New NI Fatar poly aftertouch keybeds

[Quatschmacher]

https://www.gearnews.com/native-instruments-komplete-kontrol-s-mk3-series/

Nice to see an 88-key hammer action version too!

[LoboLives]

I seriously hope Sequential incorporates a poly aftertouch keybed in their next synth.

[Quatschmacher]

I seriously hope Sequential incorporates a poly aftertouch keybed in their next synth.

Absolutely with you on that one. Part of the reason I’m taking a hard look at the Super Gemini. Will get to try it out in person in a few weeks.

The fact there’s now an 88-key hammer action variant makes me wish for some kind of T-8 homage or new Sequential thing using that.

Actually would like to see an Expressive E-Sequential collaboration too.

[LPF83]

I've owned a KK S61 MkII for a couple of years now, it is my primary MIDI controller and it gets a lot of use on the OB-X8 desktop module specifically, since many of my other analogs have a keybed.

My initial reaction was that I may need to upgrade just to get poly AT, but then I saw Loopops video about the MkIII and realized I might be making some tradeoffs I regret...  Maschine integration would be missed in my case -- being able to identify which sound via the key light coloring.  He also said the AT response is "steppy" compared to the MkII, which is a bit concerning.  I was also a bit disappointed to see they didn't make room for longer titles on the knobs in MIDI mode, that would have been useful, but of course that is no worse or better than the MkII.  He points out an annoyance I noticed right away -- the values of each knob are no longer displayed until you touch them.  Ugh.

Now most of that can probably be addressed with firmware upgrades, let's hope they do.  But items like the knob title length could have been addressed in firmware on the MkII as well and it never happened, so because it can doesn't mean it will.

On the other side of the coin, there were many times I had considered getting a Hydrasynth keyboard version to replace my desktop, just for the benefit of poly AT.  Now at least I have an option to get a KK MkIII 49 key version at a much lower expense, and I could then decide how important poly AT is to me in the big scheme of things.  For now at least though, I'll be sticking with my MkII.

[narkosys]

All the units being shown so far such as those from Loopop, BoBeats, etc.,  are still running Beta software/firmware (Loopop even mentions this).  Hopefully some of your concerns will  be addressed by the time they are released to the public.

[LPF83]

All the units being shown so far such as those from Loopop, BoBeats, etc.,  are still running Beta software/firmware (Loopop even mentions this).  Hopefully some of your concerns will  be addressed by the time they are released to the public.

One of the pros (design improvements) Loopop mentions hit close to home...  it's good that they moved the touch strip, because on the MkII I accidentally hit it so often that I ended up just disabling it.

I will keep an eye on the MkIII -- I think there is a lot to like for folks looking for a new MIDI controller.  For existing users of the MkII like myself there might not be enough reasons to upgrade any time soon.

[LoboLives]

I seriously hope Sequential incorporates a poly aftertouch keybed in their next synth.

Absolutely with you on that one. Part of the reason I’m taking a hard look at the Super Gemini. Will get to try it out in person in a few weeks.

The fact there’s now an 88-key hammer action variant makes me wish for some kind of T-8 homage or new Sequential thing using that.

Actually would like to see an Expressive E-Sequential collaboration too.

I just hope the actual engine that utilizes it is something more than just another analog synth (Ideally a Polyphonic version of the VCO/Wavetable structure of the Pro 3). I guess my fear of the Focusrite situation was that with Novation being under the same umbrella they would fear any overlap. As such Sequential would be delegated to “analog only” while Novation would handle things like sampling/FM/Wavetable etc. I think that would be a huge shame.

That all being said, there currently isn’t an analog synth on the market that has a built in poly aftertouch keybed....so I’m not opposed to it. I just think after doing Vangelis covers for a few days I’d be like “okay what’s next?”