Jammer keyboard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A jammer is a new musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

characterized by

at least one isomorphic keyboard
Isomorphic keyboard
An isomorphic keyboard is a musical input device consisting of a two-dimensional array of note-controlling elements on which any given sequence and/or combination of musical intervals has the “same shape” on the keyboard wherever it occurs – within a key, across keys, across octaves, and across...

, and
thumb-operated and/or motion-sensing expressive controls.

The instrument is designed to be fast to learn to play, very fast to play and very expressive.

Research suggests that the combination of thumb-controls and internal motion sensors could give jammers more expressive potential

Expressive potential

Expressive potential is the degree to which a given music control interface enables a musician to control musical expression. An interface with low expressive potential enables control over a narrow range of musical expression, no matter how virtuosic its player, whereas an interface with high...

than other polyphonic

Polyphony (instrument)

Polyphony Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophonic.-Synthesizer:Most of early synthesizers were monophonic musical instruments which can play only one note at a time, and are often called monosynth as opposed to polysynth...

musical instruments such as the piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, and accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

. Isomorphic keyboards similar to those used in a jammer have been shown to accelerate the rate at which students grasp otherwise-abstract concepts in music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

Origin of jammer and Thummer instruments

The jammer was invented by Jim Plamondon in September 2003, whereupon he founded Thumtronics to design its "Thummer(tm)-brand jammer" and bring it to market, the trade name was to emphasize the unique thumb-control feature. Prototype Thummers

Thummer keyboard

A Thummer is a proposed commercial musical instrument characterized byat least one isomorphic keyboard, andthumb-operated and/or motion-sensing expressive controls.The Thummer was to be a type of jammer keyboard...

were produced, but the effort to commercialize them failed, and Thumtronics was disbanded in mid-2009.

Open source jammer

Although not currently under commercial development, an ongoing open source

Open source

The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

hardware design project seeks to produce a royalty-free reference design

Reference design

Reference design refers to a technical blueprint of a system that is intended for others to copy. It contains the essential elements of the system; however, third parties may enhance or modify the design as required....

for jammers, based on Thumtronics' prototypes.

Do It Yourself (handmade) jammers

Hobbyists are making DIY jammers. Recent availability of adaptable commercial keyboard controllers, especially the Axis-49 from C-Thru Music, has spurred innovation and many functioning jammers have been built.
Software for their construction through the modification of commercially available instruments is now available.

Touch Screen based jammers

The new touch screens products of Apple have been adapted to be utilized as Jammers. The dynamic display allows for key sizes to be dynamically changed.

Origin and usage of the jammer name

Just as Kleenex

Kleenex

Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of toiletry paper-based products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, and diapers. The name Kleenex is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. Often used as a genericized trademark, especially in the United States, "Kleenex"...

(tm) is a trademarked brand of facial tissue

Facial tissue

Facial tissue and paper handkerchief refers to a class of soft, absorbent, disposable papers that is suitable for use on the face. They are disposable alternatives for cloth handkerchiefs...

, and the Stratocaster(tm) is a trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

ed brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

of electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

, the Thummer

Thummer keyboard

was intended to be a trademarked brand of "a new kind of musical instrument." The term jammer was introduced to give that "new kind of musical instrument" a generic, non-trademarked name. It was coined by Jim Plamondon

Jim Plamondon

James Plamondon is a technology evangelist, technical writer and inventor notable for his role at Microsoft, in the 1990s, in systematizing the theory and practice of platform evangelism.Technical Writer=...

, founder of Thumtronics, and first used when the "Thummer(tm)-brand jammer" was publicly announced on December 15, 2005, in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

Features

At least one 2-dimensional keyboard in a hexagonal array; preferably, one for each hand.

The keys of the left-hand instrument are mirror-imaged to those on the right, to match the mirroring of one's hands. This speeds learning the instrument, as a skill learned in one hand can transfer to the other hand.
Notes assigned to the array using the ergonomically efficient Wicki-Hayden note layout
Wicki-Hayden note layout
In music, the Wicki-Hayden note layout is a key layout for musical instruments that offers some advantages over the traditional keyboard layout.-History:...

.
Preferably one or more thumb-operated expressive control, e.g. the thumb-operated joysticks found on seventh-generation video game controllers, touchpad
Touchpad
A touchpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on screen. Touch pads are a common feature of laptop computers, and they are also used as a substitute for a mouse where desk...

s, or other expressive controls, such as internal motion-sensors (such as those found in the Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...

video game controller), foot-pedals, breath controllers, etc.

Advantages over a standard keyboard

Jammers have these advantages over a traditional musical (piano) keyboard
Advantage	Reason
Simple to learn	Music intervals are mapped to the same vector: a consistent angle and spacing
Easy to play	Only one fingering needs be learned, instead of the 24 (12 for each hand) needed for the standard keyboard
Easy to play from a musical score	Playing in a different key is a simple matter of shifting the hand, as shown right.
Fast to play	The average distance the fingers need to move is reduced by a factor of 10 or more: from centimeters to millimeters for a I-IV-V7-I chord progression, from decimeters to centimeters for a octave shift
Greater musical intervals can be played by each hand at once	2 octave range in normal hand position using 4 fingers, 3-4 octaves if the thumb is used
More notes can be played	due to the ability to play several consonant Consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,... notes at once, with a single finger
Examples	* 9th , 10th 12th and 15th chords can be played easily with the hand in normal position up to a four-octave span can be played by turning the hand sideways 1-3 consonant keys may be played by a fingertip.
Multiple concordant notes can be played with one finger	consonant notes are placed adjacent to each other
Variety of novel glissandos	Glissandos of fourths, fifths and major seconds are easily played
Separate expressiveness controls for each hand	Allows twice the choice of expressive options, e.g. Sustain pedal Sustain pedal A sustain pedal or sustaining pedal is the most commonly used pedal in a modern piano. It is typically the rightmost of two or three pedals. When pressed, the sustain pedal "sustains" all the damped strings on the piano by moving all the dampers away from the strings and allowing them to vibrate...
Capable of more sounds than a traditional keyboard	With two keyboards, each can be assigned to a separate instrument
	Controls provide more means of expression than a traditional keyboard instrument, so in principle can offer greater expressiveness
	Places notes in a pattern that matches the natural harmonics, as shown right.
Separate keys for flat and sharp notes	This unique feature allows more accurate, just tuning of the notes of the keyboard, as well as a host of tuning options This feature is seen in Florentine harpsichords and some 16th century organs designed to accompany singers.
Lightweight and portable	Smaller and lighter than a guitar

