Daskin Progress Update

[Paul Vandervoort]

The mechanical hardware is essentially finished.  Now I have to get the electronics working, and finish up the software.

2-minute video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmrB68eIGkw

Photos, including pics of the Decker Bros. Janko piano (as suggested by Dominique).  All are public domain.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_vandervoort/

Cheers,
Paul Vandervoort

[dominique.waller]

Hi Paul, thank you very much for the photos.

The keys look fresh on your Jankó keyboard. Had you changed them from the original ones? For which material?

 

Besides, I think it’s a great progress that each key can be played independently on your Daskin keyboard. It opens the way to all sorts of new effects, am I right?

Dominique

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[dominique.waller]

Hi Paul, thank you very much for the photos.

 

The keys look fresh on your Jankó keyboard. Had you changed them from the original ones? For which material?

 

Besides, I think it’s a great progress that each key can be played independently on your Daskin keyboard. It opens the way to all sorts of new effects, am I right?

 

Cheers,

 

Dominique

----- Original Message -----

From: Paul Vandervoort

To: diyke...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2011 7:56 AM

Subject: [diykeyboard] Daskin Progress Update

[William Croft]

Paul, beautiful design and execution!  I can see this making a big splash at the next NAMM show.  With both you and Jordan Rudess doing demos...  :-)

Mechanical fit and finish is extrordinary. This looks like something right off the Korg or Roland assembly lines.

[PJP...@aol.com]

PaulV

 

It would be great if you could make a deal with one of those BIG companies - so everyone could get one -

 

( What ever kind of deal that could be.....!? something every kid wants) If you could get a few big time artists to create a demand -by performing a piece each for a TV or Internet Infomercial - (where did I hear that before?) {sounds like a huge business endeavor}

 

Wasn't there a "Will Pie" Janko like keyboard offered with a Roland model in the early 1990's (I think I heard that from his mouth....) which apparently went unnoticed as far as I can tell.......

 

It looks great and I admire your perseverance in Improving on the original (I can't imagine the work an time and investment ...)

 

I would love to buy one but at the moment can't - would love to help with education on how to play the basics - theory scales - chord progressions etcetera.

 

Best of Luck; PaulPb

[pa...@daskin.com]

Hi Paul-

Thanks for the good words.

Regarding the big companies:

In 1989 I met Kim Holland at the NAMM show.  At that time he was the president of Korg.  I showed him my keyboard.  We talked for a few minutes.  He asked intelligent questions.  Finally he said "This is a very interesting idea you have here, Mr. Vandervoort.  Tell you what: I'll make you a deal.  You scrape up the venture capital, and if it turns out that this is commercially viable, then we'll jump in and make the profit."  I was speechless.  I should have thanked him for his honesty. 

Yes, I have thought about pairing up one of my keyboards with a well-known performer.  I'm keeping my eyes open for the right person & the right arrangement.

I met Wil Pye back in ~1988.  Haven't heard anything from or about him in a long time.

I welcome educational materials from you or anyone who wants to contribute or sell.  Just remember that the fingerings for 5+ row are different than for four.

Paul V.

[William Croft]

On Tuesday, September 6, 2011 11:07:42 PM UTC-7, Paul Vandervoort wrote:

...

In 1989 I met Kim Holland at the NAMM show.  At that time he was the president of Korg.  I showed him my keyboard.  We talked for a few minutes.  He asked intelligent questions.  Finally he said "This is a very interesting idea you have here, Mr. Vandervoort.  Tell you what: I'll make you a deal.  You scrape up the venture capital, and if it turns out that this is commercially viable, then we'll jump in and make the profit."  I was speechless.  I should have thanked him for his honesty.

 
Sometimes CEOs can by cynical jerks just to show off their extroversion and power-over vibes.  That's the old paradigm.  Let's rewrite the next conversation with a more enlightened CEO, something like this:

"This is a very interesting idea you have here, Mr. Vandervoort.  Tell you what: I'll make you a deal.  We'll buy five prototypes that we can seed to our consulting artists, and from that feedback we'll use our in-house manufacturing resources to take that into a small production run of say 100.  Of course by licensing your patented innovations.  If that in turn has good reception, we'll launch a larger marketing campaign and ramp up production.  We expect you to be involved at every stage of this rollout.  Especially in helping traditional keyboard players adapt to the new performance and compositional dimensions of the Janko."

