I’ve had the Eigenharp Tau for two weeks now, and have been spending all my spare time with it since then. My thoughts so far:
Hardware
Wow! I didn’t think the Tau looked all that great in pictures, but in real life it looks nice. The weight, touch of the keys etc. makes it feel like a quality instrument. Playing it is a very pleasant, ergonomic experience, but difficult at first since the keys are super sensitive. It takes a while to get used to them.
The really important part, which is also the most difficult to describe in words, is that the direct connection between every slight movement of ones fingers and the resulting sound removes a mental barrier of sorts. I don’t have a sense of controlling a synth that creates sound. Rather, I’m the one creating the sound. I don’t know if this makes sense. But playing a synth this way feels great.
Software
EigenD, the software part of the Eigenharp was confusing at first. One isn’t required to spend much time with it, as premade setups are provided. But being of a geeky disposition, I have spent a lot of time creating my own setup from scratch and learning the basics of “belcanto”, the underlying scripting language. It is a very clever piece of software, but complex.
If one is willing to put in the effort to learn EigenD properly it is a very powerful tool, not only for the Eigenharp, but for integrating other gear as well. But learning how to use it is hard work and probably not for everyone. EigenD is free, opensource and does not require an Eigenharp.
In combination with A4
I don’t want a computer as part of my setup, so I installed EigenD on a Raspberry Pi 2 that autoboots into EigenD with a midi setup. That means the software runs on a tiny, noiseless box hidden away in a drawer and I do the things I want, like switching octaves, scales, midi channels etc, directly from the Eigenharp. I have the A4 connected to the Raspberry via USB-midi.
On the A4, I just map the midi controller data I transmit from EigenD to whatever parameters I want them to control. The ribbon on the back of the Tau I use for performance macro A. I have the 12 percussion keys on the Tau send chromatic notes on a separately configurable midi channel. On the A4 I use the multimap feature to trigger drum sounds, switch patterns or similar. Note: modwheel and breath CCs is listed in the A4 manual as supporting 14bit values, but that doesn’t actually work. So 7bit only, unfortunately.
Since so much of the sound modulation can be controlled with the parameters sent from the Tau, creating useful patches on the A4 is very easy. Even simple beeps sound great when played expressively.
I love using the A4 CV outs to play my modular from my Tau. That is what I’ve been enjoying the most so far.
I’ve also tried using overbridge and integrating the A4 VSTi into EigenD to control parameters directly in high resolution instead of going via midi. That worked, but didn’t really seem all that useful to me. I liked using the A4 as a sound card for the EigenD instruments, though. But again, since I prefer not to use a computer, midi only from the Raspberry is what I’lle be using. If I really wants to use overbridge and software instruments, I’ll buy a Mac Mini and run EigenD and overbridge on that.
It will take a couple of weeks for it to arrive, but I’ll try to report back on how good/bad of an idea this turned out to be once I’ve spent a bit of time with it.
