linnstrument vs push playability

[afaland]

Thanks for the reply Roger. Sorry I missed it on the FAQ, I checked the global settings section and didn't see it, hence my question.

I guess such mode would interfere with the "note sliding" feature of Linnstrument, because slide amount and pad distance wouldn't remain equal.

I agree with you that in terms of note range it's not necessary with 8x25 pads and that sometimes you need the accidentals but, even though I am a decent guitar player, the only scale notes mode brings some interesting isomorphisms within a certain scale and all its modes (like all triads are the same fingering or shape regardless if they are minor or major, all seventh or ninth chords are the same, etc.) which I find useful for finding chord progressions I wouldn't necessarily find on the guitar, for example; also octaves are closer together, which is helpful for exploring melodies some times.

I must say Linnstrument looks a lot more playable than Push, so I guess it's a matter of practice, like everything.
Congratulations on bringing this very interesting controller to reality (and market).

Thanks for considering LinnStrument.

It is fundamental to LinnStrument's design that its rows are always chromatic. The reason is given is an FAQ on our site:

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[Michael L]

It is fundamental to LinnStrument’s design that each of the eight rows always contain only chromatic scales.

Roger, is it possible (for me) to program Linnstrument to double the distance between semitones in each row, so that each pad plays a quartertone? This would enable a 24ET scale and-- if one turns off quantize-- would enable a more precise fingering of pitches that lie 'between the frets!'

[Roger_Linn]

I can understand your interest in this feature. LinnStrument inspires so many requests that it's difficult to make it everything for everyone. But that's why the code is open source. If you're not a coder, perhaps someone on the forum would like to write this feature for you? The only problem is that it's not trivial to deal with all the constantly changing bend ranges between semitones and whole tones in scales. And keep in mind that a vibrato on a pad with a semitone interval on left and a whole tone interval on right will be asymmetrical, bending twice as much to the right as to the left.

[Michael L]

Thank you for such a helpful reply!

[Roger_Linn]

Roger, is it possible (for me) to program Linnstrument to double the distance between semitones in each row, so that each pad plays a quartertone? This would enable a 24ET scale and-- if one turns off quantize-- would enable a more precise fingering of pitches that lie 'between the frets!'

Hi Michael,
LinnStrument sends only normal MIDI and MIDI defines note numbers as semitones. If you wish to define MIDI's semitones as quarter tones, you can do that in your sound generator, which shouldn't be too difficult to do.

[Jaself]

Roger, is it possible (for me) to program Linnstrument to double the distance between semitones in each row, so that each pad plays a quartertone? This would enable a 24ET scale and-- if one turns off quantize-- would enable a more precise fingering of pitches that lie 'between the frets!'

Yes, it is possible - but it might be easier to remap the MIDI notes to your desired scale on the other end.

I have taken some steps in my modified firmware in the general direction of your request with alternative column offset settings of 1, 2, 3, and 4 semitone intervals. Fractional semitone intervals might be a little (or perhaps significantly) more complex to program since MIDI note-on messages require whole numbers. LinnStrument already sends the necessary pitchbend messages with quantize off.

A constant column offset maintains the linear pitchbend of LinnStrument. Roger's answer above regarding asymmetric left and right intervals was addressed to a previous question in this thread regarding non-chromatic scales.

I answered this same question a few minutes ago in a thread about micro tuning. That thread might be a better place to follow up with more discussion of 24ET.