Digital Keyboard with 17 Keys per Octave for Microtonal Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional musical instruments like guitars and pianos with fixed frets or keys cannot play microtonal notes, and recent attempts to add additional keys have resulted in overly complex instruments with impractical fingerings.
Innovation Solution
A digital keyboard instrument with seventeen total keys per octave, including twelve octave keys and five additional split flat or sharp keys, configured to produce microtonal pitches and allowing for practical fingering and playing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If additional keys are added to represent microtonal notes on keyboard instruments, then access to microtonal notes is improved, but device complexity increases and ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard is designed with 17 keys per octave that can function in multiple tuning systems. The same physical keys produce different pitches depending on the selected tuning mode (12-TET, 17-TET, 22-TET, or custom temperaments), eliminating the need for separate keyboards for different microtonal systems while maintaining full access to all required pitches.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrument uses software-based tuning where the pitch mapping is dynamically changeable. Users can switch between different temperament systems and custom tunings through software control, allowing the keyboard's functional characteristics to adapt without physical reconfiguration, thus avoiding complexity while maintaining versatility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional keys are added to represent microtonal notes on keyboard instruments, then access to microtonal notes is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to impractical fingerings
Solution Approach 1:
The 17-key octave design serves multiple microtonal systems simultaneously, and the software allows selection of optimal fingering patterns for different tuning systems. This maintains ergonomic playing while providing access to microtonal notes across various temperament systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the pitch mapping parameter based on selected temperament, allowing the same physical key positions to represent different microtonal pitches. This enables musicians to access microtonal notes without changing their physical fingering habits, as the software adapts the pitch output to match traditional fingering patterns.
3Ease of operation
If traditional keyboard instruments with twelve keys per octave are used, then ease of operation is maintained, but adaptability to play microtonal notes is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard extends the traditional 12-key octave to 17 keys, maintaining the familiar keyboard layout and playing technique while adding the necessary keys for microtonal systems. The software enables these additional keys to function across multiple tuning systems, providing both ergonomic familiarity and microtonal versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts pitch mapping based on the selected temperament system. When 12-TET is selected, the keyboard behaves like a traditional piano for ease of operation. When microtonal systems are selected, the same physical keys produce different pitches, enabling microtonal access without requiring permanent structural changes that would compromise playing ease.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure provides a digital keyboard instrument with seventeen keys per octave. Sharp and flat keys are split to produce additional microtonal notes on the upper end of each sharp or flat key while maintaining a traditional keyboard aesthetic. In some configurations, the digital keyboard instrument is configured to produce twenty two notes from the seventeen key octave. This digital keyboard instrument is configured to provide opportunities to musicians to perform a variety of microtonal music with a keyboard that provides ease of use with practical fingering placement.