A sad story: the Quartal Board -- the LinnStrument that almost was (sorta)

[mrspiral]

As I type this, I am watching the final 2 days of a Kickstarter campaign that may be one of the most phenomenal failures in the history of the website. With 45 hours to go and with a $30,000 goal, the creator has received one backing pledge for a total of $1. Ouch.

Why am I discussing this in the LinnStrument forum? Because based on the information I’ve been able to glean about it, it’s the story of someone who developed a grid instrument based on a layout like the LinnStrument's, but did so in isolation and never knew that the outside world was already enjoying a fully realized commercially available instrument like his.

Long story short: the campaign’s creator, Geary Thompson, is a musician who’s been making music since 1974 on something he calls the Quartal Board. He’s developed pedagogy for it and even patented it, but apparently (I have not researched this) the patent either ran out or the registration was never fully funded, and the idea fell into the public domain, assuming it was ever patentable in the first place. He’s now nearly 80 years old and figures he has maybe five years of creative life left in him, and launched the Kickstarter in a desperate attempt to get SOMEONE interested in his idea. All he was offering were caps and hoodies for ridiculous prices, and there’s no indication of what he was going to do with the money he raised, aside from potentially developing a sellable hardware device from the one handmade unit he owns.

What’s killing me about this is that apparently the magical new device he’s been developing in isolation over the last 45 years is basically a 9x9 grid tuned in fourths. He appears completely unaware of the existence of the LinnStrument, the monome, the Launchpad Pro, the Push2, the Deluge, the Medusa, and of all the people who are now playing them as an alternative to conventional keyboard technique, which is what he was hoping to encourage in the first place.

On the one hand, ha ha, look at that guy developing something we already have by the thousands.

On the other hand, ouch, 79 years old, he’s already won his battle for his method’s recognition, and he doesn’t even know it.

Here’s the link to the campaign. I have reached out to him with my email address; I’d like to learn more of his story than is available here or at his website http://www.quartalquorp.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/16 ... n-and-play

Food for thought...

mike

[John the Savage]

Well, for starters, there's simply nothing in his Kickstarter campaign that inspires any confidence, or even makes sense for that matter. I mean, he's not even offering the actual device in exchange for your pledge, so why would anyone give him money? And that's before you take into account the fact that his idea is redundant.

While I do feel some sympathy for the guy, it's just a hard reality that there are a lot of misguided, ill-informed people in the world—well-intended though they may be—jumping off the castle wall, feathers in hand, while the Wright brothers take to the sky under powered flight.

Maybe he should go work for Roland (smirk).

Cheers!

[Ou_Tis]

I thought Kickstarter had a substantive screening process?... wow.

[Geary Thpmpson]

The QB (Quartal Board) is an actual musical instrument: everything else seems to be a gadget.

[Geary Thpmpson]

From my point of view, pop music died in 55.

[John the Savage]

I'm sorry, Geary, but the LinnStrument is no "gadget".

It's as legitimate an instrument as any I've ever played. And I came to the LinnStrument as a 35-year career musician: guitar, piano, percussion, and vocals... I tour with it, and play it alongside all of those other instruments with equal proficiency. To which end, it has changed my life for the better, having opened-up the synth sounds that I use to a level of expression that was previously only possible on the guitar.

And citing clichés about the death of pop music is not going to win you any respect here.

I think the comments made in this thread (five years ago, I might add) were more than fair. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of room, in the world of alternative controllers, for your idea. You certainly play it well. And I personally know several players who share your preference for mechanical keys, and might therefore favor the Quartal Board's interface over the LinnStrument's.

But you weren't actually offering the Quartal Board in exchange for a pledge, and that is likely the number one reason why your campaign failed. Regardless, you can't hold people in contempt for being skeptical about that.

Anyway, I wish you well, man. I really do. I hope you keep playing your instrument.

Cheers!

[FranklyFlawless]

The QB (Quartal Board) is an actual musical instrument

Do you have an actual working public URL to back up your claim?

[John the Savage]

There's a playlist of short videos featuring the prototype on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6poKbQ ... ovSbUhJ5zA

[Roger_Linn]

Hi Geary,

It’s very nice to become aware of your work, and of our shared appreciation of the advantages of the fourths grid pitch arrangement.

Thank you for your kind contribution to the world of ideas.

Roger

[FranklyFlawless]

There's a playlist of short videos featuring the prototype on YouTube

Thank you for the link. It looks like activity on the channel has been recently restarted, and there are references to a "Quartal Guitar", although there are no videos of Geary performing with it on the same channel.