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A few weeks ago, the Eigenharp, billed as the world's most expressive musical instrument, was launched at the Winter NAMM show. A couple of months beforehand I was invited to the official press launch at the BBC's legendary Maida Vale studios in London.

I'd frequented the hallowed ground of Maida Vale some time ago, and on that particular occasion I remember 'master of the swingometer' Peter Snow tearing away from the place in a 4×4 with a flat tyre. Maybe he'd been told of some exciting development in visual display that would render his swingometer redundant? Maybe he was late for his appointment at Kwik-Fit? Maybe he'd heard I was approaching? Whatever the explanation, how he managed to get up the road in a straight line without taking out a lamppost or two remains a mystery.

Maida Vale studios began life as a skating rink in 1909 but shortly afterwards the building was dismantled and rebuilt for the BBC to take up residence (no wonder Torville and Dean are on ITV). It was the centre of the BBC's news operation during WW2 and later became known for housing the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. John Peel became part of the furniture in the 1970s and most of the Peel Sessions were recorded at Maida Vale.

Along the main corridor and down a flight of stairs lies ‘MV3’; a large studio within the building that is used frequently for Radio 1 and Radio 2 live sessions. This is also the studio where my grandfather's musical hero Bing Crosby made his last recording. There's a plaque on the wall to commemorate that particular occasion, and next to it a space big enough to erect one to say I was there. I’m still waiting for the letter to tell me that it's gone up. Maybe they can take Bing’s down if it’s in the way…?

'MV3' is also where the makers of the Eigenharp have taken up residence for the official press launch of their new creation. The room is populated by bizarre looking instruments, Eigenlabs staff, a selection of the world’s music press and an even bigger selection of BBC canteen sandwiches. Bing would have been proud.

Eight years in the making, the initial thought process behind the Eigenharp is simple; as a keyboard player it is difficult to explore and enjoy the expanse of a stage with the same sense of freedom as a guitar player. With this in mind, company founder John Lambert and a team of crack commandos tucked themselves away in deepest darkest Devon, England, with an ample supply of Ambrosia creamed rice and set about developing a solution to the problem. The result was a completely new instrument that not only enabled the keyboard player to look cool on stage, but enabled him to tell the guitarist to piss off home at the same time.

Resembling a cross between a guitar, a keyboard and a bassoon, the flagship model, the Eigenharp 'Alpha', has 120 super-sensitive keys (five rows of 24), 12 larger keys suitable for percussion, two strip controllers for pitch or filter control, a breathe pipe and a few different pedal input options. In essence, the Eigenharp enables the musician to play a limitless number of sounds with the kind of expression and delivery that has evaded the keyboard player thus far.

Prior to getting my hands on one of these babies I assumed that they must use midi as the primary source of data communication, but, as John explained, a unique sensor technology capable of sending a wealth of information had to be developed for the instrument. This is in part due to the fact that the keys on an Eigenharp can move in ALL directions to within a micron; that's the width of a living cell. Seriously. Then there's the breathe pipe; if the sound(s) you load into this thing resemble that of a wind instrument, you can operate the breathe pipe to add emphasis to notes, effects or filters. Midi simply isn't capable of sending this much information.

The presentation begins with John and his esteemed colleague Richard Campbell talking through the development of the Eigenharp and is followed by a demonstration of the instruments themselves. Prior to the visit to Maida Vale I have been looking online at the various Eigenharp teaser videos that have been released, and although the instrument and its features have been shrouded in mystery there are a couple of 'home movies' of full time demonstrator Dave and his mate knocking out some Moby tunes in his bedroom. It is these same Moby tunes that we are listening to again today. Dave's He-Man duvet is nowhere to be seen.

A quickfire Q&A session ensues, but not before I am asked by various Eigenlabs staff to remove some references I made to attending the event from my Twitter feed. Understandably, the company is concerned that the music press might start asking the musicians in attendance their opinions on the instrument before they have had ample opportunity to get to grips with one. It wasn't common knowledge then but film composer Hans Zimmer and jazz-funster Courtney Pine have been among early adopters, and I did hear a rumour that Jean-Michel Jarre would have been in attendance but, alas, he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he injured himself the night before while tarting about with his laser harp at the Putney Travelodge? Maybe.

