New Forum - Musical Keyboards!

[Calyx]

There is currently a sleepy Google Group for builders of alternative musical keyboard instruments.  It is sleepy largely because Google Groups is merely a mailing list, which is easily ignored.   But there is a growing community of people building alternative musical keyboards.  The annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition (http://www.gtcmt.gatech.edu/news/call-for-entries-to-georgia-techs-2014-margaret-guthman-musical-instrument-competition) with its $10,000 prize for best instrument is evidence of the growing momentum of this esoteric hobby.  Drawing from a design history much older than typing keyboards, it really needs an active forum.

I suggest the addition of a new Geekhack forum dedicated to Musical Keyboards.  There is a natural synergy between musical keyboards and typing keyboards.  They have different constraints (polyphony, chording, rhythmic timing, aftertouch, etc) but enough cross over that a lot of collective wisdom can be shared in a joint community.   The synergy between the fields would benefit both.  I think Geekhack's superior features and interface would be a huge benefit to the musical keyboard community. 

As a musical instrument builder for 20 years, I would love to be the admin.  How do we go about creating this?  If we build it, they will come.

[The_Ed]

Subforums are usually made after the fact to sort threads that already exist into logical categories. Musical keyboard threads could easily go in the "keyboards" subforum for now. If in the future there is a large enough amount of those threads they may warrant their own subforum in "keyboards". But at this time there are no subforums in "keyboards", even though it is the biggest subforum and could really use some organization.

[Calyx]

And that's the problem.  No one who is interested in reading about musical keyboards would think to read through a forum dedicated to typing keyboards... unless there were a section specifically dedicated to that.  Chicken <-> Egg.

Please consider this to be an official request.  When the keyboards forum is reorganized please include a sub-forum for musical keyboards.  Once it exists, I can direct traffic there from the various other micro-groups on the interwebz. 

If you build it, they will come.

[The_Ed]

You do realize that the quote is "If you build it, he will come" right?

This is a forum dedicated to keyboards (mostly of the typing kind), input devices, modifications, and groupbuys. Direct traffic to your threads about musical keyboards, and in time if they warrant their own subforum I'm sure they'll get it. But why should musical keyboards get their own subforum when NO type of keyboard has it's own subforum? Especially when there aren't really any threads to fill a musical keyboard subforum. If you look below the keyboards subforum you'll see this message: "dome, scissor, capacitive, mechanical, buckling-spring, laser, membrane, hall-effect, etc.". ALL types of keyboard belong there equally, even musical.

[microsoft windows]

I THINK HAVING A SUBFORUM FOR MUSICAL KEYBOARDS WOULD GREATLY BENEFIT THE FORUM.

[Calyx]

I THINK HAVING A SUBFORUM FOR MUSICAL KEYBOARDS WOULD GREATLY BENEFIT THE FORUM.

Yes.   

Musical keyboards are not just another mechanism, like "dome, scissor, capacitive, mechanical, buckling-spring, laser, membrane, hall-effect, etc.".  They are a different purpose of keyboard, with their own unique constraints and criteria.  They are not merely a cleverly arranged array of comfortable buttons that trigger a single event.  They must also control impact velocity and/or pressure, polyphonic timing, event duration, event transformation, rhythmic repetition, event decay, and more.  The arrangement of the keys must support the system(s) of music theory, and yet just like typing keyboards, they must also be a "cleverly arranged array of comfortable buttons" that address the needs of the human hand ergonomically. 

The creation of a subforum would serve as an invitation to musical keyboard builders who have considered these issues in their inventions to share their knowledge with typing keyboard inventors, and to learn from the typing community's substantial body of knowledge as well.  Without a distinct subforum for them, no one who is interested in musical keyboards would think to visit Geekhack at all, except for the rare geek (like me) who is interested in developing both.

It is worthy of consideration.

[Photekq]

This is a forum for computer keyboards. Despite the identical name musical and computer keyboards do not serve the same purpose and are completely different tools. I just don't see why there should be a forum solely dedicated to musical keyboards. If you want a forum for them then why not set one up yourself?

[microsoft windows]

I THINK HAVING A SUBFORUM FOR MUSICAL KEYBOARDS WOULD GREATLY BENEFIT THE FORUM.

Yes.   

Musical keyboards are not just another mechanism, like "dome, scissor, capacitive, mechanical, buckling-spring, laser, membrane, hall-effect, etc.".  They are a different purpose of keyboard, with their own unique constraints and criteria.  They are not merely a cleverly arranged array of comfortable buttons that trigger a single event.  They must also control impact velocity and/or pressure, polyphonic timing, event duration, event transformation, rhythmic repetition, event decay, and more.  The arrangement of the keys must support the system(s) of music theory, and yet just like typing keyboards, they must also be a "cleverly arranged array of comfortable buttons" that address the needs of the human hand ergonomically. 

The creation of a subforum would serve as an invitation to musical keyboard builders who have considered these issues in their inventions to share their knowledge with typing keyboard inventors, and to learn from the typing community's substantial body of knowledge as well.  Without a distinct subforum for them, no one who is interested in musical keyboards would think to visit Geekhack at all, except for the rare geek (like me) who is interested in developing both.

It is worthy of consideration.

GOOD THINKING THERE.

AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, I CAN'T SEE HOW ADDING AN EXTRA SUB-FORUM WOULD HURT THE SITE AT ALL. IF NOBODY ENDS UP USING IT, WE CAN ALWAYS TAKE IT OFF AGAIN. NEVER HURTS TO TRY SOMETHING NEW!

[The_Ed]

IF a musical keyboards subforum is made under the keyboards subforum, then all the rest of the main types of typing keyboards should also have their own subforums under keyboards. Why should an empty subforum for musical keyboards be made when a subforum for a main type of typing keyboard could instantly be filled with thousands of threads?

This is a forum for computer keyboards. Despite the identical name musical and computer keyboards do not serve the same purpose and are completely different tools. I just don't see why there should be a forum solely dedicated to musical keyboards. If you want a forum for them then why not set one up yourself?

I don't think musical keyboards should have to have their own separate forum website, they are still a type of keyboard after all. I also don't think musical keyboards have to have their own subforum here at GH.

BTW Microsoft Windows just likes to stir things up (some call him a troll). Take his *opinions* with a grain of salt. (No offense MW)

[Findecanor]

I think that having musical keyboards here would make things confused. There are many members who would be interested in just one or the other - and I don't see these two groups overlapping that much.
For that reason, I am strongly opposed to a subforum.

If you want to discuss musical keyboards, then by all means create a properly named thread in the "Other Geeky Stuff" subforum and discuss it there.

[microsoft windows]

I STRONGLY SUPPORT THE NEW SUB FORUM.

[bueller]

This is a forum for computer keyboards. Despite the identical name musical and computer keyboards do not serve the same purpose and are completely different tools. I just don't see why there should be a forum solely dedicated to musical keyboards. If you want a forum for them then why not set one up yourself?

Completely agree. Sound like OP wants somewhere for an already established community to move to instead of using Google, while that might sound great in theory GH actually costs money to run so its not so great in practice. Every new user means more bandwidth, more storage and more cost to keep things running.

[SpAmRaY]

Could we get a sub forum dedicated to spamming posts that counts post up to 59 then starts counting them back down. It would be awesome watching people who go for their 60 posts in one day so they can sell stuff get all confused.

Oh and we don't need no musical keyboards around here....too confusing.