There is a very nice opcode called FLkeyIn, and I really like to use it as it
has some advantages over the usual 12-key midi keyboards if you prefer
non-12 scales, like harmonic ones, or for other uses, like playing
prefabricated chords, etc.

There are, however, two problems to it, one of which is hardware-related,
but the other one has to do with the implementation in Csound. If you press
two keys at the same time, and release them with too low of an interval in
between, one of the releases gets lost, and the sound keeps on playing, and
you have to use some subterfuge (like Space to mute all sound) to correct
this.

I guess the problem lies in that if the two releases are within one k-cycle,
only one of them can get reported by the FLkeyIn opcode, and the other one
gets dropped, so the easiest solution would be to store the other release
internally, and report it at the next k-cycle to make it possible to process
it as desired.

It's really a pity that this doesn't work well, it makes it impossible to me
to play really fast and intuitive, and I always have to be on the lookout to
avoid the unwanted perpetuation of sound.

Please, if it's possible one day to correct this, thanks.

...

The other problem, the hardware-related one, has to do with keyboards being
wired in such way that they can't report more than a certain number of keys
that are pressed simultaneously (ranging from 2 to 6 or sometimes more), and
that number also depends on the combination of keys, but in real-time
performance this is not so much of a nuisance, since when the hit of one
finger doesn't produce sound, you simply hit it somewhere else, or wait
until other fingers finish hitting theirs, even absence of sound
psychologically does disturb far less than presence of unwanted one.

Also there is not much we can do on the hardware side.

Except perhaps choosing the better keyboards, mine (apart from the Logitech
Wave I use for writing) is a Trust MediaCenter which has the advantages of
a) being wireless and transmitting from incredible distances (many meters,
even through stone walls), b) having all keys in one single compact matrix,
c) having mouse and scroll wheel on board, and d) suffering from that
hardware problem less than others.

I have also painted the keys in a manner that makes orientation easy and is
more aesthetically pleasing than the ubiquitous and therefore boring abcd
letters. (Not boring in interesting combinations, however.)

But my dream would be a 8x16 or so matrix of evenly arranged dynamic keys
with changeable illumination, until then I'm more than happy that we already
have better things than the sticks and wood that were standard for gread
stretches of millennia.

Erich


john ffitch wrote:
> 
> We are considering a new release of Csound in mid January.  Now is the
> time to make your requests and bug/oddity reports.  Naturally we do
> not promise to implement them all.....  But at last teaching is over
> and there is a break
> ==John ffitch
>