How to play music on your Pico with multiple tracks

When you are learning to play an instrument, it is common to learn to read standard music notation. Music for the piano, for example, often has music for the treble clef and for the bass clef. If you are learning to play your Eigenharp Pico, as I discussed previously, you may sometimes run into difficulties playing both clefs at the same time since you only have 16 playable keys on the Pico. One way to get around these key and octave issues is to use alternate chord notes to get the right chord on your Pico.

Another option, and which really highlights one of the strengths of the Eigenharp system, is to record one clef as a track, then play it back and play the other track along with the first track you recorded.

This is also great practice for the beginning music student because it teaches the student to learn to accompany another musician (even if it is yourself).

Here’s how to record a track:

  1. Start the metronome by pressing the metronome button.
  2. Press the main mode key + R5 to enter the Recording Control.
  3. Select the number of bars you want to record for by selecting one of the first six keys on the left-hand side. Key L1 = 1 bar; L2 = 2 bars; L3 = 4 bars; L4 = 8 bars, etc.
  4. Select a channel to hold the recording (e.g., R3).
  5. Select an instrument you want to record (e.g., main mode key + L3 for piano).

Now you will hear the metronome ticking, and when you start playing your recording starts. Play for the number of bars you indicated above, and then your track will play in a loop.

You can now play along to your loop.

As an example, I recorded, using my instructions for recording audio from your Eigenharp Pico, a simple piano exercise. This was a “live” recording, in that I played along to four bars I had previously recorded, and recorded that take as an Mp3 file.

Here’s an example recording of two piano tracks played on my Eigenharp Pico with a drum accompaniment.

Note: this is not an example of how to play the piano well! I am teaching myself to play music as well as learning the Eigenharp at the same time, so I realize, from a piano player’s standpoint, that I have a lot to learn about how to play the piano. Indeed.

Eigentab

v1.0.7 of EigenTab for the Eigenharp has been released.

The application now features all keygroups for the Pico, Tau and Alpha as well as custom scale support.

How to record audio from your Eigenharp Pico

Geert Bevin has a very nice video tutorial on how to record audio from your Eigenharp Pico. However, I usually keep written notes on how to do various tasks, and after I got to this point in my own education on how to use the Eigenharp Pico, I thought I would copy my written notes to this blog post as a compliment to Geert’s video tutorial.

There are two software tools you should install on your computer if you do not already have them. The first, Soundflower, allows for interapplication audio routing. You can use this tool for more than just the Eigenharp–in general, Soundflower is used to send the output from one application to another by selecting Soundflower as the output device in your first application and Soundflower as the input device in the second application. Think of Soundflower as a virtual channel routing audio between two applications. We will use Soundflower to route audio from the Eigenharp EigenD application to Audacity in order to make a recording.

The second software application you should install, if you haven’t guessed by now, is Audacity, which is a free and open source software tool used to record and edit sounds.

A third utility that is awfully handy is Soundsource, which provides an icon on your OS X main menu bar so that you can quickly change from one audio input or output source to another.

Note: In the instructions below, be sure to consult your Eigenharp Pico Quick Reference so that you can follow along with the sequences of key presses needed to setup the hardware and software. When I provide notations for which key to press, for example, Right 4 means look to the column of keys on your right hand side as you look at the Pico while holding it in your hands to play and then press the 4th key from the top.

Once you have these applications installed and running, you first want to change in EigenD the audio output device from Built-in Output to Soundflower (2ch). To do this using your Pico, with your EigenBrowser window open:

  1. Press the Main Mode key + the Right 4 key to select the Instrument/Fx control.
  2. Press Right 1 + Left 8 keys to select the MIDI and audio control.
  3. Press the Left 2 key to select the audio port browse. At this point your EigenBrowser window contents should change, showing you a list of audio ports. Use the Left 9 key to scroll through the audio port options and select the Soundflower (2ch) audio port.
  4. Press the Right 3 key to bring up the mixer console. Use the Right 2 key to lower the master volume from 120 to 100, in order to prevent distortion in the recording.

In Soundflower, set the 2ch interface to “Built-in Output”. Now when you select an instrument on the Pico you should hear the notes played through the Soundflower virtual interface and then through your computer speakers.

Also, set the buffer size in the Soundflower 2ch interface to be as small as possible to prevent latencies as a result of routing the audio through Soundflower. The default buffer size is 512–change this to 64, or as low as you can (depends on the processing speed of your computer).

In Audacity Preferences, change its Recording device to Soundflower (2ch) and make sure its Playback device is Built-in Output.

Now, press record in Audacity and whatever you play on your Pico should be captured in the recording.

Here is an example audio recording made by following these instructions: sample Eigenharp Pico recording using Audacity and Soundflower.

eigenharp pico alternate chords

Beginning Eigenharp Pico: alternate chord notes

In my last post I talked about switching octaves with the eigenharp pico. This works well when you need to move the “window” of available notes up and down in pitch.

However, sometimes, as when playing chords, switching octaves will not help you.

For a simple example of the problem and one solution, consider the following two measures:

eigenharp pico alternate chords

The first measure shows a simple chord as might be written for a piano. But you cannot play this as written on the eigenharp pico since the window of playable notes, on the chromatic scale, does not span from low E on the treble clef to high G on the bass clef.

