oskey — Oskie's ThinkPad instrument #

Oskie (@oskie) sent two mockups on 2026-10-24: a ThinkPad 11e turned into a standalone sampler/instrument, keeping the hardware but recontextualising the keyboard so it reads as an instrument. pieces/oskey.mjs is the first playable cut of that mockup on AC OS.

What the mockup asks for #

• Three modes: instrument / drums / sampler; sequencing lives in the sampler side. F1–F4 pick modes and the sequencer view.
• Number row = nine tracks (Instrument, Drums, Sampler, Loop A, Loop B, four empty).
• Scale layer: every letter key is a scale degree, +1 per key to the right and +2 per row up, so a diagonal of three keys is always a triad.
• Drums layer: the letter block becomes 24 pads, left hand plays the kit, right hand plays samples.
• Hold Fx (Caps): the number row becomes the effect rack, Space stops.
• Tab = bank, Shift = accent, Space = play/pause, Enter = confirm, Backspace = delete, Insert = undo, -/+ = octave, trackpad XY shapes the selected effect.
• Keycaps swapped or painted by role so the colours on screen match the colours under the fingers (second image: a coloured numpad and a Lego grid).

What v0 ships #

mockup	oskey v0
F1 Inst / F2 Drums / F3 Sampler / F4 Seq	same
F5 Scale, F6 Chord, F7 Tap, F8 Quant	F5 scale, F6 chord, F7 tap tempo, F8 root
F9 Mic, F10 Loop, F11 Click, F12 Rec	F9 record/cut mic, F10 loop 1↔2 bars, F11 click, F12 record-arm
oscillator + ADSR patch panel	14 patches: saw/square/tri/sine + GM voices; A/D per patch, drawn
trackpad XY = filter cutoff / resonance	XY = echo send / room send (the engine has sends, not a filter yet)
Fx rack 1–9	Caps + 1 room, 2 echo, 3 glitch
24 pads	12 kit pads (left) + 12 zoo samples (right); col 4 free
sequencing	16/32-step loop per track, live record, F4 grid edit
keycaps by role	the on-screen keyboard is painted by role as a paint guide

Dev loop: boot the stick, then from this directory scripts/dev-push.sh <name>.local oskey --watch hot-reloads edits, and claude on the device (aesel) can edit /pieces/oskey.mjs in place.