Is this the future of keyboards

robkeith · Post by **robkeith** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:24 am

An Aussie inventer, click on the link, I love that instead of using the joy sticks you can push the keys of the keyboard forward and backwards, to get pitch bends that are sublime, there's much more. But interested to know what you think

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2012/03/ ... -keyboard/

ChrisP · Post by **ChrisP** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:49 am

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

Would be curious to see any comments in this thread from Korg R&D

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:32 am

ChrisP wrote:Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

Would be curious to see any comments in this thread from Korg R&D

Korg R&D will probably not react since they never write about their future plans, probably for competition purposes.

Ojustaboo · Post by **Ojustaboo** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:48 am

I like the roller on the key bed, that looks really good to me.

Not too sure about the controller, isn't it just like having a load of sliders on your synth, or to be more precise a load of rotary knobs on their side?

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:17 am

Ojustaboo wrote:I like the roller on the key bed, that looks really good to me.

Not too sure about the controller, isn't it just like having a load of sliders on your synth, or to be more precise a load of rotary knobs on their side?

I agree to this too. The roller seems to have a lot of potentional, especially if it can be mounted to any keyboard (well maybe depending on 61, 73 or 88 note) sending CC to the synth it is connected to (or another?).

The controller is just another way of having sliders/knobs. I rather have it on the synth itself.

ChrisP · Post by **ChrisP** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:06 am

Yes Michel, makes sense :-)

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:27 pm

Ojustaboo wrote:Not too sure about the controller, isn't it just like having a load of sliders on your synth, or to be more precise a load of rotary knobs on their side?

Yes it is,but if you take your Rotary knobs on their side as the concept here you can understand and see the purpose to it.

it is not about having loads of controllors to replace sliders or knobs anyone can see thats obvious it could be done with a row of faders or knobs

its more about ergonomics of it and what the ideology of it seems(from how I see it anyhow)its removing the barriers on how we interact and manipulate our instruments in real time,giving us more freedom and control over conventional ideas

if you look at how its laid out and in terms of being able to play and move several wheels in a more tactile approach and more freely and less clumsy than faders,with faders your more or less moving everything in a uniform manner with your hand in a static position up and down and restricted to where you can go with it

with this controllor your able to move your hand around and alter any number of wheels with each finger or roll several at once with your whole hand irrespective of which position your hand is in,very innovative,try moving a row of sliders in the same manner and your hand in different positions not so easy,you can play these wheels with your hands positioned like your playing a keyboard,how many Knobs would you be able to move in the same manner.

think it needs more visual or colour aid to be able to find your way around it a bit better,if its going to be commercially available a load of clear perspex wheels isn't the best way of remembering what youve put where,even if its laid out like a piano

As for the roll bar under the keys a similar concept was done by Yamaha on one of the older Pro PSR models many years ago I remember seeing it in a keyboard shop some 23 years ago,may have been the PSR4500(although it was just for pitchbend IIRC

billbaker · Post by **billbaker** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 12:52 am

Hate to be a nay-sayer, but it looks to me like many of the functions and controls would be better served if only synth makers would bring back individual key aftertouch (+ and -), release velocity and implement flexible routing of modulators... what, 30 years after Oberheim did it?

Oh, and a Yamaha style breath control - yes, please. No hands, and hey, a proven and natural set of performance gestures for tongued and legato attacks and velocity. And give me flexible routing on that, too.

I don't have an extra hand for controls only. I use both to play. It's gotta be under my fingers as I play. Maybe I could adjust my arm/wrist position enough to give the front pitch roller a go -- I'd rather have a keytar with a neck sensor that used the air-guitar-ish motions we all know & love (wang-chung-neck bend). If I wanted to play one line, monophonic solos maybe I'd give this stuff a harder look. But for me, in the styles I play, ergonomically, no. Not the future of my music.

BB

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:03 am

I'm with Bill. And I don't really get why he would make a controller with like 30 identical wheels, lay them out like a keyboard, and then use them for standard synth editing. My Voyager does nearly all those things with dedicated knobs and switches in a layout that makes a LOT more sense.

namnibor · Post by **namnibor** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 6:37 am

If only these manufacturer's engineers were actual keyboard players, they would focus on individual key aftertouch and as aformentioned, endless modulation routings. These rollers seem like a roadie's nightmare and a repairshop's bread and butter-not for me at least! There's a video on web of NAMM 2012 from the Radikal Technologies booth where their newest keyboard's keys not only have individual aftertouch but can be pressed and wiggled for modulation or whatever you want to assign it to and unlike some manufacter's in past like Alesis, whom made the (IMHO) pretty awesome Ion, yet to cut costs, used the cheapest set of brittle keys and suckey-action on an otherwise great synth--this is an example of engineers and budgets being nightmare for we keyboard consumers--need I also mention the hard to read flat screen on the Ion? Anyway, like the combustion engine being pretty much the same with slight variations since Henry Ford's day; it's been a while since a "new" keyboard really "wowed" me! Not to slam Korg, as my Radias will be buried with me in an ATA case--but when the Kronos came out, it seemed like they simply picked-up where Alesis' Fusion left-off and married it to the Oasyis/M1. These companies certainly have also flooded the market with just how many midi controllers now, instead of focus on "the sound"? To the OP--I want to believe the "future" of keyboards is what DSI have done with the marriage of analog AND digital oscilators, to have the best of both worlds. I'd rather have a mad monkey about on top of my knobs and set-up than those depicted rollers--just my humble opinion and will crawl back to my blinking lights and headphones:-)

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Is this the future of keyboards

Is this the future of keyboards

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