Pashkuli

What input? At the moment I need someone good enough in coding to help me release PNS as a basic software app (web-based, desktop, mobile, any would be sufucuent). Can not pay and to be honest a payment would make things more complicated (demanding and strict). It is supposed to be customisable.

@xKnuckles Yes, the PNS (music notation) is actually the biggest challenge in terms of acceptance to happen. I have seen lots of people having tough times to guess what notes are in a chord from a standard notation (especially "jazzy chords" with close to each other intervals). But they just find them by habit... and logic. Speaking of a habit... No. I learnt the basics of standard music notation by the age of 16, 'cause most of my friends with whom I played had taken official music lessons and they had to use it. So I had to do it too. PNS came a bit later, when I graduated high school and began studying Design Engineering, which had a side classes of Graphic Design and Art (although I am nowhere near an artist, painter or calligraphy master). The fact is no one of my friends (some of which musicians) liked the solfege classes and having to learn the standard music notation. But they had to as the authority (incl. their parents) required them to do so. Please, keep in mind that you have not spent at least half of the time practicing PNS, you have spent on a standard ("church") notation. If you have spent let's say 5 years on the 'standard', then at least 2.5 years on PNS should be desireable. Every comparison in that regard (practice) would be inadequate. Same applies to learning to play a music instrument or a language, game, etc. Unfortunately, for the time being you should be practicing on your own, as I am trying on my own to learn how to code in order to provide at least a basic software app for my notation. And I just started to learn how to code a couple of days ago. So it might take time, as I work on my own (no budget to pay a skilful developer). Of course it does not! The only music "notation" that "looks how the music actually sounds" is the so called MIDI-roll and its predecessors such as Klavarscribo. The downside is... they take huge space. Regarding pitch... well, standard notation uses 8va, 15va as well, so technically it depends. For a general movement of pitch - yes. It is somehow informative to a certain extent (see previous sentence). In PNS pitch is defined by shape and position on rows (with a chosen note as root/clef = row separator = renova 'octave' separator). Completely new concept, I do agree. Takes practice and time. There are so many scales, major and minor are only generalised tonalities anyway. Regarding a pianist who would know both systems... I do not know which one would seem a better tool for a new side read composition. I tend to think it will be my system. Because the pianist will immediately know which key is where and how they will "light up" in their brain. It is instantaneous. Hardly ever would a clef note be needed actually. They will figure out the basic scale structures just by a looking at a few of the notes in a bar. For more information, please read my arguments in this thread (quite funny thread): Music Notation comparison

@Nutball Curved bed does not solve the problem. Curved keys... well, that is how this problem should be approached. And I have solved it. Twofold. @RandyFF I would recommend the re-design of the standard piano keyboard to all standard piano keyboard players. I would recommend the Pashkuli keyboard (uniform) to all young keyboard players (age 10 to 20 upper range 25 max.; for older players it will be a pain to rearrange their view) The keyboards themselves do not do anything better... They only allow the players to perform better, do things in a better, more efficient way, heck even perform 'impossible before' things. The shapes of the keys, the design of the keyboards... they all have been inspired by the human hand, Nature, and functionality with regards to performance on such keyboard instruments. I hope to achieve some recognition and at least popularise those ideas I have on a small batch production scale. Just to let players know that there is a better solution, better way. Yes, not on the market, not something that each one of them can put their hands onto... for the time being, but at least to know it has been made already.

@MathOfInsects, Analogies with VHS vs Beta are inadequate. I am not a company fighting against another company market products. I am just a hobby guy in his shed with two prototypes... and they have no application to... the porn industry. Also, I am here to point out the wrong basis (teachings) not only with regards to the design of the piano keyboard (its keys in particular), but also the Notation System. Your teacher was on the right track but at the wrong starting position... quite literally at the wrong starting position (regarding intervals). Why? It is explained in the .pdf attached in my earlier posts regarding PNS. Makes me think how people such as Bruno, Copernicus, Kepler, Galilei must have felt like when trying to explain their views and findings to the inquisitive Church authorities. Heck, some of them were even imprisoned and killed. Never said it was going to be easy... it might take 50 years even with today's info technologies... and it is only me at the moment. I know what you mean by suggesting new keybeds... those failures have already been tried. Please, see the attached image. On my keyboards you really do not need any such 'special case' arcs of the bed. Because of the shape/size of the keys... such arc really does not matter (problem solved!). And of course my redesign of the piano has several improvements over the flat (standard) one. It is worth everything!

@uhoh7 Incorrect. I completely understand the keyboard (not only the piano one): the standard "black'n'white" keyboard it is a triple special case. I have redesigned the same so called standard piano keyboard as shown above in the attached images. It is better than the 2000 old """keyboard""" (pianoforte is not that old). The organs did not have a keyboard until the beginning of the 2nd millennium. They were using levers and buttons to open/close pipes. Also as a special case in the past it did not have the "black keys" only "naturals" (actually diatonic to the so called "church modes"). The "black pentatonic" keys were added later (although the Pythagorean tuning had existed for millennia and a half by that time!!!), which makes it even more ridiculous, as they (all the 12 keys) can not be equally spaced (and they are not). Yes, the "standard" piano keyboard, I repeat, the keyboard (its keys), are probably the most lazy job done to make a full range instrument (technically the keyboard instrument is a harp in horizontal position, with tripled or duplicated strings for bigger sound). Yes, I have designed completely new keyboard (as a modern day synth), that allows you to play 'impossible before' wide chords, chords with simultaneous voicing, tremolo while still holding a chords, reduced size ("octave" span), etc. Also, a simplified music notation system, reduced in size, unambiguous, translatable/customisable, etc.

