FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMUNCIE, Indiana, USA (November 23, 2011) Aaron Andrew Hunt to give presentations at Işık and Başkent Universities, Turkey. Turkish composer and musicologist Dr. Ozan Yarman has initiated a ground-breaking event to be held at two universities in Turkey during the first weeks of December, 7-14, 2011. Microtonalist Entrepreneurs International Meeting (MELM), the first conference of its kind, will bring together computer programmers, performers, and researchers working in the field of microtonal music. While the majority of the participants will be from Turkey, several guests have been invited from the US, the UK, and Germany. As an invited guest, designer and programmer Aaron Andrew Hunt will demonstrate H-Pi Instruments products at Işık and Başkent Universities. The presentation will include ScalaVista, a free microtonal scale browser for viewing and listening to scales in the Scala file archive; Xentone microtonal ear trainer, for learning all the tones and chords available in the musical spectrum; Custom Scale Editor, for designing tunings for standard MIDI keyboards; Scordatura, a soundfont synthesizer and custom control surface design tool primarily designed for notation software such as Sibelius and Finale; and TPXE, for designing tunings for Tonal Plexus microtonal keyboards. TPXE will be demonstrated using a custom designed 3-octave U-PLEX Tonal Plexus microtonal keyboard commissioned by Dr. Ozan Yarman. All H-Pi products are based on a theoretical paradigm called the H-System, which may also be outlined as part of the presentation. The event is organized by Director of Başkent Conservatory, Prof. Dr. M. Ertuğrul Bayraktarkatal Rector (Prof. Dr. Kenan Araz) and vice-Rector (Prof. Dr. Abdülkadir Varoğlu) of Başkent University, Rector (Prof. Dr. Nafiye Kıyak) and General Secretary (Aziz Genç) of Işık University, and the staff of Başkent and Işık Universities, under the supervision of Dr. Ozan Yarman. WHERE: Işık University: Ayazağa Campus, Istanbul Turkey; and
Başkent University: İhsan Doğramacı Hall, Ankara Turkey More information on H-Pi products and email contact may be found at www.h-pi.com H-Pi Instruments is a legally registered business in the State of Indiana, founded in 2006, operating under the sole proprietorship of Aaron Andrew Hunt. Address: 211 N Alden Rd, Muncie, IN 47304 |
Previous Press Releases
MUNCIE, Indiana, USA (March 8, 2010)
Aaron Andrew Hunt to give presentation at Wright State University.
Researchers in psychoacoustics often write about the quality of musical pitch called chroma, intended to mean the placement of a pitch within a twelve tone octave reference. The word chroma comes from Greek and literally means color, serving as the root for the basic musical term chromatic which is taken in the modern day as referring to the twelve tones of the modern piano keyboard. In 1705, Isaac Newton put forth the idea of a connection between a diatonic scale and the colors of the rainbow, which was promptly rejected by the scientific community. Over three hundred years later, no one has yet proven that any connection exists between colors and musical pitches. Although Newton's assertions were flawed, his findings can be shown to be artifacts of a larger connection between numbers and colors. Aaron Andrew Hunt will outline this connection to students and faculty of Wright State University as part of the Microtonal Weekend colloquia Ben Johnston and the American Microtonal Tradition / Tuning Practices Since 1750, in a presentation entitled H-Chroma: quantitative tone chroma and its uses for Just Intonation composition and instrument design, featuring a demonstration of The Goose prototype Just Intonation wind controller. The colloqium is curated by Dr. Franklin Cox, assistant professor of cello in the department of music at Wright State, who will also be performing music by Ben Johnston as part of the event.
WHERE: Wright State Department of Music
M259 Creative Arts Center,
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy.
Dayton, Ohio 45435
WHEN: Sunday, March 14, 2010 morning session, between 9:30 AM and 1:00 PM
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (November 11, 2009)
H-Pi Instruments releases new U-Plex 422-keys USB microtonal keyboards, lowers prices of all Tonal Plexus keyboards.
A new affordable, portable desktop microtonal keyboard called U-Plex is now available from H-Pi Instruments. These USB-only keyboards feature a compact form factor and supply over 200 keys per octave with sustain pedal input and two buttons for octave transposition. Designed for musicians working with software instruments in either a Mac or Windows environment, the keyboards are USB MIDI class-compliant, plug and play, driverless devices which send raw MIDI data. Free, cross-platform TPXE software allows live editing and performance of user definable arbitrary microtonal pitch mappings for U-Plex raw MIDI data, and routing of retuned MIDI data to other applications for sequencing purposes.
The release of U-Plex represents another first for H-Pi Instruments, providing lower costs, shorter lead times, and higher projected sales than the existing TPX line of stand-alone keyboards, which remain the microtonal keyboard of choice for musicians working in hardware-based MIDI environments. To complement the addition of the new lower cost USB-only U-Plex option and as a help to musicians in hard financial times, prices on the Tonal Plexus TPX line of stand-alone MIDI DIN instruments have been cut substantially, from 18 to 23%.
