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Changing my zebra piano Tyros 3 Kbd to a JANKO Kbd layout.


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I'm still at it... at trying to convert my Tyros 3 zebra piano Kbd into Janko Kbd layout.

In the meantime I tried to get plastic printers to fabricate the Kbd keys, but they are as well very expensive. A replacement set of keys costs about $500.

So, I had to dream up another solution ...and found one:

I just use 0.3mm thin tin covers, which clip onto the keys to protect them. That offers me a firm surface onto which I then epoxy glue the square Janko keys and is easily reversible, in case I need to sell the Tyros later on.

The advantage of this Janko musical Kbd is that it offers the learner to play the Kbd 10x faster and easier; i.e. 1 year of Janko practice equals 10 years of zebra piano Kbd practice!! This advantage is too good to be missed. :)

Most accomplished zebra piano Kbd players hate the Janko Kbd, because to them it's unfair to have it that easy ...if it can be made more complicated. :(

The same with traditional notation. That's why I invented my own WYSIWYG Janko notation. It allows to visually transfer the notes from the sheet music to the keys and to forget about irregular scales practice and music theory.

I also converted an old 120-button Farfisa accordion bass (bass section only) to MIDI. It was a hell of work combining, wiring/ soldering up all basses and chords via some 200+ signal diodes. This will enable me to enjoy musical creativity just like a singer or whistler, without bothering about irregular scales and chords with #+b and other Garbo irregularities.

Now all I would need is to find a PC programmer, who could accelerate the music conversion from traditional notation to my Janko notation, because now zebra piano players tell me that all music notation is written in traditional notation.

Besides, I converted an old 120-button accordion bass (bass section only) to MIDI, fabricated a special cover for it, decorated it with cloth of my old shirt and sold it in two day for almost $400 on eBay. It was easy to do: I just added 24 switches onto it air flaps, but I didn't like it, for its 120 buttons had to operate the mechanics and that made the buttons hard to press, whereas my Farfisa accordion bass only activates one soft contact per button!!

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I can't make up my mind whether this is a joke, spam or scarily serious. Either way, I have bad news for you about the resale value of your Tyros 3...

Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37

Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D

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He's serious. There is a little following for this Janko alternative keyboard. It's basically keys aboutv the width of traditional black keys but much shorter and in 4 rows. The creator's objective was to keep scale and chord patterns the same regardless of what key you're playing in. From the YouTubes I've watched, people who have spent time learning the layout seem to fair well with it, although I haven't seen any virtuosic playing performed on it. What I'm trying to figure out is, why mess with a $5200 Tyros in this fashion?. Wouldn't it be easier to buy a Janko midi controller?. Or wiser to alter an Maudio or similar controller for this hobby which would seem to be making a keyboard for yourself to play since so few people play the Janko keyboard?.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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Yes... I'm serious. The good thing with these clipped on tin covers is that they protect the original keys and at the same time offer me a firm platform onto which epoxy glue the wooden square Janko keys.

Later on, in case I want sell the Tyros 3, I can easily un-clip the tin covers and reverse the Kbd to its original zebra piano Kbd layout.

This way I don't need to buy the only available, costly Chromatone Kbd, which sounds awful.

Besides, I'm not aiming at becoming a professional musician, but aim at enjoying to play my wonderful T3. That's why I dreamed up the easiest and fastest to learn Kbd, accompaniment and notation. If you know of an even more efficient set up, please allow me to check it out and consider it. Thx, Joh from down-under in Chile at +30 Celsius :)

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What could be easier and more economical, than to remove the T3 keys, clip on the thin protection covers and hook the keys back in? Of course not everyone feels technically up to the job.

That's probably the only thing I can think of, which creates concerns of "messing up" the T3. Yet, I know what I'm doing and that's why I protect the keys in this innovative way.

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Woah woah woah woah; let's hold on here... Did you just call regular piano playing ZEBRA piano playing? You understand that the "zebra" players aren't the minority, right? ;)

 

Damn I'm glad I'm a member of this forum. Don't know what I'd do if I missed a post like this. :D

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The advantage of this Janko musical Kbd is that it offers the learner to play the Kbd 10x faster and easier; i.e. 1 year of Janko practice equals 10 years of zebra piano Kbd practice!! This advantage is too good to be missed. smile

Most accomplished zebra piano Kbd players hate the Janko Kbd, because to them it's unfair to have it that easy ...if it can be made more complicated. frown

The same with traditional notation. That's why I invented my own WYSIWYG Janko notation. It allows to visually transfer the notes from the sheet music to the keys and to forget about irregular scales practice and music theory.

 

You make some pretty ridiculous and unsubstantiated claims in your post.

 

I expect you to come back here 1 year from now and prove to us that you can play on a level with a "zebra" player who has been playing for 10 years.

