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INSTRUMENT OF THE MONTH-Eigenharp Alpha

A UK-based company invested about 8 years and $16 million USD to develop Eigenharp, a state-of-the-art musical instrument. It features 120 keys that are pressure and direction sensitive to provide the utmost control for professional musicians. Built-in sound managing capabilities enables musicians to record, playback, and loop at ease. It incorporates three inputs (the keyboard, mouthpiece, and tap-pad) to make one of the most advanced electronic instruments on the market

A professional level instrument which allows the musician to play and improvise using a limitless range of sounds with virtuoso skill. The unique design of the keys makes this the most expressive electronic musical instrument ever made. The Alpha can play and record loops, change scale and key, transpose, alter tempo, program beats, create arrangements, switch and layer multiple sounds, all while the musician is performing live on stage.

Available in a variety of finishes, it has 120 highly sensitive keys, 12 percussion keys, 2 strip controllers, a breath pipe and numerous pedal inputs. This gives almost endless possibilities for flexible keyboard layouts, fast instrument switching and expressive musical control. The comprehensive software system provides a wealth of musical performance features, including playback of its own native instruments, many common software plugins, soundfonts or midi instruments.







HARDWARE SPECIFICATION




Keys

  • 133 keys in all.

  • 120 keys on the main keyboard.

  • 12 percussion keys on the lower part of the instrument.

  • Plus one mute key.


Key Properties:

  • Sampled at 2000 samples/second, per key.

  • 10 bit (1024 values) resolution.

  • Sensitive to direct pressure and to lateral pressure in both directions.


Breath pipe:

  • Sampled at 2000 samples/second.

  • 10 bit (1024 value) resolution.

  • Bidirectional, sensitive to blown and drawn breath.

  • Removable, interchangeable mouthpiece for hygiene.


2 Strip Controllers:

  • One on each side of the instrument, 480mm long.

  • Sampled at 2000 samples/second per strip.

  • 10 bit (1024 values) resolution.


Headphone output:

  • 48 kHz sampling rate, 24-bit DAC Sigma-Delta.

  • Software programmable volume.

  • Mute, soft ramp and zero cross detection for volume adjustment.

  • SNR = 94 dB.

  • THD < 0.1% at 1 kHz, 30-Ohm load at -3 dBfs.

  • Up to 75 mW output on a 3.5 mm mini jack socket.


Microphone input/preamp:

  • Balanced input on an industry standard 4 pin LEMO locking connector.

  • 24-bit at 96 kHz A/D converter.

  • Low noise programmable gain from 10 dB to 45 dB in 1 dB steps.

  • Software switchable 48 V phantom power.

  • 10 V Electret polarisation power available.

  • Noise: EIN (A-weighted) = -110 dBm with 150 Ohm source 20 Hz to 20 kHz @ 40 dB gain. EIN (Un-wtd) = -115 dBm with same conditions as A-weighted.

  • 26 dB software switchable input pad.


Recommended uni-directional (cardioid or supercardioid patterns) microphones:

  • Audio Technica AT898C, DPA 4080 and DPA 4022.
    Note: Custom wiring for each microphone is required.


Standard base station:

  • USB 2 interface to host computer.


Strap:

  • Leather strap.

  • Friction controlled multi axis instrument mounting.


Floor spike:

  • 300 mm retractable floor spike with removable rubber foot.










Instruments and soundfonts





You can load and play your own Soundfonts, Audio Unit Plugins and Midi instruments with the Eigenharp Alpha. In addition, the Alpha comes with its own native instruments (at present a software model of a Cello, Clarinet and a Synth engine). The Alpha also ships with a collection of loop libraries and several acclaimed instruments from our partners:

  • 1500 AIFF format (timestretch and tempo change capable) varied Percussion and Drum loops.

  • Sampletekk 'Black Grand Steinway D, sampled at 20+ levels in a 6 Gigabyte set that includes three recordings from dry to highly ambient.

  • Sampletekk 'Tubed Rhodes', a multi sampled Rhodes Electric Piano.

  • Sampletekk Tubed 'Wurli' electric piano in a Gigabyte multi sample set.

  • Camel Audio's Eigenlabs Player version of "Alchemy" - The ultimate sample manipulation synthesizer




System Requirements and Software





  • Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.

  • Intel processor with 2GHz or higher.

  • 2GB RAM.

  • 10GB free HD space.

  • USB 2.0 compatible USB port.

  • Not Windows compatible. Windows software support expected during Summer 2010.




Weight and Dimensions





Alpha:

  • Height 123cm

  • Width 8cm (approx)

  • Depth 3cm

  • Mouthpiece 6cm

  • Breathpipe 16.8cm (approx)

  • Weight 2.64kg


Laptop bag:

  • Length 35cm

  • Width 48cm

  • Depth 20cm

  • Weight 1.046kg


Standard base station:

  • Length 16.6cm

  • Width 17cm

  • Depth 5cm

  • Weight 1kg (excluding power supply and cables)

  • Weight 1.6kg (including power supply and cables)


Mouthpiece:

  • Length 6cm

  • Weight 4.76grms


Instrument Cable:

  • Length 6m

  • Weight 380grms


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