[sdiy] Release Velocity & Poly Aftertouch -- Too Much?

[Glen]

I can understand why many MIDI keyboard makers didn't implement poly 
aftertouch. It could add to the complexity and cost of a keyboard 
considerably. However, release velocity should be fairly cheap to 
implement. The same sensors and circuitry which detect attack velocity can 
be used to also detect release velocity.

It was only recently that I realized that most manufacturers were not 
implementing release velocity. Why is this? Is it really because most 
people seem to want a piano style action and find release velocity an alien 
concept? Does it really somehow add to the cost of a keyboard? (I wouldn't 
expect it to be a big factor.)

Most importantly:   I want to know if it's simply expecting too much to 
have a MIDI keyboard with both poly aftertouch AND release velocity. Is 
that amount of data simply too much for a MIDI stream to handle? I 
eventually want to find a keyboard with both features. I might even have to 
build something myself one day. Before I get my hopes too high, I thought I 
would ask this group if combining both features was asking for a big MIDI 
congestion problem? Is there some technical reason why this combination 
simply isn't practical?

I just don't understand why these features aren't much more popular than 
they seem to be--especially on synth keyboards. I could understand them not 
being highly sought-after items on a digital piano or digital organ I was 
working as a synth tech when MIDI was first developed and it promised great 
things back then. Sadly, I never saw any manufacturers really embrace all 
the possible features of MIDI.

Where is my bright and shiny new world, full of fantastic new 
possibilities?   :)


simply baffled,
Glen

"What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free"