[gcb0]

watching it i thought the opposite would be better

playing the piano i would often struggle with not enough finger opening/movement.

i seeing how slow he 'typed' that code, i think the other way around would make more sense. i.e. learning the piano with a matrix keyboard.

We just need pressure sensitive switches. but after that, you would get much more agility. not to mention be able to play pieces that are impossible without 4 hands.

[metaxy2]

There's actually a whole class of keyboards like this [1], the most popular being the Jankó keyboard [2]. Here's [3] a cool demo by a Jankó virtuoso.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jank%C3%B3_keyboard

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isomorphic_keyboard

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK4REjqGc9w

[lotyrin]

As someone who regularly uses such a device, I agree fully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIovU2tpNWg

[yuriyguts]

You're right, those particular mappings were mainly for demo purposes. I guess it would be quite inefficient to use the approach from the video on a regular basis. If I used it in real life, I'd probably map the keys to complex macros, unmapped IDE commands, or other features that are hard to memorize on a regular keyboard.

In addition to @JoshTriplett's idea about velocity, I guess knobs and faders might have some interesting applications too.

P.S. Btw, it's a "she", it's my colleague performing :)

[kybernetikos]

You can use the eigenharp as a matrix, pressure sensitive 'piano' http://www.eigenlabs.com/