http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1U_BzI7jKk

not too awful far from an NS/Stick laid flat on a table

Above link embedded below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1U_BzI7jKk[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9nKbeFC46s[/youtube]

It's like a history of prototypes that didn't happen until the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYobf8g8 ... re=related
^j^
. ~

the current model has a very nice design. i haven't played it yet, but i would love to sometime...

http://www.kelstone.be

Nice sounds and a looking piece of kit!

And if you get no changce of any paid gigs at least you could take in some ironing in the evenings.

Hi Sebastiaan,

I really like the "look" of it, too, and the demos sound really nice to me.

I've experimented with horizontal tapping (a natural instinct for any keyboard-playing Stickist, which I think is where the Kelstone got it's start, as a horizontal Stick). It was fun to get the thumbs more involved, but what I missed compared with the Free Hands approach was the correspondence of the sequence of finger to the sequence of notes.

What I mean is, as the fingers ascend on a string (1,2,3, 4) the notes also ascend on the string. (A, B, C, D)

On a tapping instrument where both hands come at the board from the same side the relationship is reversed (as on the piano). So the left hand has the pinky as the low finger on a string. This isn't a "bad thing" I just think it makes it harder to relate the same patterns of notes to each hand.

Since Free Hands is in large part about equality of opportunity for the hands, this is an important element of how it feels to play instruments this way.

A cool instrument, in any case. And I hope they have good success.

the inventor was actually a long-time stick player, but could not exploit all the possibilities and adapt them to his goals in music. he stated this in an interview for a belgian newspaper. as soon as he laid his stick down on a table, it seemed more logical in his mind.
i for one cannot imagine having the stick (or any stringed instrument, for that matter) not close to my body. i need to feel the music, close and vibrant like it is attached to my body and mind. therefore, i could never adapt to a piano.

Hi Sebastiaan,

That feeling of connectedness you mention is my favorite thing about Stick over keyboards. I once wrote something that Emmett used in a brochure many years ago:

"The Stick liberates the keyboardist. It is worn and held. It becomes a part of your music-making body. You are no longer at your instrument, you are with it."

The way we grab notes and hold them is very intimate and connected. Close to your heart.