Piano keys are familiar and easy enough to draw if you're not trying to be exact, but if you want label the dimensions with their exact measurements (like in a CAD drawing), it turns into a math puzzle. The problem comes from the groups of two and three black keys.

This article explains it like this:

If you've ever looked closely at a piano keyboard you may have
noticed that the widths of the white keys are not all the same
at the back ends (where they pass between the black keys). Of
course, if you think about it for a minute, it's clear they
couldn't possibly all be the same width, assuming the black keys
are all identical (with non-zero width) and the white keys all
have equal widths at the front ends, because the only simultaneous
solution of 3W=3w+2b and 4W=4w+3b is with b=0.

To unpack that a bit: in that equation, 'W' is the width of each white key at the front (which should all be the same), 'w' is the width of a white key at the back, and 'b' is the width of a black key.) The first equation is for the group of two black keys (separating C, D, and E) and the second equation is for the three black keys separating F through B.

Since it's mathematically impossible, a constraint needs to be relaxed. The article describes ways to make the white keys have slightly different widths at the back.

If we set c=e=(W-5B/8) and a=b=d=f=g=(W-3B/4) we have a maximum
discrepancy of only B/8, and quite a few actual pianos use this
pattern as well. However, the absolute optimum arrangement is to
set c=d=e=(W-2B/3) and f=g=a=b=(W-3B/4), which gives a maximum
discrepancy of just B/12. This pattern is used on many keyboards,
e.g. the Roland PC-100.

When actually building a musical instrument (instead of just drawing the keyboard), there is a further constraint, described in this article:

The black keys on a piano keyboard, instead of always being centered on the dividing line between the two white keys they lie between, are spaced so that the twelve keys which make up an octave are spaced equally as they enter the internal mechanism of the instrument.

But this means that the "key caps" for the white keys should be slightly off-center compared to whatever rod or lever they're attached to. The author speculates about how to divide this up using various units.

(They seem quite annoying to 3D print.)

I wasn’t sure whether I should file this under ~movies, ~music, or ~society, so I put it here. Feel free to move it elsewhere.

I had a thought this morning: I’m confused about the attention-seeking behavior of famous and wealthy celebrities in the music or film industries, past their peak.

From my point of view, as someone who is neither famous nor wealthy, I think that if I ever reached that level, then I would be more than happy when people stop paying attention to me, and instead start swooning for newer, younger artists on their way to stardom.

It would signal to me that my time to be in the spotlight is over, that it’s my turn to pass on the torch, and that I can now ride into the sunset, content to potentially have several decades of time left for me to just enjoy a quiet, cozy life, making use of my money to amuse myself as well as to invest it in worthy causes, so that I not only leave behind a legacy of fame and wealth, but also improve the lives of other people.

Every famous and wealthy musician or actor could do this.

But so many of them don’t. They choose to, instead, do everything they can to stay in the limelight. They pull extreme stunts with which they harm themselves, which ironically, in many cases only end up embarrassing in the eyes of the world anyway. And they do all of this to retain the attention of people who have long forgotten about them.

What for? I don’t get it.

Is it really so that fame and wealth just corrupts a person to such an extent that they become addicted to being the center of attention?

This thought, by the way, came about because I’ve become aware of many such “extreme and dangerous attention-seeking stunts” from many celebrities in the last few weeks. It’s not about one celebrity in particular. It’s been a thought that has been brewing in my head for a while.

hi everyone —

i have been working on a new music/sound art project for a few months and wanted to include voice recordings of people. i really enjoy tildes and reading what you all choose to share and think this would be the perfect place to collaborate!

if you would like to contribute, i’m looking for a few specific things and am also open to hearing anything you’d like to send (and i do mean anything).

here are things that i had in mind:

• voicemails / ideally you would record your voice to your phone or computer using the built in microphones with a message. it could be completely made up or one you would leave someone you know. the more personal/individualized the better.
• transcription of a note / similar to the previous item, i would like to hear you read out a note you took recently. no context necessary. you could of course just make one up for this project as well.
• internal dialogue / obviously this would be a bit more difficult as i would imagine the moment the dialogue becomes external it changes shape and who thinks to even record such a thing? but it’s worth a shot!
• text i provide to you with your own interpretation on how to “perform”
• almost anything you want to send me! (just probably not anything i could get flagged for copyright infringement)
• while i’m primarily seeking voice recordings, if you record some other audio (the ambience of a public park, your commute to work, a pet making noise, server room hums, etc.), i’m open to that as well

about the project

this project is a “slice of life” of sorts with sound and visual art. with that, there would be no context to the spoken audio or visual. these audio recordings are a part of a larger project that will have ambient, drone, and experimental music as the primary focus. there will eventually be a visualization of this project but i have not locked down how that will end up being.

here are two recent examples of music that would accompany the voice recordings (though these exact songs will not likely appear on the project): 1, 2

this will be publicly available as part of my music catalog and on my website. though i did have an idea for some of the spoken audio parts to only be available on physical media or an in-person only event.

your contributions are anonymous unless you request otherwise (to be credited, split royalties*). if the recordings contain personally identifiable information, i’ll work with you on removing those parts or not using the audio at all.

i will reach out to each contributor with the final version before public release so that you can decide if you still want to be apart of it. zero pressure, no hurt feelings.

notes

none of these recordings need to be in english. i would prefer that you speak in whatever language makes you feel most comfortable and authentic.

my only request is that you don’t “make a voice” — i am looking for your natural voice and not a performance.

(*) i currently make near-zero USD on my music, so the royalties split would only be for the sake of fairness and the future possibility of it being picked up by the algorithms or something.

———

thanks for taking the time to read all of that and i hope hear from you!

edit [20.04.25] - wow, i can’t believe how many of you are interested in contributing to a internet stranger’s art project! i’m very grateful.

Hey there musical types! I'm on the hunt for something I can use to create music that doesn't require a PhD in comp.sci and music theory. I downloaded LMMS and found myself immediately in the weeds, so I'm hoping someone out there can point me in a more elementary direction. The end goal is to create a theme track for my YouTube channel that has a good old fashioned 80s metal feel, if such an animal exists...

Thanks in advance!

It's always been a dream of mine to attend one of those big metal fests - simply don't have those in my country. I'll be traveling to Europe for the first time, and I really want to catch one while I'm there.

I'll be there from 13 July - 29 July this year, particularly on the west side of Europe. Planning to go the UK, Switzerland, Germany and maybe more. I found this fest that seems to fit my criteria, Baden in Blut.

I just wonder how comfortable I'll be, as someone who only speaks English and is going solo. Should I be worried about anything? Any advice? Thanks!

So I'm about to attend a Green Day concert on my own. First time in my life doing that, I think in a sense I'm proud of myself for attending something like this solo, it shows that I'm prepared to do things I enjoy on my own purely because I enjoy them, but in a way it makes me a little sad to think that I don't have a friend or a group of friends that I couldnl share this with. What do you think about attending things like live music, movie, entertainment solo?

Last night while my wife was going through my Spotify to pick a song to listen to while I was driving, she mentioned that 90% of my library consists of instrumentals. (Most of which are game OSTs) I find it much more pleasant to listen to, instead of song with lyrics.

Which made me wonder, there might be some hidden/not so hidden gems that I might be missing out on!
Please share your favorite game OSTs with everyone. (New gems, old gems! Either the entire OST or even 1 song of a game! we don't discriminate!)

Bonus point if it's on Spotify

What I currently listen to:

• Armored core 6
• Shadow of the Erdtree
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Nier: Automata
• Devil May Cry 5
• Celeste
• Scarlet Nexus
• Zenless Zone Zero
• Silent Hill
• Flipwitch (Which I understand to be an 18+ game, which I have NEVER played. I just happened to find the OST on shuffle and it got me addicted. Try the song "A Witch's Thoughts")
• Cult of the Lamb
• Fable
• Atelier series