What if musical keyboards had more than twelve notes to an octave? In sixteenth-century Italy, they did! Builders and theorists would regularly split the chromatic keys of harpsichords and organs into multiple parts, creating enharmonic microtonal instruments known as the cimbalo cromatico.
Cimbalo Cromatico: Customizable, Open-Source MIDI Keyboards showcases dozens of historical and theoretical alternatives to the common piano. In this exhibition, 3D-printed keyboard layouts supported by MIDI controllers affordably replicate some of the world’s rarest and most exclusive instruments lost to history.
A QR code beside each instrument opens a free browser app where visitors can play and hear the layout, rebuild it key by key, and download the files to print one themselves. Explore the project, or design and play an instrument of your own at keyboards.richiegreene.com.
Richie Greene was the 2025 winner of the Andries Deinum Prize for Visionaries and Provocateurs, awarded by the College of the Arts. Greene is a composer, arranger, and instrument builder. He has written music for the Oregon Symphony and 45ᵗʰ Parallel Chamber Orchestra, and has had his music set by choreographers and dancers of the New York City Ballet. Richie’s primary focus centers on the psychoacoustics of harmonic systems, working in just intonation and temperaments other than 12-equal. He currently lives in Portland, where he composes, teaches and collaborates within the community. He holds a Master of Science in Music from Portland State University.
The exhibition will be on display from October 2, through December 11, 2026, in the Broadway Gallery in Lincoln Hall.
The Broadway Gallery is open to those with an active PSU ID card. For those who do not have keycard access to Lincoln Hall, please contact the Dean's Office at 503-725-3105 or the-arts@pdx.edu during business hours (Monday - Friday, 9am to 5pm) to gain access.
Learn more about the Andries Deinum Prize for Visionaries and Provocateurs.