As a workaround, you can raise the bass clef G an octave to play a low G on the treble clef instead. This moves the G and E notes into the current window of notes available on the eigenharp pico for a given octave setting.

Note that it would be great someday to have music written for the Eigenharp Pico, but until then players will have to develop the mental agility to handle these issues with existing music.

simple_exercise_pico_octave_shifting

Beginning Eigenharp Pico: Octave Switching

With 18 playable keys, especially when using the chromatic scale, if you are playing music that ranges beyond one octave, then you likely will need to do a little more work to get the right notes. The pico can play the right notes and is an extremely flexible instrument, but to get such flexibility in a small package, you must first shift to the desired octave using the octave shift keys.

To illustrate this, consider the simple exercise below:

eigenharp pico octave shifting exercise

There are other ways to play this piece on the pico, but here’s one way:

Using the chromatic scale, first raise the octave so that middle C is now the first key. Then in the second measure, to play the low G notes, you must lower the octave, then raise the octave again at the beginning of the third measure. To continue, lower the octave in the sixth measure and raise at the beginning of the seventh.

This exercise helps to build muscle memory so that the fingers become comfortable reaching for the octave shift keys while keeping time with the music. This exercise also helps the player get used to mentally switching which key to press for which note, depending on the current octave shift.

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Beginning Eigenharp Pico: The Chromatic Scale

As I’ve noted, I am starting on my Eigenharp journey from square one, musically that is. In other words, I have no real background in music, other than perennially having “learn to play a music instrument” on my New Year’s Resolutions lists. Well, this year I’ve actually started, with the Eigenharp Pico.

So, now that I’ve got my new Pico out of the box and the software successfully installed, I’ve noticed that there’s quite a lot in this little unit in terms of functionality and playability. But before I can take advantage of that, I’ve got to understand a little bit about music theory.

To solve this problem I bought the book Berklee Music Theory Book 1. This little book seems to have everything I need, for now, to be able to learn to read simple music notation.

I’m not aware of music written for the Eigenharp, so my strategy is to learn to read already-existing music–for piano, clarinet, etc.–and then translate that onto the Eigenharp. So learning to read standard music notation seems to be a first basic task.

My second task is to just get used to pressing the keys on the Eigenharp. These keys are very sensitive, and you really need to be able to play one key without accidentally mashing another one too, even if only barely, because then you’ll end up playing two notes. So training your fingers to play the keys smoothly and without crossing onto other keys is, well, key.

My strategy for solving this problem is to learn and internalize the Chromatic Scale on the Eigenharp Pico. I’m also doing this at the same time as I am working through my music theory book so that I also learn which keys are which notes too.

In an effort to create my own lesson plan and to help the learning process, I made up my own template for the chromatic scale, modifying a picture of the Pico from the documentation that came with the instrument. Note that the note labeling is my own, so please don’t yell at Eigenlabs if I made a mistake on the labeling — as I said, I’m teaching myself music theory at the same time as learning the instrument, so I’m basically bootstrapping the process for myself — I might make mistakes along the way. All mistakes are my own, though I’d love to hear if I have made a mistake because then I can correct it.

So here’s what I’ve found to be the default Chromatic Scale on the Eigenharp Pico, re-engineered by going to a piano and pressing the white and black keys and then writing down the corresponding notes that map to the Eigenharp Pico keys for the default factory setup:

At first the notes seemed all jumbled up, but here’s how I’ve found how to play the notes:

In other words you play the first four keys labeled “1″, then play the next four keys labeled “2″, then the “3″ keys, then the “4″ keys. Played in this order, this is the chromatic scale, and middle C on a standard piano is (again, I think) the C at the start of the “4″ course of keys.

So to train my finger muscles into being able to accurately play the keys I’m basically running scales up and down, sometimes playing all the chromatic notes, sometimes just playing the major notes.

Thus, I’m currently working on basic music theory, key fingering muscle memory, and the chromatic scale.

Eigenharps and Blogs

On my new journey of teaching myself music by learning how to play the Eigenharp, I thought it would be interesting to collect together the links of other people who also play the Eigenharp and blog about their experiences. So I did a quick Google search and found, um, three people who write about their experiences with the Eigenharp.

I know the Eigenharp is a radical new instrument and so not many people have yet taken the plung, so I can’t help think that it would be beneficial to gather together a list of the links of those who are passionate about this instrument and share their experiences online.

Towards that, if you know of a link I don’t yet have listed under my Blogroll — those who play the Eigenharp and share their experiences online, please let me know, via Facebook or my Contact form.

Thanks!

Eigenharp Pico Unboxing

eigenharp pico

My new Eigenharp Pico just arrived! I remember seeing a thorough unboxing video at eigenzone.org, but I couldn’t resist making one of my own.

Hi – welcome to EigenKindred

This is my first post. On this site I hope to document my explorations of the Eigenharp, a great new music instrument. In the process of learning the Eigenharp I’ll also be learning music itself – unlike most of the other Eigenharp early adopters, I do not have a strong music background. So we’ll see here, in my explorations, how easy it is for a music newbie to learn the Eigenharp!