@RandyFF The piano as an instrument is irrelevant. I am challenging its keyboard design, the design of its keys... not the hammer action, keybed, velocity weight, etc. My old synth was full sized and had some weight action. I only fixed some faulty soldering on the PBC board and replaced some of the resistors (got rusty and such). oh, and I changed he lead cable as it was broken too. This old synth actually made me interested in the design of the keys, keybed, layout, etc. I went to the local library (home Internet was pretty much a luxury back then) and found books and articles online about the piano, the standard notation... I learned everything I wanted to know to try and design one myself... well, actually two. Also my compact Music Notation followed up a bit later. Next 10 or so years till 2007 I showed up my concepts to many players my age and older... most of them making fun of the shapes, sarcastic remarks that I can not even use my both hands to play a piano song for children, yet I have the audacity to criticise the piano keyboard played by Bach through Mozart, to Debussy, Duke Ellington till modern heroes such as Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Keith Emerson and Jordan Rudess. Also to dismiss 600+ years of standard notation, developed by the Church and part of the education curriculum in every school around the world. The thing is, I know what I am doing (have done so far)... and most importantly why I dare to do it.

No, maybe I was being too brief, so here is the chronology: I had a passion for drums since I was 8. Also I liked guitars (because of flamenco music, which is... well quite percussive too). At around the age of 13~14 I had the opportunity to take lessons at the local theatre (Music school as well) as my drum teacher happened to live right on the next street. I began officially studying drums with rhythm notation. I never attended the admission exam at the Music school. Not because I could not learn the piano and to read the standard notation (at least on a basic level). I am quite fast learner (confirmed by my drum teacher). I just could not see myself having to waste my time in a Music school where piano was a part of the solfege classes and standard notation was... well, pretty much everywhere! So I completely abandoned the idea of my drum teacher to continue my education at a Music school instead of Language school and Natural Science. It was never my intention to get myself educated in a Music school (my drum teacher suggested it). When I started to ask my question to some of the other music teachers (solfege, piano, music history), they were thinking I was joking by trying to "reinvent the wheel", which they have been riding for decades and built careers riding it. So after the summer I went to the Language and Science school and continued my occupation with music as a completely side thing (just for fun) and never dug up my ideas again.... until I finished uni around 2005. By 2007 I had done all of the designs in a modern form, as a proper projects, not simply ideas to discuss. Older people (especially those with Music as a main occupation) find the ideas arrogant and cheeky, a waste of time. Kids on the other hand love them.

At the moment I am focused on developing the software for the notation. Long story short, when I was 14 I was studying drums. My teacher wanted me to start with jazz/latin beats right away, when I showed how can I play rock beats (learning from the TV, concerts and beats off of CDs). The teacher told me I should go to a Music school and the admission process would be a breeze for me. The problem was they had some piano solfege component in the exams, so I had to at least get some basic knowledge on the piano and score. I had seen a piano only on TV, concerts, never got my hands one one. I found an old full sized keyboard from the 70s, fixed it as some keys were dead (basic faulty soldering or rusty broken connectivity). I tried to learn it... and I tried... As my personality is quite witty and explorative, I started to dig deeper into a research about the design of the piano keyboard, the score... When I found out how ridiculous and even stupid it was... I had to do something. I had no time to waste learning something I thought is sluggish, broken, ambiguous. So I did not go to a Music school, rather Language/Math/Physics school. Around mid 2005 all the concept for the aforementioned keyboards and notation were pretty much done. But I had to put them in the cupboard, because of uni, work, family. More info regarding the motivation is in this thread: Pashkuli is trying to develop a Notation Software

Not quite that common only because we would use the term "controller". Most music instruments are not controllers, including keyboard ones. A game controller should be comparable to a controller such as "guitar hero" or alike. The way a game controller and a music keyboard controller are used is totally different. Hence the shape needed to execute an action. Maybe comparing the game controller to a dial pad or button panel with a pad wheel (on a music keyboard/controller) would be more suitable and not to the actual music keyboard and its design (keys to play). I really can not see the connection/analogy you give.

It is the size and the shape... not the uniform layout that can be quite cumbersome to master the bass buttons in an accordion. Some are concave (sometimes different in colour) actually as I remember, giving some tactile orientation and differentiation to the convex bass buttons. Game controllers have almost nothing in common to piano keyboards or music keyboards, so I am afraid I do not quite understand the analogy. Also I use PC to play games, so I am pretty much used to use standard uniform PC keyboard by default. I may unintentionally hit another button, but that is because of being distracted or quickly having a snack mid action of the game.

