From deke@dekethegeek.com Mon Feb 24 09:34:05 2003
Subject:Re: waterfall controllers

> Also keep in mind not all of us want/need two manuals. Because I'm
> already using a weighted-88 keyboard for all my piano sounds, that
> keyboard is doubling as the second organ manual.
>
> So what I would be in the market for is a single manual
> organ/drawbar controller. I'd be willing to pay around $4-500, and
> I think they could be easily made for about half that price.

Stewart,

So would you be more interested in a single manual controller with one set of db's, 2 sets of db's, or just a drawbar unit by itself w/ one or two sets?

I'm wondering just how much money would be involved in making such a product from modular pieces. I think it would be very cool if I could make a box that would hold two manuals, but the keyboards could easily be removed... kinda like a use what you need keyboard. Plus, the drawbars would be in sets of nine, available as modules that would "snap in" the larger case, or could be velcroed in place on other keyboards. The thing that makes all this difficult is the waterfall keys. There are only just so many people (FATAR) making those keys, so pricing would definitely suffer. I know we would all prefer waterfalls, but would that be the deal breaker for most of you guys? In other words, if I could only affordably source diving board keys, would most of you just go for a drawbar module and leave the keyboards alone? Keeping in mind that all of this stuff would be MIDI controllers only, no internal sounds.

As an aside to Stewart's point about only needing a single manual, how many of you CX3'ers would buy a lower manual keyboard that closely resembles the appearance of your CX-3. Again, this would simply be a MIDI controller, and nothing else. One upside would be the inclusion of a pitch wheel and a mod wheel. For the CX-3 lower manual, there would be no drawbars, just the keyboard and it's wooden enclosure, hopefully matching the finish of the CX-3 pretty closely. Of course for this one I'm sure most if not all of you would want the same keys and keying action as your CX-3, right? Or would it not really matter that much if the price was right?

Deke The Geek