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The Hots for the
HOTZ
Tim Conrardy reviews a unique
software and MIDI controller made by Atari itself!
In the late 1980s a certain Jimmy
Hotz (pronounced, "hots") was making the rounds in the music
industry by introducing musicians to the wonders of MIDI, and
in particular Atari computers. Fleetwood Mac, members of Yes
and Tangerine Dream as well as BB King and the Pointer Sisters
were just a few of his clients. However, he had an idea in his
head that evolved into what is now called Translator
Technology. From this initial idea came software and also a
special hardware controller called the Hotz Box which ran in
tandem with the software. Tom Bajoras (then a Hybrid Arts
programmer) did the actual coding, while the concept, scale
creations and programming was done by Jimmy Hotz.
Eventually, the Hotz Corporation
was formed and is presently called Accordance Music Systems,
in which the Translator Technology is continuing to evolve
(see the links section).
Translator Concept
The concept is you can
layer the keyboard into zones. One zone controls chords that
you can assign to any key in the "lower" part of the keyboard.
So all you have to do is use one finger to trigger the chord.
Normally on the Hotz Box, this would be a pad you
trigger.
The "upper" zone is for scales, of
which you have 128 to choose from. Whatever chords you trigger
in the lower keyboard, you will be in perfect tune to it when
playing the upper part. So you could literally play like a
virtuoso. You could play a pattern in the upper part, switch
chords on the lower and the pattern is transposed to the same
key as the chord. You could call it an "expert system" as
Laurie Spiegel would say. You can basically play in any key
just by changing your chord. It takes a bit of re-thinking on
what you are playing. However, the results can be very
rewarding.
I also use the Translator to
process the "left hand" applications. For example, running
Music Mouse, M or Tunesmith through it for some interesting
results. With Music Mouse, it gives me 128 more scales to play
the mouse with instead of the 8 or so scales within Music
Mouse itself.
The Hotz Box
As mentioned Atari manufactured a
special MIDI controller which worked in tandem with the Hotz
MIDI translator software. You can see the keys are flat
membrane pads in the photo above. One has a "regular" piano
keyboard layout with other pads going horizontally and
vertically. The side set of pads are usually used to trigger
chords which in turn the other horizontal layouts are used to
generate scales in tune with the chords. These areas are
called "zones" which can be represented on a piano-style MIDI
controller as well.
Given the nature of the controller
with no moving parts you can perform lightning fast movements
that would be near-impossible on a regular keyboard. The unit
is extremely fast, with 10 parallel processors collecting and
merging the data that you are playing on the keyboard. Having
been given the opportunity to try it out myself, I have found
the Hotz Box very satisfying to my playing style. You do not
need to hammer the keys but can press very lightly as it is
still very touch sensitive. I also find it easy to play
percussively, as they feel like drum machine pads as well, and
can also be used to play percussion voices very effectively.
It is also easy to accomplish strumming techniques. When used
with an acoustic guitar or dulcimer sound, the strumming
effect can be very realistic. Using a sustain pedal together
with the strumming technique can create beautiful effects that
have to be heard to be appreciated.
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Issue 13