YouTube video by Geert Bevin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPKz-5HWS9I Sunday Synth Jam: After the guests have left and the festivities are done - it's time for a little electronic music time, isn't it? Here's a Christmas day Eigenharp...

YouTube video by davek4981

What a busy few weeks it has been! Two weeks ago, I tagged along with MrSpiral and snuck up on stage to play at the Pro Synth Networks first ever Southwestern Synth Fest. Which was lovely and if you were there, thanks for all the kind words. 16 years and there are still a lot of people who haven't seen an Eigenharp, let alone heard one being played.

YouTube video by Geert Bevin

YouTube video by Geert Bevin

A first composition with Animoog 2 and my Eigenharp Alpha. I'm using a single sound patch in Animoog that totally changes based on how I touch the keys on the Eigenharp. The sound ranges from something akin to a polyphonic theremin to percussive glass sparkles as well as everything in between. This patch was based on one of Animoog's Acoustic Expansion Pack patches. This can be freely downloaded from SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/gbevin/this-is-not-the-end Animoog 2 has improved its MIDI handling tremendously and together with an iConnectMIDI interface, I'm able to send the Eigenharp expression data to Animoog at full rate without any decimation. Creating and playing music with Animoog is now a very emotional experience. Currently this only reacts to polyphonic aftertouch, but I'm hopeful that Moog might ultimately add full support for Voice-Per-Channel MIDI, maybe even at 14-bit resolution. Animoog sounds amazing to me and is amongst the top software synths I've played.

Remember the Eigenharp Alpha and Pico that we broke news of last week? Sure you do, but we bet you still haven't a clue how those long, elegant sticks work. The forty employees at Eigenlabs probably heard us simultaneously scratching our heads so they kindly invited us to their London studio for a quick demo, and boy, those musical wands look great up close, not to mention their remarkable flexibility for user configuration as well. John Lambert, Founder and Chairman of Eigenlabs, managed to sneak out of his busy schedule to give us the lowdown on the Eigenharps. It all started in his Devon barn about eight years ago and over time the Alpha was groomed into a 132-key beast, followed by the recently-developed, self-explanatory Pico. The defining character of both Eigenharps lies in their "completely new sensor technology" consisting of pressure sensitive keys, that can do dual-axis vibrato (not dissimilar to string instruments), accompanied by strip controllers for applying filters or pitch bend, or anything at all depending on how you configure them on their Mac software suite (Windows-support due in January). Likewise with the breath pipe: once you've loaded your library and presets you can switch from a Kenny G to a Daft Punk at the simple click of a key. Heck, you can even configure the air pressure sensitivity as well if you're tickling for a soft mood, or just feeling lazy. And those funky LED lights, you ask? Well, they're actually indicators for the different modes you're in rather than just being pretty. Watch the walkthrough videos after the break and you'll get a better idea. %Gallery-75673%

Remember the Eigenharp Alpha and Pico that we broke news of last week? Sure you do, but we bet you still haven't a clue how those long, elegant sticks work. The forty employees at Eigenlabs probably heard us simultaneously scratching our heads so they kindly invited us to their London studio for a quick demo, and boy, those musical wands look great up close, not to mention their remarkable flexibility for user configuration as well. John Lambert, Founder and Chairman of Eigenlabs, managed to sneak out of his busy schedule to give us the lowdown on the Eigenharps. It all started in his Devon barn about eight years ago and over time the Alpha was groomed into a 132-key beast, followed by the recently-developed, self-explanatory Pico. The defining character of both Eigenharps lies in their "completely new sensor technology" consisting of pressure sensitive keys, that can do dual-axis vibrato (not dissimilar to string instruments), accompanied by strip controllers for applying filters or pitch bend, or anything at all depending on how you configure them on their Mac software suite (Windows-support due in January). Likewise with the breath pipe: once you've loaded your library and presets you can switch from a Kenny G to a Daft Punk at the simple click of a key. Heck, you can even configure the air pressure sensitivity as well if you're tickling for a soft mood, or just feeling lazy. And those funky LED lights, you ask? Well, they're actually indicators for the different modes you're in rather than just being pretty. Watch the walkthrough videos after the break and you'll get a better idea. %Gallery-75673%

YouTube video by Geert Bevin

YouTube video by Geert Bevin

YouTube video by Geert Bevin