Wiardgroup

Mike,

The French Connection is a fantastic controller, offering both
stepwise and portamento articulation.

I have been a long time fan of Olivier Messiaen, who wrote many of the
most definitive works for orchestra and the ONDES MARTENOT, the early
early electronic music instrument that the French Connection gets its
actual mechanical features from.

Calibration is simple (I always retune my keyboards with a strobe
tuner, as opposed to digital voltmeters used by most manufacturers),
and the build quality is quite good.  The ring (attached to a cord
that turns a pot via a pully setup) plays very smoothly. and shows
very little wear after a year of use.  The joystick in the mod bin is
center sprung and has pots for attenuation, making it useful for use
as a tuned pitchbend.

The "bed" below the ring has indentations and brass bumps that signify
the corresponding intervals of the keyboard, so that you can easily
slide from one pitch to another and vibrato around a pitch.

A wooden button in the mod bin can be set to engage the ring, so a
player can play stepped notes on the keyboard and switch to the ring
for a slide (ala ribbon controller) of vibrato.  (This is, of course
the classic method of the Ondes Martenot).

Is it expensive?  Because of the exchange rate, it is unfortunately
overpriced.  Frankly, I traded for it which took some of the sting out
of acquiring it.  The solid walnut case is IMHO, mildly disapointing.
 It looks much nicer in a photo.  I do appreciate it, though.  It is
WAY better than an anvil case or an MDF/laminate case!

Although I have a lot of older stuff, I don't consider myself a
collector.  The FC is not just another keyboard that I wanted for my
collection.  I thought that the FC offered more options for expression
than typical analog keyboard controllers and I wanted to be able to
use something other than a midi controller.  I am experimenting with
actually converting the FC output to midi pitchbend info via an RS300
midi-to-cv convertor - more on this soon....  If this works, wow - a
new universe.

Roger Cordell at Big City Music stocks the French Connection, so if
you are in the So. Cal. area, call him and go check it out.


Gary

 

--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, "sacrificialyam"
<hciassociates@y...> wrote:
> --- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Chang" <gchang@c...> wrote:
> > I have been using an AS French Connection as my keyboard for the 300.
> >  It outputs 0 volts at the lowest c key, and a volt per octave above.
> 
> Gary, would you tell us a little more about your experience with the
French Connection 
> controller? I've been thinking for some time now that it might make
an ideal modular 
> controller, but have been somewhat put off by the price. Obviously,
with a product like 
> this there's no real opporunitiy to go down to the local music store
and try one out. So - 
> 
> Have you found it to live up to your expectations? In what sorts of
ways are you using it? 
> etc. etc.
> 
> Inquiring minds want to know... :-)
> 
> Mike