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (May 1, 2009)
H-Pi Instruments microtonal projects to be presented at the University of Illinois.
Aaron Andrew Hunt, director of H-Pi Instruments, will present and discuss current microtonal research and development projects at the University of Illinois School of Music in Urbana, Illinois, May 5. Hunt will demonstrate the H-System extension of traditional Western music theory with corresponding instruments and notation supporting the composition of music using expanded pitch resources. The Tonal Plexus TPX4s, Tuning Box TBX1, and various software will be demonstrated, including new as-yet-unreleased microtonal ear training software.
WHERE: U of I Music Building at the corner of Nevada and Goodwin, in Urbana IL (street metered parking)
1114 W. Nevada Street, Urbana, IL 61801
WHEN: Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 3:00 PM - 4:20 PM CDT
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (February 5, 2009)
H-Pi Instruments microtonal projects to be presented at UK Microfest 3 and Sibelius Academy.
Aaron Andrew Hunt, director of H-Pi Instruments, will present and discuss current microtonal research and development projects at UK Microfest 3 festival of microtonal music, March 6-8, and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland March 11, 2009. Among the topics presented will be microtonal ear training software.
- UK MICROFEST 3
WHERE: riverhouse (half an hour from London Waterloo, England) Manor Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey KT12 2PF
WHEN:
- Session 1 – Opening Discussion 6:30 PM, Friday, March 6, 2009
- Session 5 – Lecture Presentation 11:10 AM, Sunday March 8, 2009
TICKETS:
- Box office: 01932 253354 (24 hours)
- Festival pass: £50, Concessions £40, Students £15
- Session Price: £15, Concessions £12, Students £5
More information on UK Microfest 3 and its artistic director Donald Bousted may be found at www.microtonalprojects.co.uk
- Sibelius Academy Presentation
WHERE: Sibelius Academy Department of Music Technology, Kalev Tiits, Director: R-building, Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 9, 00100 Helsinki
WHEN: 3:00 PM Wednesday, March 11, 2009
More information on the Sibelius Academy, may be found at www.siba.fi.
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (December 1, 2008)
H-Pi Instruments releases SCORDATURA microtonal software for open beta testing (Mac OSX).
Musicians who use programs like Finale, Sibelius, Logic or Digital Performer to write music face some serious challenges if they want to include nonstandard pitches in their scores. New software from H-Pi Instruments called SCORDATURA addresses these challenges. Created specifically for microtonal composition and performance, SCORDATURA is a Mac OSX sound font software synthesizer compatible with all standard MIDI hardware controllers such as keyboards and trigger surfaces and standard software such as Sibelius, Finale, Logic, Digital Performer, etc., simplifying the process of creating microtonal music using conventional MIDI sequencing and notation software and allowing needed flexibility and features which are lacking in such standard software packages. Tuning tables are in .csv format, and are easily created and exported from existing H-Pi Instruments applications Custom Scale Editor (CSE) and Tonal Plexus Editor (TPXE), familiar to Tuning Box (TBX1) and Tonal Plexus (TPX) users.
SCORDATURA not only retunes and reroutes MIDI output between any virtual and physical MIDI ports, with any number of tuning tables, but it also allows musicians to design their own custom MIDI control surfaces, using standard elements like switches, buttons, trackpads, joysticks, mod wheels, knobs, as well as imaginary elements like user definable polygons.
The initial release is a free download which has some limitations, but will allow users to explore its many capabilities. Programmer Aaron Hunt comments, "I'm excited about the SCORDATURA project, and I hope to get a lot of helpful feedback during the beta testing stage. Right now it is Mac only software, but I also hope to be able to release a Windows version at some point. The control surface design feature is something I'm particularly excited about. I hope it will get some imaginations going and maybe inspire some new instrument design projects. I look forward to seeing what kinds of interesting and unique things people will do with it."
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (April 19, 2008)
H-Pi Instruments begins shipping TPX/6/6s/8s Tonal Plexus microtonal keyboard synthesizers.
Tonal Plexus keyboards are now shipping in six and eight octave versions, with a built-in General MIDI synthesizer option. Tonal Plexus keyboards feature 211 keys per octave, 32 user programmable tuning tables, and a default master tuning based on the limits of human pitch perception. The synthesizer option includes a powerful 22 watt stereo amplifier with speakers, and the new keyboards feature hardware control of more synthesis parameters than their smaller counterparts TPX2/4/s. In addition to waveform envelope attack, decay and release, 3-band equalizer, panning, volume, modulation, and key velocity, TPX6s and 8s feature control of effect parameters and various modulation and filtering options, as well as global pitch bend range. The six octave keyboards also have octave transposing buttons, allowing realtime full navigation of 8 octaves of each tuning table with sustain pedal support. DIP switch settings allow for a global pitch-bend mode in which the modulation control affects the global pitch in the same way as a standard pitch bend control, allowing global control of gliding pitches. A velocity bandwidth feature allows the non-velocity sensing keys to produce natural sounding output by varying the key velocity with a choice of three bandwidths as specified by the user. Also new is a joystick control option, overriding fader control for return-to-center control of parameters such as global pitch bending. Fully compatible with GM equipment, each Tonal Plexus keyboard can be used to control external synthesizers, for full pitch control of favorite synth sounds on existing gear.