 

And no, there is no conspiracy to make playing keyboards more complicated because we want it to be harder for others. Perhaps you are unaware of the past 700 or 800 years of keyboard instrument evolution and how the original keyboards played bells or organ with pitches derived from Gregorian Chant. The scales played for this music contain no chromatic pitches, just diatonic pitches which correspond to the white notes of a C scale. Later pitches were added "between the notes" of existing keys.

 

So it's not an invented "zebra" conspiracy, just evolution from experimentation. In fact, some early organs had more than 12 tones per octave.

 

http://i.stack.imgur.com/Ukamn.jpg

 

The Janko layout may well be technically superior, but it will never become the mainstream norm. There is too much tradition to overcome.

 

We are mostly professional players on this forum, and we understand that we will be called upon during our careers to play many keyboards in many places, and to buy many instruments during our lifetime. The last thing we want to do is spend years learning a skill that is not transferrable to any other situation.

 

To see other examples of bad layout becoming the norm, google "qwerty vs dvorak layout."

 

Good luck with your experiments. You have chosen to take the path less travelled for sure, and I hope you learn how to play. But understand why us "zebra" players are unwilling to join you.

Moe

---

 

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  • 6 months later...

Yes...I'm not giving up. Somewhere on Google I even heard of a comparison test, in which a (dexterity-wise) hard to play piece was played and the zebra Kbd player complaint that "it was unfair", because on the Janko piano it is much easier to play.

In the meantime I managed to cover all Tyros3 zebra keys with galvanized tin.

The good news is that the coverings are very strong, touch non-of the adjacent keys, offer a firm platform to epoxy-glue the wooden Janko support blocks and are easily reversible! What more could I wish for?

I know, I could have used a cheap MIDI controller, but then I would have to shelve it over or under the Tyros and then its functions will also be somewhat limited.

I also converted a 120-button accordion bass (bass part only) to MIDI from an old, electronic Farfisa accordion. It had only one contact per button and so, I had to combine wire up all bass and chord notes via diode blocks... hell of a work! Yet, my eternal patience got me through in a week and it sounds incredible; even manually enhances its styles.

The advantage of it is that it very light on the fingers, for each button only needs to touch one silver contact wire!! I have got all details here, in case anyone of you would like to have'em.

 

Before that I converted another accordion bass to MIDI by just adding silver contacts onto its 24 air flaps, yet that made button press considerably harder. So, I sold it for about $US400 on eBay in two days! Here's how I tin covered the Tyros3 keys as preparation for the Janko Kbd glue-on:

I also found and bought these great looking buttons:

http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6751627197.html?orderId=68006169494390

They are a bit thick (8mm) and I might have to sand them down somewhat. Here is a sgl. Pic of how I tin covered the Tyros3 keys:

https://www.mediafire.com/?pf9ddqd6q2f6rs5

 

Since I'm in a musician forum, I thought of asking you great Musos if anyone of you is interested in combining my emotional creative whistling with your musical creativity? Maybe we can create some unique recordings, because the music market has no whistling recordings. Let's see, if I qualify. My name is Johannes K. Drinda. Here are some Demos of my twitter:

 

http://www.artwhistling.org/international/en/hear-us

 

https://www.mediafire.com/?t0mocnkevh9bz1c

 

https://app.box.com/s/6f72eb90c2002db2e9fc

 

https://app.box.com/s/bluoxacemqlslhtq9bv9

 

https://app.box.com/s/3ahg6ytsixqnzxzluos4

 

 

 

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jjj333 and resident KC guru mate stubb: what are you guys talking about?

Both of you, if you can PM me, or just leave links here?

You brought up two kinds of keyboards - zebra and JANKO

And an organ with beyond 12 tones

And keyboards dating back 7-800 years!

 

 

 

You don't have ideas, ideas have you

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are. "One mans food is another mans poison". I defend your right to speak hate. Tolerance to a point, not agreement

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  • 5 years later...

Good news! - It took me a lifetime (now with almost 79) I made it all happen:

As you know, it was always my ambition to create an easy to learn and play accordion style musical instrument. - Finally, step by step I built the DIY components for it:

1) I converted a 120-button accordion bass to Midi.

2) From 3 PC plates I created a 6x6 JANKO keyboard

3) I created a WYSIWYG notation for it (similar to Klavar notation).

It can't get any easier (!!) and to make it sound like a real accordion I got myself the latest XXL MASTER ACCORDION from V3 sound modules, pairing it with an equally excellent MidiToolEx software and voilà, now I'm enjoying the sound of 206 top accordions at a fraction of Roland Midi accordion's costs.

 

In case anyone of you would like to have some more details, please feel free to contact me.

To accelerate the notation conversion process I would need to find a programmer for it.

1531.jpg.0c1658baa192852284213ee6d3f78db5.jpg

1532.thumb.jpg.8bd771c0d192aafe497364eb1cc4c354.jpg

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So am I to understand there is no commercially-availble Janko midi board one can buy to use as a controller?

J.S. Bach Well Tempered Klavier

The collected works of Scott Joplin

Ray Charles Genius plus Soul

Charlie Parker Omnibook

Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life

Weather Report Mr. Gone

 

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