Product Review - Eigenlabs Eigenharp Alpha

The instrument part of the Eigenharp setup is an impressive bit of kit. About 124cm long, 8cm wide and 4cm deep, it sports two groups of keys, 120 at the top, and 12 (plus another one) at the bottom, each key having an associated LED. The whole shebang weighs about 2.8kg. A cut-away section at the top has a socket for a gooseneck-style breath-controller pipe, and a four-pin mini-XLR microphone input. On the back, about a third of the way up, is a recessed 3.5mm headphone output socket and another cut-away section for attaching a connector used when the Alpha is mounted on its shoulder strap. On the bottom there’s an adjustable spike, like you’d find on a ’cello, and a multi-pin connector for attaching the base-station lead. The review model had ebony panels and rhodium key surrounds and edging, with leather side-panels covering hidden pressure-sensitive strips running the full length of the upper keyboard. The build quality exudes class — it has the feel of a good luthier’s work, but is supposedly very robust too, with the key action sealed to prevent moisture getting into the internal gubbins. Production models will apparently have a series of dimples set into the back of the ‘neck’, to help with locating hands and navigating the upper keyboard. As a fairly high-cost instrument, the Alpha is available in a range of woods and finishes, with plastic or wooden keys, and rhodium or gold-coloured key surrounds and edging. Eigenlabs can also accommodate more inventive and outlandish customisations — at extra cost, of course.