[sdiy] keyboard questions

[Simon Gatrall]

>At 06:11 PM 3/14/02 , thescum at surfree.com wrote:
>
>  >I hate to say it, but Fatar are one of the few companies making keyboards
>  >today.  Off the top of my head, Yamaha also makes their own.  My
>  >understanding is that the two of them own the patents needed to make
>keyboards.
>
>I hope that you aren't claiming that only two companies in the world
>manufacture all the musical keyboards, because that is not the case. I'm
>curious as to what you meant exactly.

He's refering to the keyboard mechanisms themselves, not the keybaord 
and the music making circuitry.  Indeed, Fatar makes a huge number of 
the keyboards in the world.  Just like Alps, Keytronic and a few 
other companies control the QWERTY keyboard business.

Fatar is an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) for the music 
industry in addition to making organs.

-s!mon