies. The result is that it’s not possible or quite difficult to play an accompaniment and a melody at the same time unless you record it separately with a looper. So this kind of instruments is nice if you want to play musics based on the repetition of the same patterns or musical effects. But if you want to play other styles of polyphonic music with a free accompaniment and melodies at the same time, a Striso duet with the Wicki layout can offer the same possibilities than a piano, an accordion or a bandoneon.
Until now the limitations of the Striso duet prototype is that it’s just the addition of 2 single Striso boards but it has not really been made to play like that. So I think that it deserves some improvements to become a very nice instrument on his own, and I’m waiting for a meeting with Piers to talk about that.

[clarinette]

Hey Ben

Since you and I are possibly the only users of the universal layour out there, it would be nice if we exchanged tips and tricks about the best fingerings. 3 notes chords are easy enough, even when played in arpegios across all octaves… but some 7th/9th/11th… chords are a bit trickier to play fluidly and smoothly across the octaves.

Your take 5 video is over a year old now. Have you continued experimenting?

Take 5 on Dualo

Moreover, would you share/explain your workflow?

Personnaly I only use loops for percusions. For all other instruments, I use the recorder to record a whole verse (or a whole chorus) and then lay the instrument tracks on top of each other.
I generally leave out the melody because it’s more fun to play/improvise it live. Or sing…

How do you play/compose on your instrument?

[clarinette]

Yeah, I agree, the dualo layout never convinced me either. Playing harmony AND melody all at once is a must have for me.

Moreover, the dualo layout makes it a nightmare to visualize the scale.

Their universal layout however, actually makes for musical sense then the striso layout. The joyst-v1 uses the same layout as the Intuitive Instruments “universal”, I’m curious to try it and see how well it plays (but it looks like the joyst-v1 company disapeared after their kickstarter).

And then there is the lumatone. But my budget has said “no way”…

[BJG145]

@clarinette

Have you continued experimenting?

I tend to suffer with…“oh look, new shiny gadget”. Artiphon Orba 2 turned up yesterday so I’m currently messing around with that…

The Dualo is excellent and I must get back to it. I never really experimented with chords though, just tunes so far.

[clarinette]

That’s exactly why I’m teaching!

At impro-musique.com , we teach music through chords and improvising, helping you learn to create the music for yourself, based on understanding what you ear and how harmony works. I’m adapting our content to the dualo/exquis… and translating it into english.

We are the online music school for hex-layout

We want to reach out and help the dualo players who want to go beyond the purely intuitive music making. Understanding how harmony works, how music is made and how to make it at home is very empowering. We believe ALL HUMANS are natural born musicians. Sadly, in western countries, education in general and music education in particular, asphyxiates people’s inner musician.Our main method is called PLS, it means Pleasure, Liberty and Spontaneity, but it’s also a pun. PLS in french stands for “Position Laterale de Sécurité” aka “Recovery position”. Our method is there to be first responder and help put wounded musicians in recovery position so they can heal and find their way back to harmony.

I can’t wait for the exquis to come out. The teaching/pedagogical potentiel is exponentially bigger then the dualo. And to this day, the dualo is HANDS DOWN, the best music theory teaching tool out there!

How’s the orba? It looks/sounds like a fun little thing… How long have tyou had it?

The next gizmo on my list is a playtronica orbita. I’m fascinated by Godfried Toussaint’s research on euclidian rhytms. It looks like the orbita will be an amazing tool to explore rythm in new and excting ways. Sadly, I’ve been keeping an eye on it for a few years now, and there does not seem to be a kickstarter in sight…

[BJG145]

The next gizmo on my list is a playtronica orbita

Another casualty of the chip shortage…?

Interesting idea; maybe it would be possible to build one. Will have to think about that. I like the idea of placing tokens; reminds me of Reactable. I haven’t come across those mini colour sensors; will have to get a couple to tinker with…

Color Detection Using TCS3200/230

[clarinette]

I guess chip shortage might have something to do with it. My other guess is they might not be that interested in mass production, manufacturing, financing, running an inventory, shipping, support, logistics…

Maybe they’re more of the inventor/hacker/explorer R&D kind? If so, I don’t blame them. I have run a manufacture for several years and it’s… not fun!

We’re quite busy with launching the english version of our trainings and adapting them to the needs of dualo/exquis players for now.

But when that is set, we will probably reach out to them and possibly create some kind of partnership…

If you do tinker something on your side, please share your findings, I’m super curious!

Are you familiar with Godfried Toussaint’s work?

C'est quoi un RYTHME EUCLIDIEN ?

(the video is in French, but it’s properly subtitled)

[mrspiral]

Missed the Kickstarter, darn it all! I hope this will be available for retail sale eventually, the amount of mindshare access to the designers is as appealing as the device itself!

[bruno.intuitive]

@mrspiral

Missed the Kickstarter, darn it all! I hope this will be available for retail sale eventually, the amount of mindshare access to the designers is as appealing as the device itself!

You can pre-order it now on our website! It’s a bit more expensive than on the Kickstarter campaign of course, but it’s still the best way to be sure to get it first, and also a very nice way to support us
It’s here to pre-order it!

[FranklyFlawless]

@bruno.intuitive

As of today, we have not planend to open the firmware of the Exquis keyboard, but as far as I am also a Sensel Morph orphaned owner, I totally agree with you that this is something we have to figure out seriously. The main problem is to have to deal with lots of repair after-sales coming from strange firmware.

