FAQ

Why do you need to build a new one past the mockup?

The mockup demonstrated in the video was assembled to experiment string layouts and audio geometry. It was made by modifying an old triple neck slide guitar with a chapman stick and a familiar six string guitar. There are several inherent problems with shape and size that can not be overcome unless it's all built from the ground up.

SLIDE BARS (limitations)

Slide bars under mockup strings can't be moved without going severely out of tune. String widths and heights are dictated by the original design of the triple neck and cannot be overcome unless redesigned to accommodate custom sliding bars under the strings. The usable keys are restricted in performance to only those tuned before any bars are moved... thus being locked into just 3 keys of C Major, D Major and G Major. It prevents wider composition outside of those keys. The new construction addresses all these issues allowing the full range of keys and chord changes to be made in tune instantly. It also allows shift from major to minor and back in an instant along with LED auto position markers. The software does more than light LEDs... it controls detailed 3D harmonic reactions that are filtered and augmented into unprecedented combinations... giving a exquisite 3D audio geometry of a stirring nature.

AUTOMATED TUNING GEARS

The automated tuning gears are crucial to focusing the harmonic factors which the instrument is designed to present. The instrument produces overtones that are focused with very minute changes, sharp and flat, of specific notes in a chord. The only way to control this complex harmonic structure across all chords is with custom software... The selection and programming of recallable fine turnings is imperative to achieving what the instrument is designed to do... ringing absolute like a bell or muting selective overtones for unique chordal effects. This is profound.

SOFTWARE CONTROLLED RESONANCE

Controlled sustain and harmonic resonance is a main feature of the instrument. Only with software control of tuning and filters can the full range of nuance be amplified, focused and brought into the 3D sonic picture. The parameters that allow this are complex and interrelated thus needing programming from a sensitive ear. It allows the instrument to sit precisely on the edge of sonic feedback ready to output a series of related harmonics into the performance at any level desired. The audio science behind these key features is extensive but right within my expertise and fascinations. It's going to be amazing to harness all this audio science onto one play surface to bring new sonic territory that will allow new music to flourish

The ability to control the noise inherent in live strings is also crucial. Each string must be digitally processed to remove noise and enhance tone. With as many strings as there are on the instrument, this is a formidable task that only extensive programable software control can render useful. Only software allows these new sonic elements to occure and be captured among the new combinations of technology.

DSM

Digital sound modeling layered with the natural string tones is another major aspect of the instrument's abilities to craft completely unique sounds. It needs to be applied to each string and is itself a very complex array of parameter specific programming only found within software implementation. It will allow individual strings to be put through digital filters that can replicate or fabricate entirely new sound. Here is where the imagination of the art comes in, bringing a new ability to craft custom audio in ways never known before, with forty resonant yet individual strings ...a very exciting potential! ...and the very thing I am trying to Lasso within this quest to build. Making the music I've been dreaming of with a stringed instrument of this extreme audio power is going to be phenomenal.

 

Is the sound and music in the video what the finished intrument will sound like?

Not really... The software control and programming will open an endless new pallet of audio possibilities that boggle the mind. I am eager to program it up into what I have imagined. The music itself is also a big part of the expedition and I have been practicing ways to remove myself from musics I've heard and reach deep inside to discover something new.

 

Is the music in the video what you are going to make?

NO, Music clips are demonstrations of play techniques and string layouts. Serious compositon awaits the completed instruments full function. Music now is just improv jams of various techniques showing how strings interrelate on the mockup. The new music I've been dreaming of with the completed instrument will be a different world! It's not often people come to this point of stepping over into a new sonic world... I hope you'll cheer me on to see what's on the other side! I know it'll be a sonic diamond mine!

 

Are you going to make them available to buy?

Yes... Most likely , If people actually want one after the frist one is built and shown. R & D of the prototype costs much more than reproduction... only after prototype can a realistic figure of costs to reproduce be known... It goes in steps. First thing is getting the prototype built. Join us if you can.