creating a custom roll up Piano: can I connect 2 type-keyboards via USB?

browny_amiga · 11-27-2008, 10:16 AM

Hi there

I am a music learning, Piano that is and I have had need for a roll up piano for some time. The ones on sale are not what I want at all, either having speakers built in, only working over MIDI (which I don't have in a laptop). None are powered by USB and transfer MIDI over USB like it should be done.

Now I am considering to build one myself. The keys don't have to be velocity sensitive. I was thinking about canibalizing a rubber type typing-keyboard that you can buy for nothing. Fitting the keys on that one should do the trick. Now one keyboard will not be wide enought, so I will need two.

As you can tell, the whole thing does not need to be beautiful. It just needs to work and writing the interface program via python will also be a breeze.

Now my questions:

1. can you connect 2 typing keyboards via USB and distinguish them in X? Obviously I don't want both of them returning the same keycodes.
2. Can X recognize several keypushes at the same time? if you push t and l and u and b at the same time? Or is this a thing that is not handled by standard typing-keyboards?

Please don't mention anything about PS/2, since I have no computers with that interface and hate it with a loathing. It is old, redundant and I am so glad it was replaced by USB. (I just came across many posts in google that mentioned connecting two keyboards like that).
I don't doubt that you can connect two or even 5 keyboards via USB, the question is how Linux will perceive them and how you can get input from them.

I intend to use the wires for the keys, so I don't have to figure out how to use the USB controller to send events.

Markus

browny_amiga · 11-27-2008, 10:27 AM

Almost forgot:

Most rollup pianos you can buy are not usb class compliant midi devices, no, they are evil proprietary junk Windows only things. There is NO WAY in hell that I would support such a junk that I can only get to run in a Windows virtual machine. When will they learn that proprietary closed standards suck to high heaven?
You are then stuck with a crappy application that they write (and of course, have no clue about writing software if they are good at doing any hardware).

Just my rant, but it is so endlessly annoying.

Markus