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

[harrybissell]

Aside from the 'set and forget' keyboard players (like what, 98% of them ?)

Poly aftertouch is a great control.  I had some fun using the Prophet T8 (in
the store)
playing a minor chord and bending just the third up to major.  Very like a
pedal steel
guitar, unlike a keyboard.

Works great for the intro chord to "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, as
well....

H^) harry

Glen wrote:

> 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"