That would only happen with two conditions:

1. There is custom firmware.
2. A majority of your Exquis users flash firmware without adequate documentation.

So all you need to do is write clear documentation with appropriate tools/scripts to make flashing firmware internally more user-friendly. As an example, for the LinnStrument, there is an updater as well as Arduino IDE for fallback/Linux.

GitHub - rogerlinndesign/linnstrument-updater: LinnStrument Firmware Updater

https://www.rogerlinndesign.com/support/support-linnstrument-source-code

@bruno.intuitive

And to be complete, about the Exquis app itself, it’s not on our plan to release the source code, but we are not straight on that kind of position, it is just a matter of being sure the direction is the right one for our company.

If the Exquis app is dependent on Surge XT for sound generation, your only legal option is to open-source it under a GPLv3 compatible license, since the app effectively combines the two programs together under one system/app.

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#GPLInProprietarySystem

[thetechnobear]

@FranklyFlawless

If the Exquis app is dependent on Surge XT for sound generation, your only legal option is to open-source it under a GPLv3 compatible license, since the app effectively combines the two programs together under one system/app.

where does it say they combine surgext into their app?
as far as I could see they only ship presets for SurgeXT, and that in no way is covered by GPL,
( and in fact SurgeXT would appreciate ! )

anyway, lets refrain from ‘legal advice’ here about specific products.
(frankly this would be something SurgeXT and dualo should discuss if they believe its necessary)

[FranklyFlawless]

@thetechnobear

where does it say they combine surgext into their app?
as far as I could see they only ship presets for SurgeXT, and that in no way is covered by GPL,
( and in fact SurgeXT would appreciate ! )

On their product page:

The app and controller work together to provide a simple and chronological music creation logic. From left to right, control the essential actions with simple gestures, directly on the keyboard and/or on the application:

…

• Sounds: choose a sound (plugin/preset) to create a new “track”

This establishes the dependency.

The Exquis app will be available on macOS, Windows, iOS, Linux. We aim to support as many Android devices as possible, but older and/or lower spec Android devices may have issues when it comes to optimal performance. Our app also works on Raspberry Pi devices; this will allow us to release a standalone version in the near future, inspired by the mobility of our previous products.

This establishes the system/app.

The Exquis app will be delivered with a provided soundbank to compose in a large number of musical styles.

Whether or not you are familiar with plugins, presets, and MPE, our sounds will reveal the full range of expressiveness of the Exquis keyboard.

The Exquis app notably comes with over 200 presets for the award-winning Surge XT MPE synthesizer, as well as in-progress sounds based on sampling.

This establishes Surge XT as the dependent.

@thetechnobear

anyway, lets refrain from ‘legal advice’ here about specific products.
(frankly this would be something SurgeXT and dualo should discuss if they believe its necessary)

I am not here to provide legal advice or counsel to anyone. I only have interest that GPLv3 licensed software is respected, and that all users are clear of their rights towards it.

I will contact Bruno via email to respond back to this thread.

[bruno.intuitive]

@FranklyFlawless thank you for your interest.
It seems you have such a strong experience in legal advices and I believe you have good reason to dig into this kind of details, assuming we are doing it the wrong way, and proving it with your extensive understanding of the subject.
I’ll be clear: in no way Surge and our app are dependent, and our use of Surge XT does not imply that our application should be licensed under GPLv3. I would like to add that we have been in contact with the Surge XT team from the beginning, and these matters have been addressed and resolved. Furthermore, because it is part of our values, we will offer all the presets we have sound-designed to the Surge XT team, so that they can be directly integrated into Surge XT and made available for free to the entire community.

And please, do not consider your opinion to be so important that you can impose pressure on us to respond to your messages within 24 hours.

[bruno.intuitive]

And by the way, @thetechnobear , I apologize for not responding to your message from last October regarding the Open Source firmware. Our small team is completely focused on getting Exquis and its first version of the application out as quickly as possible. Once that is done, we will take the time to review all the feedback from our community and all the suggestions that have been made to determine the best path for Exquis and our company.

In that regard, I appreciate everyone who provides us with well-reasoned suggestions, and I encourage them to keep them coming

[FranklyFlawless]

@bruno.intuitive

It seems you have such a strong experience in legal advices and I believe you have good reason to dig into this kind of details, assuming we are doing it the wrong way, and proving it with your extensive understanding of the subject.

Thank you for your trust in my reasoning. As mentioned earlier in my previous post on this thread, my interest is on GPLv3 software being respected by all users, and rights regarding such software be made clear to them.

@bruno.intuitive

I’ll be clear: in no way Surge and our app are dependent, and our use of Surge XT does not imply that our application should be licensed under GPLv3. I would like to add that we have been in contact with the Surge XT team from the beginning, and these matters have been addressed and resolved. Furthermore, because it is part of our values, we will offer all the presets we have sound-designed to the Surge XT team, so that they can be directly integrated into Surge XT and made available for free to the entire community.

I appreciate the clarification, and look forward to your contribution of MPE presets to Surge XT.

@bruno.intuitive

And please, do not consider your opinion to be so important that you can impose pressure on us to respond to your messages within 24 hours.

I have no intention to pressure you to respond in any amount of time, and am grateful for you voluntarily following up on this thread with a detailed response in such unexpected short notice.

[bruno.intuitive]

Dear all,
we are very happy to announce Exquis is the winner of 2023 MIDI Innovation Awards!
Exquis has been chosen in front of Roland Aerophone Pro AE30 and InstaChord IC-31 by an impressively famous jury composed by Roger Linn, Nina Richards, Bian Liunian, Pedro Eustache, Jean-Michel Jarre and Michele Darlin.

We are so proud for this strong recognition of our work!