Introducing Form -continued
Pt. 2 FormKey An Instrument Designed to Make You Better at Music
Building A New Tool Based On Old Concepts
When I first began to design Form I stumbled across an interesting looking keyboard. The keys were kind of laid out bunched together in what appeared to be a honeycomb. I remember looking at it and going “Heh.. That’s interesting”. However as I began digging into it and realized what was going on, it quickly became apparent that there was a well spring of potential in pairing these two systems together.
There are countless variations on the premise but this layout is called an isomorphic keyboard. It’s not apparent just by looking at it but this makes playing scales, chords, and patterns easier than it is on any other musical instrument.
I went with a variation of the system called the Wicki-Hayden layout. You don’t have to know what any of that means, I’m just placing this here as a point of reference for anyone that’s curious.
The first benefit of this is that for people just starting out in their learning, it’s almost impossible to hit a wrong note.
If you take that layout and combine it with Form you get something that looks like this:
Striking a Chord
If you’ve ever attempted to learn chords on a piano you know that there’s countless contortions your fingers have to make in order to play certain chords. Chords that oftentimes share tonal characteristics. In FormKey? You learn a major chord once and it’s the same no matter what note you start with. Here’s what that look like using this grid layout:
Major Chord
No matter where you make this pattern it will always be a major chord.
I’m not the first to implement an isomorphic grid in a device, but what the other implementations are missing is the note recognition Form provides.
On other devices my thoughts have always been, “This is cool but what notes am I playing or what chord is this.” With Form, you never have to wonder and it works amazingly.
Minor Chord
The same concept applies to a minor chord. Something you may notice is that a minor chord is literally the inverse of a major chord! This is how you know you’re tapping into something deeper and more fundamental. Because now all of sudden math has started to show up.
At this point we’re starting to play a meta game. We’re using shapes to indicate notes that have then started to make shapes themselves to indicate their relationships 🤯.
Built to Scale
The same concept applies to scales. Once you know the pattern it’s the same everywhere.
Major Scale
Same for minor scales
Minor Scale
Barely Scratching The Surface
There’s so much more I could show you in terms of note relationships, chords, and scales. But that’s just the tip of this iceberg. FormKey is initially being released as a MIDI Controller so that you can use this device to control the instruments in your studio setup. With the goal being to have a new way of interacting with music that enhances your ability to create. You’ll find that the more you use FormKey, the better you become at discovering chords and melodies. As time goes on I’ll be releasing guides and learning materials to aid in these discoveries. I’ll also be building a community around these tools, but that’s not the best part.
The way FormKey is currently being developed we hope to have it become a full music creation environment over the course of the next year. It’s going to feature a wholly unique user experience and user interface, with Form being the foundational aspect and key differentiator between it and other environments.
Long story short, we’re making tools to make you a better musician while also giving you an underlying music language anyone can read. So the true goal is giving everyone the ability to create beautiful music compositions.
Part 3 of this series will explain how duration works using Form. Duration is the most important part of this entire system. Without it you cannot make music. Rhythm and timing are absolutely the crux of any music system. With that being said, it works just as easily as everything else using Form. That article will not be released until FormKey is ready to implement that system so it’s a ways off. Needless to say however, I cannot wait to show you how it works!
OH!! And by the way! 👀
FormKey is available now on the app store!
I can’t wait to see what you make!
If you believe in the work we’re doing and would like to support us we’re on BuyMeACoffee ☕️
