Hi Mike,
>As a trained organist (not pianist, ORGANIST) who played instruments like the
>Multimoog, Liberation, and CS80 in their heyday, I would be far happier with a
>keyboard that had aftertouch and no velocity than a keyboard with velocity and
>no aftertouch. Being able to sprinkle the data in later, event by event,
>hardly constitutes performance.
>
>Someone had a very funny April Fool article a year or two ago with a
>photoshopped picture of a MIDI controller with one single key, that used
>mapping to change the key's MIDI note number on the fly, arguing that it
>wouldn't REALLY slow anyone down, right?
>
>Well, there may be a gazillion people out there who are perfectly happy with
>velocity and no aftertouch on their controllers and who think only of
>aftertouch as data you paint in later with a mouse (the tyranny of the
>piano--BAH!), but I'm not one of them and I refuse to be one of them. I demand
>aftertouch: good usable springy comfortable well-designed reliable aftertouch!
>I am happy with mono ("channel pressure data"), but it would be nice to get
>back into poly again even if it means retraining: I haven't had a Prophet-T8
>in my studio for over a decade.
I hear where you're coming from, but REAL polyphonic aftertouch is expensive to implement -- remember how expensive the CS80 and Multimoog were? All of these USB keyboard controllers have their own set of rules, and the first three or four of those rules say, "The street price should be under $300US." What you're really looking for is a $600-1,000 USB MIDI controller, and the market isn't there.
Also, poly-AT eats MIDI bandwidth for breakfast, while everybody expects one keyboard to be a whole band these days. There's no way you're going to support multitimbral, full-band MIDI and have room for poly-AT, too. I can sympathize: I'm a Hammond organ nut, and while the clone market has improved in the last few years, there are certain things that I'd love to have -- like 9-contact key response, or an effects loop on digital clones -- that aren't going to happen anytime soon. It's nice to dream, though, isn't it?
Regards,
-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions™
http://music.ashbysolutions.com978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@...