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (December 8, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments announces new release dates for TPX/6/8/s
Due to international manufacturing delays, Tonal Plexus six and eight octave keyboards will be shipping at least three months later than originally scheduled.
"These unforeseen delays come at an inopportune time, as the winter months also present some special deadline challenges with several holidays to observe both in the US and in Bulgaria. The new tentative release date for TPX/6/8/s is March 21, 2008. For those customers who have have paid in advance for these keyboards, we are offering compensation for lost interest. We wish you safe and happy holidays and we appreciate your patience and support." — Aaron Andrew Hunt
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (November 6, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments microtonal products to be demonstrated at UC Santa Barbara.
Aaron Andrew Hunt, director of H-Pi Instruments, will deliver a multimedia presentation entitled "The Emancipation of Pitch" to students and faculty of UC Santa Barbara on November 29, 2007. In this presentation, Hunt will demonstrate his systematic extension of traditional Western music theory with corresponding instruments and notation supporting the composition of music using expanded pitch resources. He will further explain why he believes such an integrated model of pitch should be adopted as a new working paradigm in Western music education. The presentation will include demonstrations of the Tuning Box TBX1 microtonal MIDI keyboard converter, the Tonal Plexus TPX2s microtonal keyboard synthesizer, and MegaScore microtonal notation and sequencing software.
WHEN: Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 6 PM
WHERE: UC Santa Barbara Music Building, room 2215
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (October 13, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments begins shipping TPX/2/4/s Tonal Plexus microtonal keyboard synthesizers.
Tonal Plexus keyboards are now shipping in two and four octave versions, with and without a built-in General MIDI synthesizer option. Tonal Plexus keyboards feature 211 keys per octave, 32 user programmable tuning tables, and a default master tuning based on the limits of human pitch perception. The synthesizer option includes a powerful 22 watt stereo amplifier with speakers, and hardware control of synthesis waveform envelope attack, decay and release, as well as a 3-band equalizer, panning, volume, modulation, and key velocity. These smaller keyboards also feature octave transposing buttons, allowing realtime full navigation of 8 octaves of each tuning table with sustain pedal support. DIP switch settings allow for a global pitch-bend mode in which the modulation control affects the global pitch in the same way as a standard pitch bend control, allowing global control of gliding pitches. A velocity bandwidth feature allows the non-velocity sensing keys to produce natural sounding output by varying the key velocity with a choice of three bandwidths as specified by the user. Fully compatible with GM equipment, each Tonal Plexus keyboard can be used to control external synthesizers, for full pitch control of favorite synth sounds on existing gear.
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (August 1, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments announces the release of TPXE Tonal Plexus Editor 0.1 Public Beta Software.
TPXE 0.1, a software tool for programming tuning tables used in Tonal Plexus keyboards, is given its initial release in public beta form, allowing users to experience a virtual version of the Tonal Plexus keyboard, and experimentally organize its numerous keys in various configurations to suit various tuning designs.
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (April 20, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments announces new release dates for upcoming products.
Tonal Plexus keyboards will be shipping at least two months later than originally scheduled. This change will allow new keyboards to ship with key switches rated at five million cycles per lifetime.
"We hope our customers will agree that ultra-reliable key switches are worth waiting a bit longer for; although we have had plenty of headroom working with key switches rated at one million cycles, this change provides an obvious increase in headroom as a sort of security measure. An incidental benefit from a production delay such as this is an extended pre-order discount period for new customers. The net result is an even better product for all of our customers." — Aaron Andrew Hunt
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (March 29, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments announces the release of TBX1, the Tuning Box microtonal MIDI keyboard converter.
The much anticipated Tuning Box TBX1, the world's first hardware based General MIDI compatible microtonal keyboard converter, is now shipping direct from H-Pi Instruments to customers around the world. TBX1 retunes standard MIDI keyboards and other MIDI controllers allowing musicians to play any pitches imaginable, making musical scales of all varieties available at the push of a button. Conventional instruments which are limited to a single tuning of twelve equally spaced pitches are transformed by TBX1 into radically new instruments capable of expressing the entire musical pitch spectrum using any number of pitches in any possible configuration, bringing a vast array of ethnic, historical and artificial tunings to life, and allowing musicians to forge entirely new musical paths using their existing instruments.
