DIY digital piano: The Janko Layout

Mike Filip · 2025-01-05T00:41:05+00:00

So this is an off-shoot of the main thread. To summarize: I am working on a fully DIY digital piano with a custom key layout different from the traditional 7+5 of the regular piano. In the main thread and other sub-threads I will cover the custom action, electronics, assembly, firmware, etc. However in this thread I will talk/discuss the Janko layout specifically. Here is the video of me discussing the layout. So - the classical piano layout (or the 7+5 layout as I call it) is what everyone basically thinks about when asked to picture the piano keys. You have your 7 white keys with 5 black keys, set up in groups of 2 black keys, space, then 3 black keys. This layout allows for an easy C major scale as the 7 notes of that scale are all 'white' keys. Unfortunately the classical layout isnt isomorphic - aka: the same finger shape does not correspond to the same 'sound'. Perhaps the best way to show this would be to compare the C major and D major chords: C major: Now, just looking at the chord and going off of intuition I would expect this to be the D major chord: But its not! Its the D MINOR chord! The reason for this is the 'missing' black key between E and F, leading to this being the actual D major chord: Which leads to the idea of isomorphism (or same-shape if translated). Basically the classical piano layout isnt isomorphic because the same interval can take different shapes - two adjacent notes are exactly 1 semi-tone apart (the shortest interval), but this can take the shape of white-to-black (C to C#), black to white (C# to D), or white-to-white (E to F). The various isomorphic keyboards, of which the Janko is one, are an attempt to 'fix' this issue. Lets see the same example on the janko keyboard (should probably provide a bit of an explanation, rows I, III, V are the same, with keys C,D,E,F#,G#,A#, C again and so on; and rows II, IV, VI with the keys C#, D#, F, G, A, G C# again… why multiple rows? you need at least 3 for true isomorphism and having 6 allows for more ergonomic finger placement as you can decide where to place your fingers instead of having to contort them to the required buttons): Blue is the C major, orange is the D major, and green (just to give one more example) is the C# major (which would require black-white-black shape on a regular piano, which is once again different from the other two. So this is the layout I went with. To summarize, here are the upsides: Same shame for similar chords (or scales, or passages, etc.) making you need to memorize 6x+ less patterns to be able to play from memory. Pieces can be transposed just by starting from a different note while keeping all fingering the same. Jazz licks and similar sections become much easier to learn as you just learn one pattern and you can play it for any key, especially nice if you wish to repeat the same base lines just with a set chord progression - just move your starting note for every chord change and you are good! Many songs contain passages that are essentially the same passage just transposed, which makes it easier to learn & master when you can memorize it once instead of having to memorize different finger patterns for each transposition. (yes, all of the above can be summarized as 'transposition is easy on the janko layout') The octave is 5.1 inches instead of 6.5 of the regular piano, making long stretches (especially those over an octave) easier, even for those of us with Rachmaninoff size hands. This is more on the 'technical' side, but the way the keys are made they have the same 10mm of key dip no matter where you press, so you dont have to worry about pressing harder to play the same volume of note when playing at the back of the piano as on the front. As for the downsides, I couldnt find any objective ones (at least in terms of the actual design) as most of the people seem to dismiss the idea off-hand, or even worse go the "stop whining! just learn the regular piano! its not that hard!" route. Still, here are the downsides I found (or thought of): Good luck finding a teacher. Classical piano? sure - unless you live in Antarctica you are probably a call (and some $$$) away from getting piano lessons. Janko? yea - not happening. Very limited instructions even after you give up on a teacher. Essentially you are down to like 5 books (half of which are in German and all of which are in horribly-scanned quality) that discuss the Janko layout and provide lessons. Sure, you can use the learning books for regular piano, but probably not when you are just starting - so its more along the lines of "learn classical piano then transition", which isnt that great… If you are hoping to get into music professionally, Janko isnt an option. Lets just leave it here. Going to a friend's house or a public venture? You might find a classical piano, but a Janko? definitely not. So for me I am just going to have to get used to lugging my digital piano around if I want to play it somewhere else. In general the Janko layout seems to be in that unfortunate case of a 'small local shop' trying to compete with 'Amazon'. Its just not happening unless there is a truly good reason for it. Lumatone and similar? They offer micro-tonal playing which make it interesting for those on the 'cutting edge' of music. Janko? not so much. Anyway - Anyone have any comments on the janko layout or isomorphic keyboards in general? I would love to get a conversation going about this. @RIP You mentioned being interested in Janko layout before and deciding on why the classical layout is better. Why? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Mike Filip

