Thummer keyboard
Encyclopedia
A Thummer is a proposed commercial musical instrument
characterized by
The Thummer was to be a type of jammer keyboard
. Research suggests that the jammer's combination of thumb-controls and internal motion sensors could give more expressive potential
than other polyphonic
musical instruments such as the piano
, guitar
, and accordion
. 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
.
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 empathize the unique thumb-control feature. Prototype Thummers were produced, but the effort to commercialize them failed, and Thumtronics was disbanded in mid-2009.
However the concepts developed and publicized by the company are still being developed by alternate-keyboard enthusiasts.
(tm) is a trademarked brand of facial tissue
, and the Stratocaster(tm) is a trademark
ed brand
of electric guitar
, the Thummer 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.
All chords found in conventional chord progressions (I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and viii, as well as others), in most inversions, can be easily played in the jammer arrangement with minimal hand movement.
This layout also places the octaves ascending vertically, increasing the notes playable at once, easing chord inversions and greatly reducing the time needed to move to a new note.
Fitts law {link} predicts that the jammer will be very significantly faster to play that a conventional keyboard.
The expected playing speed is (log base 2 (30% smaller key / ~1000% distance decrease), or about 75% less to time find and press an average key.
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 keyboardIsomorphic keyboardAn 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 Thummer was to be a type of jammer keyboard
Jammer keyboard
A jammer is a new musical instrument characterized by#at least one isomorphic keyboard, 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 jammer's combination of thumb-controls and internal motion sensors could give 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
The jammer keyboardJammer keyboard
A jammer is a new musical instrument characterized by#at least one isomorphic keyboard, 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....
was invented 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=...
in September 2003, whereupon he founded Thumtronics to design its "Thummer(tm)-brand jammer" and bring it to market, the trade name was to empathize the unique thumb-control feature. Prototype Thummers were produced, but the effort to commercialize them failed, and Thumtronics was disbanded in mid-2009.
However the concepts developed and publicized by the company are still being developed by alternate-keyboard enthusiasts.
"Jammer" versus the "Thummer" name
Just as KleenexKleenex
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 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.
Design Goals
Thumtronics' design goals for the Thummer, which continue to influence the independent development of jammers, were the 7 "E"s:- Easy: Facilitate the rapid acquisition of a self-sustaining level of musical competence in both composition and performance.
- Expressive: Offer more expressive potentialExpressive potentialExpressive 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 most musical instruments.
- Ergonomic: Place significantly less stress on its player's body than the average traditional musical instrument.
- Ergonomic: Place the keys and other controls within easy, fast reach.
- Expansive: Expand the frontiers of music-making, by (a) providing a single interface for the performance of the music of all known past and present human cultures, and (b) enabling the exploration and control of new tonalities (via effects such as Dynamic tonality).
- Everywhere: Be sufficiently portable to go everywhere, from concert hall to campfire.
- Everyone: Affordable (once in high-volume production) by people living at the First World's poverty level.
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.
- Notes assigned to the array using the Wicki/Hayden note-layout.
- At least one thumb-operated expressive control (such as the thumb-operated joysticks found on seventh-generation video game controllers).
- Optionally, other expressive controls, such as internal motion-sensors (such as those found in the Wii RemoteWii RemoteThe , 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
| 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 |
| 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 rage 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. |
| example | a 9th , 10th 12th and 15th chord 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 | a glissando 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 | has two keyboards which each can be assigned to a separate instrument |
| has controls providing more degrees of freedom than a traditional keyboard instrument, so in principle can offer greater expressiveness | |
| places notes in a pattern that matches the natural harmonics (add picture showing harmonics and W/H pattern overlay) |
|
| 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 (many, many links here) |
| 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
- Some reviewers believe chromatic scales are harder to play
- Harder to learn than the piano in C major
- No teachers or body of pedagogy
- 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)
Design Rationale
Of the large number of isomorphic {link} note-assignment possible, the Thummer's Wicki-Hayden format was chosen since all notes of the major and minor scales fall under the fingers and the relative simplicity of relating it to conventional music notation.All chords found in conventional chord progressions (I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and viii, as well as others), in most inversions, can be easily played in the jammer arrangement with minimal hand movement.
This layout also places the octaves ascending vertically, increasing the notes playable at once, easing chord inversions and greatly reducing the time needed to move to a new note.
Ergonomic Factors
Although no one became expert on a Thummer, the still live Thumtronics website has demonstrations and examples of the instrument showing its unique expressive features.Fitts law {link} predicts that the jammer will be very significantly faster to play that a conventional keyboard.
The expected playing speed is (log base 2 (30% smaller key / ~1000% distance decrease), or about 75% less to time find and press an average key.
Commercially available
Many isomorphic keyboards are commercially available, including:- 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)
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 keyboardJanko keyboardThe 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.