TBX1 stores 128 tuning tables in memory, and ships preloaded with an array of numerous different kinds of tunings to be discovered right out of the box. Each tuning table is stored in four layers, totalling 512 full range MIDI tunings, with 128 notes per layer and 512 notes per table, totaling over 65,000 pitches in all. Tuning tables are editable using a free software application called Tuning Box Editor (TBXE), available for Mac and Windows online at http://www.h-pi.com/downloads.html. With this easy to use application, users can make up their own tunings, or import tunings from the public domain Scala tuning archive of over 3,000 tunings. TBXE supports batch uploading to TBX1, so folders full of tunings can be programmed in a single uploading operation.
Designed for portability and ease of use for performing musicians, TBX1 runs for eight hours on batteries and includes fifteen memory presets which allow users to link tunings with synthesizer banks and patches, so that by pressing a single preset button, both a tuning and a specific sound can be recalled.
TBX1 was also designed for ease of use and maximum compatibility in desktop music production situations, allowing a huge expansion of musical resources without the worry and hassle of driver or application support. As a hardware device, TBX1 transparently integrates with all kinds of existing conventional music software without altering existing working habits.
"TBX1 is for musicians who want to go beyond the status quo, who want to do something really different, exciting and new. TBX1 has been a long time in development; we are proud to offer it at an affordable price and we look forward to seeing and hearing how musicians use it to push musical boundaries and make music that sounds truly different and new." — Aaron Andrew Hunt, inventor of TBX1.
More details can be found online and in the TBX1 User Manual and additional documentation which are available as pdf downloads at http://www.h-pi.com/downloads.html.
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (February 1, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments microtonal products to be demonstrated at UK Microfest 2 and Londonmet.
Aaron Andrew Hunt, director of H-Pi Instruments, will demonstrate the Tuning Box microtonal MIDI keyboard converter, the Tonal Plexus microtonal keyboard synthesizer, and MegaScore microtonal notation and sequencing software, as part of a multimedia presentation "For the Future of Music" at the three-day UK Microfest 2, March 4, and at the one-day Londonmet experimental musical instruments festival, March 5, 2007. The Tuning Box TBX1 is scheduled to begin shipping two weeks following these events.
- UK MICROFEST 2
WHERE: riverhouse (half an hour from London Waterloo, England) Manor Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey KT12 2PF
WHEN: Session 7 – 1:30 PM, Sunday, March 4, 2007
TICKETS:
- Box office: 01932 253354 (24 hours)
- Session 7 Only: £8, concessions £5, students with card £2 (includes 2:30 PM concert by Wim Hoogewerf performing works for microtonal guitar)
- Conference Pass: £40, concessions £25, students £10
More information on UK Microfest 2 and its artistic director Donald Bousted may be found at www.microtonalprojects.co.uk
- LONDONMET — TUNINGS AND NEW INSTRUMENTS: a Symposium for Composers, Performers,
Instrument Designers and Acousticians
WHERE: London Metropolitan University Rooms 101 and 102, 41 Commercial Road, London E1 1LA (5 minutes walk from Aldgate East Underground Station)
WHEN: Session 3 – 1:30 PM, Monday, March 5, 2007
- This event is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is strongly preferred: please notify Lewis Jones
More information on Londonmet, and the coordinator of the festival Lewis Jones may be found at www.londonmet.ac.uk.
This event runs from 10 AM to 5 PM, Monday, March 5, and is made possible in part by the UK Musical Acoustics Network.
CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA (January 8, 2007)
H-Pi Instruments begins selling microtonal products online.
H-Pi Instruments opens for business, offering unique microtonal electronic musical instruments and cross-platform microtonal software to musicians around the world. H-Pi introduces three new product lines which are unique to the market, now available at a promotional fifteen percent (15%) pre-order discount.
- Tuning Box, the world's first General MIDI compatible microtonal MIDI keyboard converter featuring over 1500 tunings: scheduled for release March 2007
- Tonal Plexus, the world's first stand-alone microtonal MIDI keyboard synthesizer featuring over 200 keys per octave: scheduled for release June and August 2007
- MegaScore, the world's first microtonal sequencing and notation software featuring cross-platform support: scheduled for release October 2007
H-Pi also enters the musical instrument and technology market as the exclusive North American sales representative for MIDI Gadgets Boutique (MGB), a successful online business based in Bulgaria with a worldwide reputation for designing and manufacturing quality custom MIDI devices at affordable prices. MGB products are available for immediate sale through H-Pi Instruments.
More information on H-Pi products and email contact may be found at www.h-pi.com
H-Pi Instruments is a legally registered business in the State of Illinois, founded in 2006, operating under the sole proprietorship of Aaron Andrew Hunt.
1010 10th Street, Charleston, IL 61920-2822