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Unitkeyboard: an Easily Configurable Compact Clavier

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Unitkeyboard: an Easily Configurable Compact Clavier Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME08), Genova, Italy UnitKeyboard: An Easily Configurable Compact Clavier Yo s h i n a r i TA K E G AWA Tsutomu TERADA Masahiko TSUKAMOTO Kobe University, Japan Kobe University, Japan Kobe University, Japan [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT (a) BaseUnit Musical keyboard instruments have a long history, which resulted in many kinds of keyboards (claviers) today. Since 1 octave higher diapason the hardware of conventional musical keyboards cannot be than that of the BaseUnit changed, such as the number of keys, musicians have to carry these large keyboards for playing music that requires only a small diapason. To solve this problem, the goal of (b) our study is to construct UnitKeyboard, which has only 12 2 octaves higher diapason keys (7 white keys and 5 black keys) and connectors for than that of the BaseUnit docking with other UnitKeyboards. We can build various BaseUnit kinds of musical keyboard configurations by connecting one 1 octave higher diapason UnitKeyboard to others, since they have automatic settings than that of the BaseUnit for multiple keyboard instruments. We discuss the usability of the UnitKeyboard from reviews by several amateur and professional pianists who used the UnitKeyboard. (c) BaseUnit EnhancedUnit 2 octaves higher diapason Keywords than that of the BaseUnit Portable keyboard instruments, block interface, Automatic settings Figure 1: Combination examples of UnitKeyboard keyboards, we can build various kinds of keyboard config- 1. INTRODUCTION urations by connecting a UnitKeyboard to other UnitKey- Musical keyboard instrument has a long history, resulting boards. Since they have automatic settings considering the in many kinds of keyboards today (ex. piano, choir organ, relationship among UnitKeyboards, and intuitive controls and accordion). Moreover, there are many kinds of musical using sensors and actuators. Because of these special func- forms in classical piano performance: solo,whichisplayed tions, UnitKeyboard is a flexibly instrument for playing mu- by one performer, piano duet,whichisaperformancebytwo sic. performers with a single piano, piano duo,whichisaper- formance by two performers with two pianos, and ensemble, which is a performance by multiple groups that consist of 2. DESIGN two or more musicians. AUnitKeyboardisakeyboardequippedwith12keysand At the same time, various kinds of electronic musical in- also 4 connectors for connecting to other UnitKeyboards. struments have been developed. These instruments have Also various kinds of keyboards can be simulated with them. many kinds of functions, such as diapason change and tone For example, we can construct a keyboard of two octaves change. Since conventional musical keyboards cannot change by connecting two UnitKeyboards horizontally, as shown in their hardware configuration, such as the number of keys, Figure 1-(a). Moreover, we can construct an organ that has musicians have to carry large keyboards for playing music two manuals by connecting two UnitKeyboards vertically as that requires only a small diapason. Moreover, it is difficult shown in Figure 1-(b). We can also increase the diapason to adjust to various kinds of keyboard instruments. For ex- by connecting an EnhancedUnit, which has various kinds ample, musicians cannot play music for the organ with a of functions, between UnitKeyboards as shown in Figure digital piano with 88 keys. 1-(c). The goal of our study is to construct UnitKeyboard, which has only 12 keys (7 white keys and 5 black keys) and 4 con- 2.1 Characteristics of UnitKeyboard nectors for docking with other UnitKeyboards. With these 2.1.1 Automatic Settings We can build various kinds of keyboard instruments by docking multiple UnitKeyboards. However, users need to Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for configure various kinds of settings for each UnitKeyboard. personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are To reduce the setting time, we propose an automatic setting not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies algorithm. bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific Connection position AUnitKeyboardisequippedwith permission and/or a fee. NIME08,June 5-8, 2007, Genova, Italy one connector on each side, left, right, top, and bottom, Copyright 2008 Copyright remains with the author(s). for connecting to other UnitKeyboards. Assignments of the 289 Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME08), Genova, Italy Sound Generator Wireless Module Requirements of Unit ID etc… Host Wireless Module Data of Unit ID, Keying data etc… sensors etc… Highend Simple EnhancedUnit EnhancedUnit Figure 2: System structure tone and the diapason for each UnitKeyboard depend on the configuration of the