ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,334,044, issued on June 17.
"Digital keyboard instrument with access to microtonal notes" was invented by Mehmet Ali Sanlikol (Belmont, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The disclosure provides a digital keyboard instrument with seventeen keys per octave. Sharp and flat keys are split to produce additional microtonal notes on the upper end of each sharp or flat key while maintaining a traditional keyboard aesthetic. In some configurations, the digital keyboard instrument is configured to produce twenty two notes from the seventeen key octave. This digital keyboard instrument is configured to provide opportunities to musicians to perfo...