DavisB

Ok - I will agree with you here. Having the keys not be an ordered set does allow one to 'locate' themselves on the keyboard better if they are not capable of looking at the keyboard (ex: sight reading). I am not sure how important this is, but this is a positive on the side of the classical keyboard.

I am going to hold out that visually, the fact that the Janko layout keeps the diatonic coloring of the notes (7 white and 5 black keys in the C major pattern) it provides as good as a classical piano layout for orientation (though once again - only visually).

One thing that you mentioned in the previous thread that we cant overlook though is the 'back of the black keys' being used for alignment - to the point that removing them along the backs of the keys is detrimental.

This is a very good point and something I went to my piano and tested just now - played a few pieces and just focused on how I place my fingers. So… yea - I use the sides of the black keys to sort of lean or perhaps hold my fingers against in order to help with alignment on the keys. How much of a detriment not having the ability (or necessity?) of playing between the keys (white between black) on a Janko piano is to be seen.

I went back to look at photos and videos of the acoustic Janko pianos and a few of them had very dome-like keys (more like a cylinder dropped on its side, with the axis facing forward). I did round out the corners of the keys of my DIY piano, so maybe that would help with alignment; if not I can also try a fully rounded keys more akin to the original Janko piano, but it might turn out that having that option / necessity of playing between the black keys is actually a boon for the classical piano instead of a disadvantage I initially saw it as (ie: there are a couple passages in the pieces I play which are a bit uncomfortable due to playing mostly on the whites between blacks)

On the other hand, playing on the Janko keys should feel more akin to playing with only the black keys on the classical piano - there is no 'alignment' to be done outside of 'feeling' that you are centered on the key. Guess only trying it out will solve this question.

RIP

Too much for me to digest during a business day. I'll try to get back to this next weekend, but I think we have exhausted each other points and reached the full understanding of each other to the final "agree to disagree" view.

Mike Filip But there isnt anything specific.

True because

Mike Filip Perhaps that part is in the paid section or within the one-on-one lessons?

Yes, his YT videos are not lessons nor descriptions of his course. Rather they are very tiny tidbits of things that can be applied / used outside of his framework. In fact

Mike Filip nothing of this is specific to the classical piano layout, or even the piano in general.

True, he also teaches voice (singing) which is arguably the most different instrument from piano. I think he once mentioned that he was teaching somebody with some other instrument (clarinet?) but don't quote me on that.

Yet for piano he does use the "keyboard map" very strongly to teach one always knowing where they are, what they are doing, what nearby notes are part of the chord that one is playing in that instant (and what role each of those note has), what nearby notes are part of the diatonic "scale" that one is playing in that instant, what nearby notes are part of the chromatic "scale" that one is playing in that instant. So improvising is not passively playing a random lick (sort of "human Mellotron"), but rather making conscious choices among this completely clear palette of sound at your disposal. With extremely simple harmonic progressions I can already do this. It's liberating, illuminating and exhilarating! With an isomorphic keyboard it would be extremely more complicated because the three/four groups I mentioned above (chord/role-within-the-chord, diatonic and chromatic) are only "virtual" and not physical.

Mike Filip From there, you mentioned how due to the split of the keyboard into two groups (2B+3W || 3B+4W) leads it symmetry and brings the number of scales/arpeggios from 24 to 3. Could you expand on that?

No but I can give you a (very small and incomplete) clue. Start with chords. Loop over all the 24 chords. Look only on the 2B 5-note group and ignore all the rest. Maybe make a graph of that. Repeat with the 3B 7-node group ignoring the rest. See the pattern?

Mike Filip This is a very good point and something I went to my piano and tested just now - played a few pieces and just focused on how I place my fingers. So… yea - I use the sides of the black keys to sort of lean or perhaps hold my fingers against in order to help with alignment on the keys.

