From jonbsherry@yahoo.com Sun Feb 10 08:23:03 2002
Subject:Waterfall controllers and custom controller builds/mods

Thanks for a great list guys! I've read the archives extensively, and I
wanted to throw out some observations and questions.

Assuming that Hammond/Suzuki isn't outsourcing their waterfall keyboards,
I'm not surprised that they wouldn't supply their competitors. However, all
of a sudden, about every other clone-maker that sells a self-contained
package (meaning TG emulator and keyboard controller) is offering or about
to offer waterfall keys (Nord Electro, Korg BX3, and VK-8). Someone on the
list mentioned Fatar as the supplier of the Electro controller, and given
the economies of scale that have been discussed extensively on this list, it
seems likely that the all the clone-makers would be buying from the same
supplier. Anyone know for sure who's making these keyboards?

Which leads me to custom controllers. I read that some of you are combining
a MIDI controller with your self-contained clone to form a 2 manual rig. A
couple of you made customizations for stability. One or two people
speculated about or were actually working on building a single case to hold
either a CX3 and controller, or 2 controllers. This seems like a great idea
to me, since you could permanently wire the boards, and some setup time
might be saved. Anyone finish such a project?

For an example that uses a recycled Moog CDX organ case, check out the Bat
Controller in February's Keyboard magazine.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to purchase the waterfall mechanism
from whoever's supplying Electro, et al., so I could roll my own.

Also, regarding the trick for canceling the double-bounce on the CX3:

turning local control off, and running MIDI out to in makes you susceptable
to MIDI overload (bandwidth-saturation due to too many MIDI events), doesn't
it? I read that the V5 can choke with certain smears, because of MIDI
issues. Any CX3 users run into this problem when using this trick?

Sorry for the tome, and thanks for again for a great list!

-jb


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