MIDI keyboard for steno?

[Jacob Glenn]

Hi Plover group,

I just started researching the idea of using a MIDI (piano) keyboard for
text input. I actually stumbled upon Plover after reading this post at
Stack Overflow:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5928061/using-a-piano-keyboard-as-a-computer-keyboard

Then I started reading about chorded keyboards and found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Telegraph_Keyboard.jpg

It's now possible to buy a small, inexpensive USB MIDI keyboard with 25
keys (one more than a steno keyboard). Big, fat keys that are easy to
press. This might be even easier than using a modified computer
keyboard, with no assembly required.

The idea excites me in part because a MIDI message contains a lot more
information than a simple keypress. That information could conceivably
be used to make one's steno system even more efficient. For example, you
could imagine using MIDI velocity and aftertouch data to control things
like capitalization and word boundaries, reducing the total number of
keystrokes needed.

What do people think about this? Does it make sense? Is it feasible? I'm
just discovering steno so I really don't know. How would you map steno
keys onto a piano keyboard?

Thanks,
Jake

[Matt Thomas]

I've been pitching the same idea sinec 2010 without much traction. :-)

[Stan Sakai]

There actually presently exists a system like this if you want to
learn more. It's called the Michela Stenotype and it is used for
Italian transcription.

http://www.senato.it/relazioni/21616/48230/276188/276277/276278/genpagina.htm
http://www.stenotype.it/sp1/esteno/estenotipia.html (Towards the
bottom)

-s

On Apr 17, 8:03 am, Jacob Glenn <jkgl...@umich.edu> wrote:
> Hi Plover group,
>
> I just started researching the idea of using a MIDI (piano) keyboard for
> text input. I actually stumbled upon Plover after reading this post at
> Stack Overflow:
>

> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5928061/using-a-piano-keyboard-as-...

[Stan Sakai]

I don't know enough about the system or about MIDI technology to say
much or offer any suggestions.
It does sound like an intriguing idea!

On Apr 17, 8:03 am, Jacob Glenn <jkgl...@umich.edu> wrote:

> Hi Plover group,
>
> I just started researching the idea of using a MIDI (piano) keyboard for
> text input. I actually stumbled upon Plover after reading this post at
> Stack Overflow:
>

> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5928061/using-a-piano-keyboard-as-...

[Matt Thomas]

I know the specs behind midi -- and I know mac...@aol.com very well.

I lived as his tenant for 3 years -- he's working on a midi learning
program called Lucky for his music school.

I've heard of the french implementation.

Midi has a "duration" track in its communications protocol --

MIDI allows for key-on, when-key-on, key-off, when-key-off in its
recording format -- as it has a begin and and end an each stroke is
recorded -- but each "release" stroke is also recorded. Does what I'm
so far saying make sense?

[Matt Thomas]

Midi has a "duration" track in its communications protocol --

The communication starts -- and what's equivalent to the timestamping
mechanism in electronic steno COM-based machines

Begin Keystroke -- TimeStampEquivalenti
End Keystroke -- TimeStampEquivalenti+t
t = duration of stroke

So if we approached stenography with a uniformally sized timestep then
maybe you wouldn't have to release keys from stroke to stroke if you
were to press them in the next stroke -- I'm not familiar with how the
french have used the "MIDI" format other than for its communications
protocol efficiency and onboard stroke and time recording
functionality (we've seen midi musical keyboards with 3 and a half
floppy disk drives inside them as we were growing up.)

So:
1) a communications protocol built with a built in redundancy system
at allows for onboard recording and simultaneous signal sending.
2) A possibility of having a metered time based stroking system --
which I can't vouch for except that it would be possible -- not
necessarily viable for stenography.
3) We should maybe try to see why the french decided to go for midi
and if any of the non-communications port-type benefits even make
sense for a language like english

-- point 3 to be done as passively as possible -- I'm only a
psuedo-believer. Most every person I've brought this up to --
Including Mirabi :-) -- has simply asked -- why matt? -- and I say --
blah -- and no good reasons come out -- MIDI for stenograpgy is
nothing more than a unbacked bet than anything else right now for me

[Jacob Glenn]

On 4/18/12 9:07 PM, Stan Sakai wrote:

> There actually presently exists a system like this if you want to
> learn more. It's called the Michela Stenotype and it is used for
> Italian transcription.
>
> http://www.senato.it/relazioni/21616/48230/276188/276277/276278/genpagina.htm
> http://www.stenotype.it/sp1/esteno/estenotipia.html (Towards the
> bottom)

Thanks very much for this!

I think I get the picture; I will let you folks focus on Plover and will
be sure to let you know if my experiments bear any fruit.

Jake

[DennisP]

As a piano player I would be very interested in hearing more about this.