A first try with my Striso duet prototype

[David Barnert]

I’m sorry, I’m having trouble understanding what you mean by “front,” “back,” and “bottom.” Do they refer to the keyboard oriented the way you play it with the rows vertical or the way concertinas are usually pictured, with the hand strap (if there was one) at the bottom and the rows horizontal? And is the “front” closer to or further from the player?

 

Elsewhere in these forums, I pointed out that Wicky’s instrument did have the mirrored left hand keys. That is, the lower notes in each row were played by the lower numbered fingers.

 

I also have no interest, at this point in life, of learning a mirrored setup of the keys, but am also curious to try Lukasz’s handle.

[Don Taylor]

On 8/29/2021 at 9:19 PM, Don Taylor said:

I am curious about what kind of button/joystick switches are used as these are the obvious points of failure.

I received this from Piers Titus van der Torren, the maker of the Striso boards:

 

The note buttons are force sensitive resistor based, on top of the circuit board is carbon foil of which the resistance lowers when more pressure is exalted on the buttons. Each button has 3 pads underneath to create the direction sensitivity.

 

I do not have any experience using FSRs (force-sensitive resistors) so I do not know how good their longevity would be, but I expect that they would be better than electro-mechanical switches.

Edited September 4, 2021 by Don Taylor

[soloduet]

On 9/4/2021 at 11:39 AM, David Barnert said:

’m sorry, I’m having trouble understanding what you mean by “front,” “back,” and “bottom.” Do they refer to the keyboard oriented the way you play it with the rows vertical or the way concertinas are usually pictured, with the hand strap (if there was one) at the bottom and the rows horizontal? And is the “front” closer to or further from the player?

Yes, with this setting the left keyboard becomes mirrored and you can use the same fingerings than on the right side, but it's a full flip with the lower notes where we use to have the higher ones and the higher notes where we use to have the lower ones...

[Jim2010]

Didi, Do you mean it looks like 1 or 2?

 

 

 

[David Barnert]

2 hours ago, Jim2010 said:

Didi, Do you mean it looks like 1 or 2?

 

Yes, I’m still wondering the same thing. The words, “you can use the same fingerings than on the right side” suggest #1, but the words, “it's a full flip with the lower notes where we use to have the higher ones and the higher notes where we use to have the lower ones” suggest #2.

[soloduet]

https://youtu.be/KMqNbi8YESk

 
it’s 1 but with the lowest and highest notes like 2. You can understand in this vidéo. I think that it is a mistake because this setting is just for the left hand of the duet. I will ask Piers if he can correct that…

[David Barnert]

1 hour ago, soloduet said:

https://youtu.be/KMqNbi8YESk

 
it’s 1 but with the lowest and highest notes like 2. You can understand in this vidéo. I think that it is a mistake because this setting is just for the left hand of the duet. I will ask Piers if he can correct that…

 

This looks to me like #2, a 180° rotation.

[Jim2010]

I reconfigured the diagram to match the view from the camera position shown in the video.

 

Is the right hand layout correct?

Is the left hand layout correct (the right hand rotated 180 degrees)?

On the left hand, are the higher sounding notes at position 1 or position 2?

[pierstitus]

To clarify: normally the left hand layout is rotated, so the low notes are near the hand palm on both sides.

The flip option rotates the left hand 180°, so on both hands the flats are on the thumb side and the sharps on the pinky side. What is unusual for concertina standards is that this makes the low notes farthest away and the high notes nearest.

 

 

@soloduetWhile it would be nice to have an option for a mirrored layout (with the low notes near the hand palm), that would need different physical placement of the buttons, like the picture of @Jim2010 above. Otherwise the sharp notes would be two octaves higher than the flat notes.

Edited September 8, 2021 by pierstitus
missed half a line

[pierstitus]

On 8/29/2021 at 11:09 PM, Łukasz Martynowicz said:

Regarding hand freedom without the strap, take a look at my handle design

Nice handle design @Łukasz! I'd be curious to try something like that with the Striso.

[David Barnert]

58 minutes ago, pierstitus said:

Nice handle design @Łukasz! I'd be curious to try something like that with the Striso.

 

It would, of course, limit the use of the thumb on the Striso.

 

Now that you’ve joined us, Piers, can you tell us: where did the name “Striso” come from?

 

Thanks.

[Łukasz Martynowicz]

2 hours ago, pierstitus said:

Nice handle design @Łukasz! I'd be curious to try something like that with the Striso.

Thanks! But as David wrote, I don’t see a benefit of this type of handle on an instrument without the bellows, especially when my handle is designed for sitting position. You already have the „flying hand” I was trying to achieve.

That is unless Striso has accelerometer capabilities. In such case trading thumb freedom for additional degree of expression might indeed be beneficial and my handle leaves other 4 fingers virtually unconstricted.