Limitations and disadvantages over a standard keyboard

The distance between chromatic intervals is greater
Not all chord inversions are easy to finger
Chromatic scales take longer to learn, although they are easy to play
Harder to learn than the piano in C major
No teachers or body of pedagogy for the jammer
Fingering techniques are still being developed
No formal theory of play has been developed, although one is under development, and related to standard jazz "jamming" techniques.
High cost of hexagonal keyboards relative to the standard keyboard (given current sales volumes)

Differences from the Thummer design ideal

Jammers are forced to make do with an assembly of independent parts. The Thummer design patents are useful as a design goal, because of its many novel features.

Thummer	jammer
Wider keyboard, with 19 notes per octave, 9.5 keys wide, in a curved, 6 row arc.	Whatever the adapted instrument allows, typically 7 rows wide, 14 high .
Additional expressiveness by means of motion sensing, thumb operated joysticks, velocity sensitivity, and after-touch.	Thumb-controls, mounted on the hand or jammer, or motion-sensing Wii-sticks, and velocity sensitivity.
A brace through which one can affix the instrument to ones forearm and take advantage of the motion sensing capability.	No brace. the instrument instead is table or chest-mounted.
Keys shaped and spaced to allow the maximum number of keys to be reached at once.	Keys in a purely hexagonal array, with a almost-touching spacing.

How jammers are being made

The computer qwerty keyboard is a nearly hexagonal array of keys, so can be mapped into Wicki/Hayden layout through software applications such as the Transformsynth and Bomes midi translator (link). However limitations of the qwerty keyboard limit this usefulness.
There are commercially available isomorphic instruments with an applicable hexagonal array of keys. Commercially available keyboard instruments that do not use the Wicki/Hayden note layout but use usb midi are modified via re-mapping software for the Axis-49.
In the past, experimental keyboards have been made by hand, as shown right.
Alternate input devices such as the Korg Nano series are most often used to give a jammmer player more expressive potential. Game console joysticks have been found to offer excellent expression.

Experimentally, a hand-mounted, thumb operated control has been found to be superior, as it allows full mobility to the hand.
After-touch has not been explored for jammers.

Motion sensing has yet to be explored by jammer players because of its lack of accessibility and/or applicability to expressive control in its current forms.
Adding an arm brace to the jammers has yet to be explored, due to the lack of feasible motion sensing capabilities.

Design Rationale

Of the large number of isomorphic {link} note-assignment possible, jammers use the Wicki-Hayden note layout. All scales fall in the center of the layout, directly under ones fingers, and it is simple to relate to conventional music notation. All conventional chord progressions can be easily fingered in the jammer arrangement with minimal hand movement.

Octaves ascend vertically, increasing the playable interval sizes, easing chord inversions, and greatly reducing the time needed to move to a new note or chord.

Ergonomic Factors

Although no one is yet expert on a jammer, Fitts law predicts that the jammer will be very significantly faster to play that a conventional keyboard.
The expected speed increase is (log base 2 (30% smaller key / ~1000% distance decrease) or 75% less time to find and press the average key. Since playing an instrument is always a speed vs accuracy tradeoff, a novice player should be able to play more accurately, while a trained player should be able to play with more precise timing.

Commercially available

Many hexagonal isomorphic keyboards are commercially available:

AXIS-64, uses the Harmonic Table note-layout
Opal Chameleon, uses the Melodic Table note-layout
Stagi Hayden Duet Concertina, uses the Wicki note-layout, shown in Figure 1 above (known as the 'Hayden' layout by concertina players)
Apple iPhone/iPod/iPad applications: iJammer and Musix convert iOS devices into concertinas and jammers.

Devices that do not use the wicki-hayden note layout natively can be converted to jammers by electronically remapping the notes received via usb midi to the wicki-hayden note layout.

Software

Wicki.org.uk, free UK site containing Java, Flash, and PC applications to enable users to play their alpha-numeric keyboard to sound 12 equal tempered pitches using Wicki/Hayden or Janko keyboard
Janko keyboard
The Jankó keyboard is a musical keyboard layout for a piano designed by Paul von Jankó in 1882.Based on the premise that the hand can barely stretch more than a 9th on the piano, and that all scales are fingered differently, Jankó's new keyboard had two interlocking 'manuals' with three...

layout.
Dynamictonality.com provides free Dynamic Tonality
Dynamic tonality
Dynamic tonality is tonal music which uses real-time changes in tuning and timbre to perform new musical effects such as polyphonic tuning bends, new chord progressions, and temperament modulations, with the option of consonance. The performance of dynamic tonality requires an isomorphic keyboard...

synthesizers, the TransformSynth and 2032, which map the QWERTY keyboard to the wicki-hayden note layout and allow for the dynamic change in both tuning and timbre along a smooth continuum.