[Paul Vandervoort]

On 9/7/2011 10:36 AM, William Croft wrote:

Let's rewrite the next conversation with a more enlightened CEO, something like this:
"This is a very interesting idea you have here, Mr. Vandervoort.  Tell you what: I'll make you a deal.  We'll buy five prototypes that we can seed to our consulting artists, and from that feedback we'll use our in-house manufacturing resources to take that into a small production run of say 100.  Of course by licensing your patented innovations.  If that in turn has good reception, we'll launch a larger marketing campaign and ramp up production.  We expect you to be involved at every stage of this rollout.  Especially in helping traditional keyboard players adapt to the new performance and compositional dimensions of the Janko."

Let me get these things up & running, & maybe I'll meet this enlightened CEO.  Thanks William.

Paul V.

[Ken Rushton]

Might I add to this conversation that Paul's new hardware contains at least several important innovations that I am aware of - some covered by his patents - including a most excellent piano-like movement, with a near-constant linear downweight & a very nice "release" and soft return. Also note the distinct tactile patterns on the keys: this is not frivolous; without markings it's very easy to have the hands drift. You've already noted that each key is independent.  

 

These may seem like little things, but they are part of a whole collection of things that collectively add up to an instrument that is way beyond the original Janko keyboard; perhaps as much as the piano is an improvement over the harpsichord.

 

Ken.

www.altKeyboards.com

[Paul Vandervoort]

Thanks Ken!  Are you looking for a sales Job?  :-)  I wish I could hire you.

Paul V.

[PaulM]

Congrats Paul V!  It's looking really good!  

-Paul M

[Ken Rushton]

Hi all.

 

I can appreciate what Paul V has done more because I am an amateur trying to do the same thing with the jammer approach and the details - and risks - loom large in my mind. Paul's work is very much at the professional level and should be heeded by us DYI types if we want to go pro: he has had a clear vision, he has worked through the many things, fine details, that are needed to refine the rough janko design so that it can compete with the highly-refined modern piano design - 15 generations of work!

 

The things in front of him are non-trivial: electronics and software but relatively straightforward (I think). I hope that all goes well at through these stages. After that comes Marketing, but that's a subject all on it's own ...

 

Ken.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken Rushton]

Re: My thoughts on the next step, after Paul V has dealt with the minor (ha!) details of electronics and software (and readied mass manufacturing). Next comes Marketing; the shoal upon which many, many a good idea has floundered.  

 

I think Paul is well placed here. One markets an instrument to a musicians on one major criteria: Can it do the deed? Can it produce better music? Can it do tricks that can't be done on an older instrument?  

Further questions: does it look snazzy; will it make me look jazzy?

 

In most cases where a new instrument has been created, it takes nearly forever to produce someone who can highlight its features, so no one will buy it and it dies. However, by curious coincidence, Paul can make a Janko Keyboard dance.

 

He's got a fighting chance, especially as his keyboard has individually assignable keys. With that killer function (just think what can be done by assigning different rows to different octaves, different instruments), he should be able to make it do yoga. It does not hurt either that the janko keyboard itself is really not that wierd and his implementation looks really high-class and polished.  

 

Too bad I'm not a VC - I'd give him a largish cheque. :-))

 

Ken.

[PJP...@aol.com]

Other Then "BUSINESS" - I think it's just a matter of education -

 

you can do anything on a 6-6 keyboard that you could on a 7-5

 

(it even expands certain 'harmonic' limitations)

 

Does anybody play music anymore? -

 

Is it hard to find a teacher who will teach you the basic formulas for harmonic progressions in various styles of music?

 

There are other (dumb) problems............( I laugh and cry a little for those reasons ) -

 

SUPPORT THE ARTS - or did you want to play baseball?