From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Wed Feb 19 05:56:31 2003
Subject:Re: midi controllers with waterfall keys?

Hi Eric,

>For me, it's not so much about the TRUE waterfall keys as it is about the
>keyboard simply being ROBUST enough to take a licking and keep on ticking.
>Even though my all-time favorite Hammond keyboards are true waterfall keys
>(A101, XK2, Electro, in that order), I am fine with other clones like the
>VK7 that does not have waterfall keys, but a very strong and resilient
>action. The new Korg CX-3 action always bothered me, because it is such a
>light action (I think Dan S characterized it well by saying "a key would
>play if you looked at it hard enough," or something like that). It was a
>playable action, but I'm pretty hard on the keyboard and was always nervous
>that something would break. The Hammond XK2 is the most robust clone
>keyboard, in my opinion.

Here is what I was getting at when I talked about subjective vs. objective evaluation of a keyboard.

I've often heard people discuss the Electro's "robust" keyboard vs. the CX-3's "flimsy" one. I'm 99% sure that the Electro 61 and the CX-3 v2 (and BX-3) use the SAME keyboard. They are both made by Fatar, and they look the same, other than minor differences in color. I doubt that Fatar would be making two different waterfall keyboard designs for a niche market, because there is a significant amount of design and test that goes into creating a new keyboard. The only real difference is that Korg triggers on the top switch in Shallow mode, while the Electro always triggers on the lower switch.

Anybody willing/able to take this test? Sit down, blindfolded, at a CX-3 v2 in Deep mode and an Electro-61. Let someone else guide you to the keyboards, making no comments about brand, color, size, etc. MIDI the two keyboards together and only use one of the clones for the sound. It doesn't matter which one; just make sure that they sound exactly the same. Do NOT reach for any drawbars, switches, etc. during the tests. Can you tell the difference? If so, is it because your hands touch the cabinet during playing, or there is a different sound when the keys bottom out? I'll bet it's not because one brand has a better keyboard!

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions™ http://music.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com