From k2mojo@groovedaddies.com Thu Oct 20 12:02:37 2005
Subject:Controller options (was:Nord Electro still inspires & Why Doepfer)

The long-discontinued Roland A-50 controller has both the pitch/mod lever AND separate pitch & mod wheels. It also has both channel
aftertouch, and the considerably more rare polyphonic aftertouch. It even has four zones and *four* assignable footswitches (very
rare). Very full featured, especially for 1989 when it first came out. I've been trying to buy one for years (mainly for the
polyphonic aftertouch), but the very few that show up on eBay always sell for way too much.
Given the trend towards virtual soft-systems and the need for live controllers with all the features you can get, I can't imagine
why Roland doesn't make these anymore, let alone any of their controller line. What an odd marketing decision. None of the Edirol
controllers are designed for live work and none of them are larger than 61 keys. If Roland would make a rugged controller for guys
that want to play soft-synths live, one with at minimum all the features of the A-50 and then add 9 sliders, USB 2 and FireWire,
they would have to make a killing.
As it is now, all the keyboards that have a large compliment of the features one needs for live work with a laptop/Receptor
(multiple zones, multiple footswitch jacks, multiple audio and MIDI outs, many buttons, sliders, knobs, ribbons, wheels, USB,
FireWire, patch & setup memory, etc.) are all flagship workstations like the K2600, PC2, Motif ES, Korg Triton, Nord Stage,
(Roland's 'flagship' Fantom-X pathetically only has two pedal ins - 'hold' & 'expression', compared to the K2600 which has 4
footswitch ins, 2 CC pedal ins, 2 ribbon ins, 1 breath control in - this is why Jordan Rudess could play an entire DreamTheater gig
on one K2600). Of course these all cost $2K to $4K and all have major sound engines that I don't want to pay for if I'm using a
laptop.
The closest full-featured controller-only keyboards I've seen so far are the M-Audio Keystation Pro88, the Doepfer LMK4+, and the
Studiologic VMK-188 (and VMK-88), but then they're all 88-note hammer-frigin'-weighted, which makes them useless for playing
anything but pianos on. Neither Doepfer, M-Audio or Studiologic even make a 76-note controller. The M-Audio MK-461C with 61
non-weighted keys and 9 sliders (for Hammond work presumably) only has a 'sustain' jack and nowhere to plug in an expression pedal
(did they run out of money?). All of Doepfer's controllers are full hammer weight except for the D3 which is obviously for organ
ONLY since it has no pitch or mod wheels/stick (what am I supposed to play fast Moog lead lines on?). The Studiologic VMK-188 has
it's pitch/mod lever right in the middle of the keyboard (weird!) and the VMK-88 only has one oddly positioned pitch lever and NO
mod lever or wheel. BTW, why do people keep messing with the tried and true pitch & mod wheel setup on the original MiniMoog? Moog
got this right the first time around!
The CME UF series has a lot of good ideas, the first being that they have several options in size and action (3 non-weighted - 49,
61, & 76, and one hammer-weighted 88-note), and all with the same feature set, so that for once they didn't short-change the
synth-action controllers. But they dropped the ball in the pedal input department, assignable buttons for one-push program and bank
changes, and no preset memory - all very important for live work. CME might make a good future contender with their next attempt IF
they implement a lot of the suggestions/complaints they're getting on their user forums. At least they're headed in the right
direction by making a reasonably-featured performance controller that's under $800. I've tried to limit this discussion to
controller features and not keyboard action, because as we all know, keyboard action is right up there with religion and politics
regarding what's "correct".
Eventually somebody's going to make a line of controllers (61, 76, & 88 - non and hammer weighted) that covers ALL the bases and
will feature all the jacks, knobs, interface, etc. that anyone needs to perform live with a VST-based sound engine. I wish they'd
hurry the hell up.

Ed Fliege
k2mojo@groovedaddies.com

> --- arnegeddon wrote:
>>
>> PS--One more pet peeve: synths with a pitch/mod
>> stick. What are they
>> thinking????

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