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Author Topic: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing  (Read 2861 times)

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Offline squishygnomes

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Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« on: Sun, 02 August 2015, 02:07:21 »
I don't really know what to call it, just look at the picture - $50 + $8.20 shipping

107143-0

Some sort of white Alps, It looks like it has slits and 2 tabs so my guess is legit Alps
107145-1

No clue what it would actually type if you plugged it in but I figured someone might like it since it's right size to make an navigation cluster + numpad with some extras at the top or just an Alps macro pad.
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Offline nubbinator

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 02 August 2015, 02:09:13 »
It's definitely some sort of keyboard for writing music.
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 02 August 2015, 02:11:54 »
"Not For Resale" :confused:
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"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline chyros

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 02 August 2015, 04:20:33 »
Looks like Creams, could even be the rare undamped version. Never saw something like this before, cool find :) .
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 02 August 2015, 05:12:47 »
Not that I'm considering getting it, but anyone think that this device would be of value if purchased and used for the purpose for which it was originally created?
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"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline chyros

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 02 August 2015, 06:02:35 »
It's laid out in a piano arrangement, so I can only think of it being a weird alternative to a piano keyboard.
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Offline ander

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 02 August 2015, 18:03:40 »
This pad was bundled with a Mac music-notation application called Music Publisher, by a California company called Graphic Notes.

Notation software was so specialized and pricey in those days, only publishers and well-to-do music hobbyists bought products like these; I wouldn't be surprised if this package was over $1000. (Nowadays there are inexpensive notation apps, and at least one free open-source one; and for note input, you can use an cheap MIDI piano keyboard from any music store.)

Because it was produced in such small numbers, I've found only a couple of brief references to Music Publisher on this forum page. However, a trademark search shows that Graphic Notes registered the product name in 1987, which is about right.
« Last Edit: Sun, 02 August 2015, 18:15:05 by ander »
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Offline aronnelson

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #7 on: Wed, 04 May 2016, 20:32:55 »
Just to finish this thread. This keyboard plugged into a Macintosh ADB port. It was used for the Music Publisher app which I believe ran around $500USD.
The company was in Santa Cruz, CA on 7th Ave and was called Graphic Notes.
The program was written in Object Pascal and was developed in Australia. Tech support and product demos were done in the US and the competitor was Finale (which is still going).
The program was pretty GREAT and was really fast due to the dedicated keyboard. But the program did have some flaws and the venture capitalists wanted their money after a short while.
It was a great place to work at the beginning!
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Offline ander

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 05 May 2016, 03:38:14 »
Most of them are!  ;?)
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We are not chasing wildly after beauty with fear at our backs. – Natalie Goldberg

Offline jacobolus

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Re: Australia - Music Keyboard, Chord... Thing
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 12 May 2016, 11:01:46 »
aronnelson: welcome to geekhack, and thanks for the info! Did people use two hands with this keyboard, or just one hand?

It would be neat if more people around here tried to build custom special-purpose keyboards like this. Most of the ideas here are focused on typing, plus some on video game play, but I’d love to see more ideas about how to optimize for other types of software tasks.
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