I was thinking of laser engraving some of the keytops with the standard notation "A-G with 'black keys' marks" (because the keytops are actually removable, hence subjected to be customisable), but I could not use any more time on the laser engraver, so I left it for next time I could have my hands on such a machine. The problem is my keytops are dome shaped so the laser engraver must be setup properly for the job, etc. with some initial test iterations. So for now it is only custom annotation. I am trying to create a software application to translate normal/standard midi files from and to my Plain Notation System (or Pashkuli Notation System), PNS for short. In essence it is like a heavily modified TAB (as for guitars and fretted string instruments), if you have seen the .pdf excerpt of the aforementioned notation (PNS) earlier in this thread. So I am using a source-code from 'PowerTAB 2.0 (alpha)' to try and modify it, although I have never coded in my life before. Time to learn new skill, I guess. If I succeed (any help would be much appreciated), then learning the PNS would become much more accessible and available of course online and as a user customisable Music notation, such that every user can use their own alphabet symbols for noteheads. Translation would be a matter of just opening the file and choosing an option. English (Latin letters) are really not that great for singing (neither is the original solfege system with its church psalm based syllables for the white keys). Music nomenclature/notation really needs an update. It is old... weak and needs assistance or uplift.

@cp-the-nerd, yes, I do have an Yotube channel. i guess it was obvious (see some of the earliest posts here in the thread), also you can type in YouTube: pashkuli keyboard that would be me as well. Yes, I have mounted a steady hanging frame for my phone (birdeye view, from top)... but as i said... I am not a decent, actually I am below average keyboard player. This is a new instrument and I am still learning it. I bet you would not like to watch me repeat scales for two hours or banging chords. Trying to learn songs, some classical pieces. Takes time. No, I moved to a different country because of my work, so technically I am on my own for the time being.

@CowboyNQ, I am neither of both, although I have unhealthy amount of interest in Astronomy and Math... and I also happen to speak Spanish, so... should not be that difficult for you to decide now (of course I know what you mean). Yes, keep in mind that by the same time those "alternative" keyboard ideas came into being (patented) another instrument got designed as well. I'm talking/writing about the saxophone, which shape usually in many logotypes of the word 'JAZZ' takes the place of the J letter and named after its designer Adolphe Sax around 1840, who was establishing his music instrument business and was quite notorious for his design improvements on other music instruments. Despite his work, his new instrument was suspended by the Music Academy in his country and France, but after 45 years made its way into USA. Long time of incubation period indeed. Now no one can imagine a nice juicy love song without a sax, jazz recital without it, big band without this instrument... a logo of the word Jazz here and there without a stylised saxophone to represent the letter J. That is how life works. I do not expect my ideas to find fruitful soil today. Maybe after 50 or so years, although nowadays we have the information tech. to support presenting anywhere around the world online. That is how I found this forum yesterday! @BluesKeys, you play everything C like you would play it if it originally had been written in Db... or C# (use of Db is more convenient, because it will have less "accidentals" on the clumsy and ambiguous standard score)

Yes, practice makes the whole improvement on memorisation. The hexagonal shape is only at the base to make the plane complete and tight as much as possible. You won't need any different shape to get acquainted with the orientation. Yes, it might be... different at first... but practice makes improvements. Considering the otherwise "impossible" benefits (extended chord shapes, symmetric/mirror shapes for minor, major chords in general, less up-Z movement needed to transpose... actually no re-fingering needed for transposing a song, slides, chromatics, extremely wide interval jumps and developing melody in the upper voice whilst still holding a chord with the same hand, etc.). And after all... it is a completely new keyboard instrument. Should not be compared to any counterparts or uniform derivatives as the latter (at least those available such as Daskin, Chromatone, Dedeka, Terpstra) suffer from many design drawbacks... Because their design is only geometrical and has not taken into consideration the actual anatomy of the human hand. Below I have attached and image comparing the sizes in a 1:1 ratio between a Pianoforte keyboard and the Pashkuli keyboard. · Pashkuli keyboard might be a challenge to construct as an acoustic instrument (because of its compact size), but not impossible... will be quieter though and less expensive for sure.

Videos are quite time consuming to make and I do not have a proper equipment to do it, unless you'd like to watch a shaky one hand demonstration with the other hand holding a smartphone. Also, I am constantly improving the prototypes and trying to get to a small batch production test units to give to some experienced keyboard players (as I am not as such, as I play guitars and drums). Any finish can be applied to the keys, not only wood or polished. @Tom Williams My design of the uniform keyboard has almost nothing in common to Janko's design. Unless you consider the rounded edges on the sides of the keys... and that's it. Nothing else in common. My design of the uniform keyboard has quite a lot to do with the Dreschke's design. Of course mine is a great improvement as nowadays the state of the art in technology is much more advanced (electronics, sensors, plastics). Math is how Nature can be described. Ok, it is actually Physics, using Math as a language. It is not a promotion, rather an explanation. I personaly do not care how many centuries a wrong/incorrect doings were executed over Music notation. It involved the authority of the Church, which are infamous with their wrong explanation (especially back then). I am simply offering new view on how those things came to be and what could be improved. No narcissism involved. If you maybe refer to my sense of humour, it is a bit witty, I admit it.