Alright, so this is a glimpse of what I meant, reinforcing my initial claim that we now "full understand each other" -- other than I'm learning piano with Phil Best of course, so you can't fully understand that unless you also are taking lesson with him

DavisB

Mike Filip
Whether the concern regarding "finding your way around piano" (ie. finding where you are within the scale from tactile feedback) turns out to be a valid issue, or a complete non-issue or just a minor one that can be addressed with textured patterns - I think it's almost impossible to give an accurate and fair assessment of, not without having your hands on a complete Janko piano and spending weeks or months playing it.

There's one fundamental issue that most alternative isomorphic keyboards tend to have - velocity sensitivity.
Keyboards like lumatone and similar technically speaking are velocity sensitive, but from every demo video i've seen, it does seem like velocity sensitivity has a very limited resolution (or the dynamic range is hard to control). In some videos it's almost as if somebody's playing on computer keyboard with a MIDI mapper on!

It's not an inherent quality of isomorphic layouts per-se, just how such instruments often tend to manifest themselves.
Your Janko piano seems to have an exceptionally well designed action (especially for a DIY project), so I'll assume it's a non issue. That clears a massive, major hurdle that most other isometric keyboards would already fail at. That's very, very rare!

Intuitively it seems like it should be better for improvisation and enables faster learning speed, as it has one less "layer of indirection", one less intermediary translation step and a direct mapping between shape and sound. Plus, Janko was designed from the get go with an explicit goal to be suited for regular human hand, and not oversized XXL by default.

So technically speaking it - in theory, on paper, it should be a much better instrument. It needs the experiment however!

I love your work and I hope you don't get discouraged! It's such a fascinating and largely unexplored territory!

Mike Filip

RIP No but I can give you a (very small and incomplete) clue. Start with chords. Loop over all the 24 chords. Look only on the 2B 5-note group and ignore all the rest. Maybe make a graph of that. Repeat with the 3B 7-node group ignoring the rest. See the pattern?

I mean… I could break up the board into into groups of 5/7 based on the black key positions and say that for major and minor chords (or as you call them - tonal blocks: aka all notes on the piano that 'fit' the 3 from a chord?) form patterns;

the third note is always on the same row as the first (and have the same 'span' that you feel)… as long as its not A#, B
the middle note is on the same row as the first (major) or different row (minor) if it lands in the same 'group' of 5/7 as the first note, and is on the different row (major) or same row (minor) otherwise.
the last note is played 'sort of' on the same key as the first note if you 'ignore' the first 2 notes of the 7 group… again - as long as its not A# or B

Which like - yes, that makes sense. You can also say that the second note 'should' be on the same row as the first, but if there is a 'missing' black key between the two notes, then its on a different row. The third note 'should' be on a different row as the first, but if there is a 'missing' black key between the notes then its on the same row; and if there are 2 'missing' black keys between the notes then its once again on a different row.

You can probably find other similar patterns (such as the spacing between the middle and first note, or middle and last note based on their position relative to each other in the 5/7 blocks)… but in the end its just the relationship between the setup of the chord (1st note, skip 3, 2nd note, skip 2, 3rd note) and the way the keyboard is laid out.

RIP I'm learning piano with Phil Best of course, so you can't fully understand that unless you also are taking lesson with him

I guess this is why you cant share the 24 to 3 pattern explanation - because its kept behind the lock-and-key of the course? If so, could you tell me which section I need to buy to become initiated in it? I assume it would be under the "step 3 - introduction to keyboard mapping"?

I guess its just I dont see the 'positive' from having different chord shapes (and yes, I come back to that like a broken record).

Why would C major to G major be a simple shift of the C and E note one down to B and G, but a similar perfect fifth progression from G major to D major involve shifting B to A (one note down again), but G to F# (diagonally to a black key)? Why should the fact that I started the first 'song' from C before making a I->V jump not feel the same way as if I started the song at G? And more importantly - what benefit does having these two progressions not feel the same provide?

well, im off to grab the 15 step guide and the keyboard mapping 'lesson plan' from play piano fluently. Hope that clears some things up.

Mike Filip

DavisB

Thanks!

