The wait is killing me (new instrument)

[TapperMike]

My fortunes are slowly turning around for me.  I'm still working as a support technician (part time) and still cooking. Which means I have a little money to put away.  It won't be long before my support job is gone (yeah I know I've said that one before) And I'll have to settle into working two jobs like the rest of the world (or at least my neck of it)

 

On the positive side I've finally saved up for a linnstrument.  

 

 

 

 

The frustrating part is the wait.

First I have to transfer money from my checking account to my paypal account... 

I did that on friday and it won't be in my paypal account till friday (damn you BOA)

Then when I purchase the thing its a.....5 business day (7 days if I'm lucky) wait for the thing to arrive.

 

I'm obsessing over this thing.  I've printed out a graphical representation of the "board" that I practice on daily.

Seriously... Almost everything is either upside down or backwards to me.

 

Maybe the wait has some value trying to get the fingering / timing thing down a little before it arives will lessen the frustration.

 

 

[Rudi]

I know well the feeling of anticipation. I just looked up a couple of other demos. I liked the 2nd one here with the 'Sample Modeling’s The Viola virtual instrument'.

Its pretty much exactly what I want for my studio. I just cant face the all the bother that goes with it (probable new PC for one thing).

 

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/tag/linnstrument/

 

BE sure to give us a report when you get it!

[TapperMike]

There is something freaky going on here.  It seems that something was saved from another post and it wants to paste in everywhere

Edited January 20, 2016 by TapperMike

[TPistilli]

That sounds absolutely amazing! Not to mention one of my favorite songs too!

[TapperMike]

Jeff Moen is my hero.

When I started playing the ztar Jeff was (and still is) a great inspiration.  I'd watch his videos for hours and try to emulate his simple yet direct "accordion -ish' left hand playing.

Him - 

 

 

 

Me- 

 

 

Jeff is also a really nice guy.  He has one approach whether it be ztar, warr (like a chapman stick) linnstrument.  That approach works well for him so he sticks with it and as a result he just keeps getting better and better at what he does.

 

Me on the other hand I'm all about the exploration.  Try to get more notes into a chord, try this try that it seems as soon as I have some level of proficiency I'm bored and I want to try something else.  It slows the process down.

 

This thing is work for me.

 

The waiting is beginning to be a good thing.  This is work

I've printed out an image of the linnstrument

 

 Put it on a desk and gone through the motions to get myself acquainted with scales and chords.

 

Standing might be the better option for it

 

 

But I want to master it as a "desktop keybed"

[TapperMike]

Well I finally got to take the plunge today.  My money is divided between paypal and my bank.  It takes forever for bank transfers to complete.

 

The thing I hate about free shipping is.... Since the concept has been initiated that's all companies want to offer.  In the past something like that you could have shipped next day are for about 30 dollars. (which I'd gladly pay)  Instead I've got to wait another full week.

 

I finally purchased the upgrade to Guitar Pro.  Up from gp5 to gp6.

Why?  because GP 6 allows for 8 string tunings  whereas gp5 only has 7  I've been tabbing out various exercises in GP6 and practicing along with them.  I have a print out of the linnstrument and until it arrives I've been tapping on that.

 

I'm going to start a players journal (offline for now) to organize my thoughts on developing a practice/playing regiment.  If I have the time I may start a new website/portal devoted to the instrument.  I've already started a users group on fb for linnstrument users.

 

I'm happy.

[ALOPRODUCTIONZ]

This is the first iv heard of this instrument not quite sure what it is? looks like it can be multipurposed as different instruments?

[TapperMike]

Hi,

 

Yes it is a midi-controller.

 

Most people aren't fully aware of the capabilities of midi as it has been designed since inception.  And manufacturers often limit those capabilities due to cost considerations. A simple example of this is midi channels.  Midi allows for 32 simultaneous channels to be sent at a time (16 stereo) There are no keyboards that I'm aware of that allow splits / layering of 32 channels of midi and few hardware devices or even hosts (daws) that can accept all 32 channels simultaneously.   Oddly my ztars do have 32 midi outputs and can run them simultaneously out and I had an emu command station that had 2 midi inputs which could accept 32 channels continuously.

 

Each channel has 127 continuous controllers (CC) values  127x32= a lot of knobs.  Some of them are pre assigned for things like bend, volume, modulation but most can be assigned by the manufacturer or user (that's what midi learn does)

 

So that's the schema for midi in a nutshell.  How well it's implemented is dependent on the controller manufacturer as well as the host application and finally the design of the sound be it sampled or synthesized or a combination of both.

 

I try not to make reference to "Guitar" or "Piano/keyboard" (though sometimes words fail me) when talking about control surfaces.  The linnstrument is ..fully hackable.  meaning if you have a little bit of knowledge you can make it do anything not just function as a poly pressure / after pressure note bed (keybed)  The surface us a grid/table.  Each "cell" represents a note value.  Each cell offers independent 5 way control (pressure, up, down, left right)  On a conventional keyboard up/down/left right is usually the joystick and controls all keys simultaneously.  Due to this independence per cell on the linnstrument one can attain independent note expression rather then all being global. Therefore it makes expression more human. In your hands to control as you control them.

 

 

 

 

[TapperMike]

On 1/20/2016 at 2:10 PM, RobAsh15 said:

Mikey...

.....

 

 

So enjoy, or at least try to make peace with having to sweat out the wait, brother man... it's all part of the experience of finally achieving possession of a thing you have greatly wanted but were required to put off obtaining for yourself.

 

 

thanks for putting it into perspective for me.  I had that with my first ztar.  I'd ordered the model before it went into production.  Normally with starr labs as every instrument can be customized it's a 6 week wait from the time you pay till it arrives.  Because it was a completely new model and they were still into R&D it tool over a year for me to get it.  Yes I loved it and played it everyday for the next 6 months not touching a single guitar when it arrived.   

 

On the other hand I also paid over year in advance for a yourock guitar which was a complete piece of crap.  Poor construction and crappy design.  The guys who designed it were not guitarists.

[Bridget Murphy]

Jeff sounds like an excellent mentor and source of inspiration for your ztar playing journey! Emulating his style, especially his "accordion-ish" left hand technique, must have been a rewarding challenge.