The Apple of my Eye?

Check out this article from CNN's Money section, about what may be soon to come from Apple - a "Tablet-Style" iPod that can be controlled by the finger hovering over the touchscreen, a "no-touch" interface of sorts...
I've told my friends privately that if Apple ever develops a tablet pc form factor, i'll seriously consider jumping ship...that day may be soon at hand if they get it right...

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The Spotted Muse: Wireless Foot Pedal Sighting!!

This is fantastic news! I feel like i'm coming to the end of a two-year quest...

Mr. Kelly Demoline, President of Kelly's Music & Computers, has graciously given me permission to post his reply to my email sent to him a couple of weeks ago in reference to his blog about the AMuseTek MuseBook Music Software and wireless foot pedal first spotted at this year's NAMM convention.
Turns out, they do indeed carry the wireless foot pedal as part of the MuseBook software package! But here - read about it for yourself!

Thanks for your note, Hugh. I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you - my sales team forwarded your message to me, so instead of it getting answered the same day (which is our policy), it ended up waiting for me to get back in the office from doing training sessions for schools.

AMuseTek is a Korean company, so it is probably best to e-mail them at musebook@musebook.com if you want to reach them.

We are carrying the MuseBook SingleNote package, which includes the software, the wireless foot pedal and the USB finger switch. You can get the details and pricing at http ://kellysmusicandcomputers.com/productinfo.asp?id=1682912297 It is $189 US, although the software can be purchased on it's own for $69 US. You will probably want the hardware, though, as it is probably the most useful part of the package! You can also use it to turn pages in Acrobat Reader if you enable the full screen mode.

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Hunting the Muse: AMuseTek's MuseBook and Wireless Foot Pedal

I came across this article from Kelly's Music & Computers Blog actually a few days ago, but my searches for any websites from this company or email addresses have come to naught so far - i'm going to try and email the blogger directly to see if he/she has info on AMuseTek, a Korean company that had a presentation at the latest NAMM conference apparently, showing their Tablet PC based MuseBook software along with - get this - a WIRELESS FOOT PEDAL!!! (cue angelic chorus here)
I've just emailed a wonderful composer friend of mine, Cecilia Kim, who is currently on faculty at Sang Myung University in Korea. Maybe she can come up with some leads! Stay tuned... No Trackbacks |

Musebook Score Home Edition

Now THIS looks intriguing - i just had a conversation with one of the piano students at Curtis who was thinking how wonderful it would be if my Tablet PC could 'recognize' the music being played and turned pages automatically without a foot pedal...well, looks like that possibility is already out on the market.

No reviews on the product yet, so i have absolutely no idea if it actually works or not - my suspicion is that it works if you're playing just the piano alone in an acoustically ideal environment, but that it would be too complex for the software's recognition engine if any additional instruments were added to the mix...i could be wrong, so if anyone has used this program, please let me know!

I'd be a little nervous leaving a page turn to a recognition algorithm...what if i make a mistake and double back or jump ahead? Would the program recognize it and handle the pages accordingly? I imagine this would work with scores written in a MIDI-friendly format, but you'd have to key it in manually if it isn't available. Still, it's a cool concept - maybe someone will be nice and donate an evaluation version to me for review!
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My next piano will fit in my pocket...

Just saw this posted on jkontherun - it's a new patent for a foldable keyboard - check out the site, they have a freaky cyber-dude giving an automated sales pitch (this is a form of programmable 'bot that's used a lot in advertising - actually pretty cool, maybe i should get one for my site...hm...)

To tell you the truth, a fold up keyboard just doesn't get my goosebumps up...it still looks bulky, and it kind of reminds me of a MalletKat, a kind of modular electronic xylophone (betcha never heard of one of THOSE, eh? Go listen to/see John Adam's "Death of Klinghoffer" opera - there's a whole story with this one that i'll save for a later blog...)...

Now THIS, on the other hand, is something i can get excited about...does anyone remember that Star Trek (Next Generation) episode when Capt. Picard falls in love with some scientist lady? They both sneak up into one of the jeffreys tubes and play a little musical duet - Capt. Picard on a little pipe, and the lady plays a - ta-daaaa- roll up piano! Hilarious...
Well, check out the website for the Roll Up Pianoman - i can't tell which video is more bizarre, the one for the 'foldup keyboard' or the one with the hysterical family members elated over their new rollup keyboard that gets tossed into a kitchen drawer when they're done...
Now, don't laugh...i may actually get one of these things... No Trackbacks |