During the Q&A session I ask what the size of the onboard memory of the Eigenharp is and whether it is expandable. I was surprised to learn that the memory I am referring to is absent as the Eigenharp acts as a controller for you to play the sounds racked up on your computer. The Eigenharp has been designed as a live instrument, and so I am surprised that it has to be attached to a third party unit; I assumed that you loaded in your sounds and off you wandered, playing to your hearts content. Apparently not. Furthermore, as the emphasis is exclusively on live performance there is no buffer memory; again this is disappointing as the ability to recall 'what you've just played' is missing when that blistering clarinet solo falls out of the instrument. A purist may argue that live performance does not require such data capture, but it would still be a nice feature to have, particularly if the idea is that artists may adopt the Eigenharp as their primary instrument. If this happened to be the case then it is fair to say that an Eigenharp might turn up in the recording studio at some point. Finally, the Eigenharp software is Mac only, no Windows support just yet. Bah.

After I've made a nuisance of myself with questions I probably shouldn't have asked I get the opportunity to sit down with Demo Dave and his rather wonderful Eigenharp. I feel privileged to have been one of the first to get my hands on one. The first thing I notice is how intuitive it is for keyboard players and guitarists alike due to the way it can be played; the keys can be reprogrammed to suit whichever instrument you're used to. Play keyboards? Then set it up like a keyboard! Play guitar? You get it. I do confess to expecting to be able to pick it up and play it like a guitar straightaway, but that was my error. You can adapt the Eigenharp, not turn it into a guitar. After all, what would be the point in that? If that's what you’re after you might as well stick with the guitar.

I am also impressed with the build quality. This is definitely an instrument that's had a lot of care during the assembly process; a beautiful wooden body houses the sea of keys and the LEDs that accompany them. Furthermore, if you’ve got cash to burn, "a wide variety of finishing options are available via our custom department". Oh and there's a microphone input with pre-amp and phantom power so that you can sing along to 'the hits' inbetween solos.

One of the Eigenharp's core features is its 'arranger' mode. In addition to noodling away with your bank of saxophone sounds you can use this mini sequencer to create a loopable rhythm section or backing track to accompany you. Like so many Eigenharp features this is just a short keystroke or two away and the zillion LEDs act as the visual cue to let you know what mode you're in and what notes/keys are being triggered as part of the sequence. The LEDs also double up quite happily as an aid when playing in the dark, as well as an exciting visual element to your live show. It's not quite Pink Floyd at the UFO Club but it's not far off.

After making a racket with the Alpha I had a quick look at the Eigenharp Pico, which is a scaled down version. Reduced to 18 keys, four additional mode keys, one strip controller and a smaller breathe pipe this entry level version is still capable of interpreting its own native instruments, Apple Loops and midi instruments like it's big brother. It doesn't have anywhere near the wow factor that the Alpha has (you can't mount it on a belt and use the absolute centre point of gravity to your advantage when developing your own version of Pete Townshend's 'windmill' for example) but with a £3,600 price difference you might be able to see past that. Yes, that's right; the Eigenharp Alpha retails at just under £4,000 while the Pico comes in at just under £400 (at the time of writing). Don’t forget that you’ll need to buy a laptop too. That's a lot of money to part with if you're a keyboard player that just wants to show off a bit on stage (I'm talking to you Paul Hardcastle).

That said, the Eigenharp comes at a time when there is more of an emphasis on delivering engaging live performances than one cares to remember, and there is no doubt that this unusual spectacle is sure to wow fans while giving you the kind of control over your sounds that you've previously been unable to achieve. And who knows where the future of the Eigenharp lies; time and time again technologies start out as one thing and develop into something else, usually a result of user interaction and behaviour. This is especially apparent with the Eigenharp, particularly if John Lambert and his team decide to license their much-better-than-midi sensor technology to other manufacturers. The Eigenharp might end up representing the first in a long line of a new wave of electronic instruments all capable of delivering intonation and emphasis like never before.

So what would Bing have made of it all? I don't know, but one thing's for sure; looking up at that commemorative plaque I can't help but feel that seeing the man himself laden with an Eigenharp Alpha and blazing his way through 'White Christmas' would have even the instrument's creators wowed… and if not, my grandfather would definitely have been impressed

Thanks to John Bennett, the BBC and the good folk at Eigenlabs for a memorable day.

So what are your thoughts on the Eigenharp?! Let us know by adding your comments to this article using the reply form below:

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Tags: bbc, dan furr, eigenharp, maida vale, technology

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Audio Justice Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.