connections. Generally, single man- ual keyboards like the piano, have characteristics that the more left/right the position of a key, the lower/higher its pitch, and all of the keys have the same tone. Therefore, a UnitKeyboard horizontally connected to a BaseUnit, which controls the base settings such as the tone and the diapa- son, inherits the tone of the BaseUnit, and a diapason of the UnitKeyboard increases one octave based on the diapason of the BaseUnit as shown in Figure 1. On the other hand, a UnitKeyboard vertically connected to the BaseUnit has the same diapason as that of the BaseUnit, and the tone of the UnitKeyboard is independent from that of the BaseUnit. Priority Between a BaseUnit and a non-BaseUnit, there Figure 3: A snapshot of UnitKeyboard is a hierarchical relationship, that is, the settings of the non-BaseUnit inherit those of the BaseUnit. We define this Figure 3 shows a snapshot of a UnitKeyboard. We im- as priority. This is similar to an ensemble, where the mul- plemented the system using Microsoft Visual C++ .NET tiple sections have section leaders or there is a conductor 2003, and we use a Sony Vaio VGN-S92PS, with the Win- of the entire ensemble. Our system automatically assigns dows XP platform as the host, Allow7 UM-100 as a wireless UnitKeyboard as low priority based on settings of a high module, Roland SC-8820 as a MIDI sound generator, and priority UnitKeyboard. M-audio OXYGEN8 as the keyboard. OXYGEN8 has 25 2.1.2 Real-Time reconfiguration keys but we cut one in half to make the 12-keys. We use aprogrammableintegratedcircuit(PIC)microcomputer Since there may be cases where the configurations and (PIC16F873) to control the UnitKeyboard and Enhance- connection statuses of the UnitKeyboards should be changed dUnit. The software on the PIC is programmed in C lan- during the performance, the system needs to detect them guage on Microchip Technology’s MPLAB. and reconfigures the settings of the UnitKeyboards in real- time. 3.1 Host We discuss the system design for fast real-time processing from the views points of data management. In the prototype, we used a PC as the host. The functions of the host are as follows. Data management In a UnitKeyboard system, there are various kinds of system data: connection data to manage Management of setting data The host manages the the connection relationships among UnitKeyboards, setting setting data of each Unit. Note that a Unit includes teh data for setting the diapason and the tone of each UnitKey- UnitKeyboard and the EnhancedUnit. board, and keying data that is generated when keys of a Management of connection statuses The host directly UnitKeyboard are pressed/released. manages the connection statuses of all the Units. Moreover, If each UnitKeyboard manages its own settings, each the host calculates the setting data of each Unit’s configu- UnitKeyboard sends a connection change message to all ration from the connection data of all the Units. the UnitKeyboards. Because the CPU and memory in a UnitKeyboard is limited, it is difficult to do this in real- Process of sound generation The host generates a time. MIDI Note On/Off messages based on the setting data of Therefore, we use a computer as the “host” to calculate the Units and keying data sent from a UnitKeyboard. the connection statuses, setting statuses for all UnitKey- boards in the system. 3.2 UnitKeyboard The hardware structure of a Unit is shown in Figure 4. A 3. PROTOTYPE SYSTEM UnitKeyboard consists of a PIC, a 12-key keyboard connec- Figure 2 shows the structure of the prototype system. tors on all four sides, and a wireless module to communicate It consists of a host, UnitKeyboards, and EnhancedUnits. to the host. A UnitKeyboard has the following functions. 290 Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME08), Genova, Italy Keyboard (UnitKeyboard Only) Wireless module [3] [4] [5] [3] [4] [3] [4] A number of octave: [*] [2] [3] [4] [3] [4] Microcomputer Connector Input/output devices Figure 5: An EnhancedUnit with electric motor (EnhancedUnit Only) board neighboring an EnhancedUnit equipped with distance Figure 4: The hardware of Unit sensors. For example, the longer the distance between the UnitKeyboard and the EnhancedUnit, the higher the dia- pason of the UnitKeyboarda. Establishing connection to the host AUnitKeyboard broadcasts a “New Entry” command after it is turned on, Acceleration sensor Users control the tone of UnitKey- and when the UnitKeyboard receives acknowledgement from boards with the users’ posture that is calculated and de- the host, it sends an “ID” and “connector data”, such as tected from data of the acceleration sensor. the number of connectors, to the host. Motor Users can move UnitKeyboards automatically by Sending keying data AUnitKeyboardsendskeyingdata using an EnhancedUnit equipped with motors attached to to the host, when the status of the UnitKeyboard keys is apropellerandwheels.Forexample,ifmusiciansusean changed.
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