Thinking back on it now I probably should have started with a simpler glue-on converter for classical piano -> Janko just so I could at least get my feet wet and get familiar with the layout before diving fully into the full-custom-piano… but nothing I can do about it now.

DavisB Intuitively it seems like it should be better for improvisation and enables faster learning speed, as it has one less "layer of indirection", one less intermediary translation step and a direct mapping between shape and sound.

This is pretty much my stance on the Janko vs Classical layout. In both cases you need to practice enough to become so familiar with the keyboard that you stop thinking about which key to press for which note (or chord or whatever) and instead start thinking / feeling with just the music, being able to play wherever the flow takes you instead of being taken out of it when you have to think about the shape this particular chord needs to take.

@RIP is of the opposite opinion - that the inherent diatonic nature of the classical layout lends itself better to understanding the way music transitions/flows between chords/tonal-groups, to the point that on a chromatic layout (such as the Janko) you would get lost - thus breaking you out of the flow when you need to think about where you are, and what you need/want to play next.

RIP

Mike Filip If so, could you tell me which section I need to buy to become initiated in it?

I think I wrote that above, didn't I?

Mike Filip what benefit does having these two progressions not feel the same provide?

Knowing where you are. Like being in a city where every corner looks like every other corner (I've been there, and it's an eerie sense of being lost), rather than every corner being its own. Important when you start doing modulation and/or complex "far" harmonies when from the starting key signature to move off to somewhere else (as it's done in some styles of Jazz, such as by Chick Corea). If when you move to a different key signature it "feels" exactly like before just "a bit to the right", I think it'd be extremely hard to keep track of what you're doing.

Maybe this example is clearer than the ones I gave before.

Mike Filip @Del Vento is of the opposite opinion

Yes, you got it.

For the sake of the casual reader of this thread (I think you, Mike, understand this pretty well), let me just stress that (like everything I say) this is simply my opinion, which I formed with experience and I strongly believe in. But if you feel my opinion is crap and doesn't worth a penny, that's fine, I won't get offended and I'm totally cool with your disagreement. In fact I wish you all the best with your (musical) endeavor. If it feels like in this thread I'm repeating my opinion in different ways that's only because you are pressing me to do so for the sake of the argument and to understand each other better. Also (as you know) I'm happy to collaborate with you on other aspects (such as the Hickman action which would work fine for both Janko and traditional layout).

PASHKULI

RIP
I was never able to try it. (Jankò layout)
Knowing where you are.

To be able to assess any new instrument tool or even information (such as instructional manual) one needs to spend time doing it. Let alone to get good at it!

Del Vento, how many amount of time have you spent on a "normal" piano?
Count from the first day you had it under your fingers to the day you could play… let's say… 8 bars of an etude or maybe "Fur elise" using both hands confidently and acknowledged by a second listener (socond opinion, not yours only)?

Let me guess… at least a month. Or a few days if done by ear from hands on instructions by another pianist without the immediate necessity to read (learn) from a score (which would require much more time).

Unless you are willing to invest that time with a new instrument then your opinion is superficial, biased and one sided.
You admit you've never tried it so it is quite self explanatory.

To make it clear, because you might become defensive of your opinion:
• Jankó contsruction is not great (especially the staircase\waterfal rows of keys)
• the above means Drischke's layout is a bit better, but… it has 'flat surface' keys, where Janko's are rounded (crowned)

All Jankó derivatives I have seen online dismissed this rounded shapes (which Janko probably have taken from some of Renaissance organs and portatives)! And that was a big mistake. The same mistake Drechske made with his keys (before Janko), but he never build a keyboard so it is understandable.

And let's face it: for the Halberstadt ("standard") keyboard and layout there are hundreds of thousands works written and still being written to this day. I have seen only instructional material on how to play Jankó\Dreschke and not a single work (original) for it! Adapted piaces have been made by Daskin (Paul Vandervoort) and Muto (Wataru Ohkawa) on their YouTube and Facebook channels but that's it really.

No one can teach you really. And that is why your opinion is a bit inconclusive to say the least.

Khuja Wangtishvili

PASHKULI No one can teach you really. And that is why your opinion is a bit inconclusive to say the least.

You are far more pathetic than I ever thought...

« Previous Page