The Thummer was a prototype musical instrument that contained an isomorphic keyboard with the Wicki-Hayden note layout and at least one thumb-operated joystick. Announced by the Australian company Thumtronics Pty Ltd in 2005, the Thummer won awards and received extensive press coverage. However, the product did not come to market. Isomorphic keyboards similar to those used in a jammer have been shown to accelerate the rate at which students grasp otherwise-abstract concepts in music theory. History Origins The jammer keyboard was invented by Jim Plamondon in September 2003. Following this, he founded Thumtronics to design its "Thummer(tm)-brand jammer" and bring it to market. The trade name was to emphasize the unique thumb-control feature. Prototype Thummers were produced, but the effort to commercialize them failed, and Thumtronics was disbanded in mid-2009. Features # At least one 2-dimensional keyboard in a hexagonal array; preferably, one for each hand. The keys of the left-hand instrument are mirror-imaged to those on the right, to match the mirroring of one's hands. # Notes assigned to the array using the Wicki/Hayden note-layout. # At least one thumb-operated expressive control (such as the thumb-operated joysticks found on seventh-generation video game controllers). # Optionally, other expressive controls, such as internal motion-sensors (such as those found in the Wii Remote video game controller), foot-pedals, breath controllers, etc.
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