Realistic Hammer Action MIDI Controller

[JohnDonovan]

Have been looking for a new 88 note controller for my home studio, leaving my NS4 to go out on gigs without dismantling the studio every time. In the studio I mainly use Piano plugins so it doesn't have to have any built in sounds necessarily. So my main priority is something that feels great for a real Piano feel, but also some other controllers would be useful for other non-Piano sounds/plugins.

So although I was quite keen on the Kawai VPC1, it's lack of any pitch/mod or anything else put me off. So I went for a Studiologic SL Grand - and ended up sending two of them back - both had uneven keyboards with a number of random keys giving out noticeably hotter velocity than others so making notes jump out as louder than other ones.

So currently back to square one. Waiting for delivery of a Native Instruments S88 Mk3 partly as I use their Komplete Collection plugins too, and also as it has MIDI2. Just hoping the Fatar keyed will feel OK and its setup for an even response unlike the Studiologic.

Any other thoughts/suggestions very welcome. Also keen to hear if other people have experienced this problem with the Studiologic SL Grand.

[FZiegler]

I'm happy with my VPC1 as master keyboard but indeed do miss mod wheel and expression pedal. No need for pitch bend, though. I use the soft pedal of the VPC1 to check expression temporarily - but it will only give values 0 and 127. Could probably do the same with the mod wheel and the sostenuto pedal.
There are USB-MIDI expression pedals to connect directly to the computer - but I haven't checked that yet.

[maxpiano]

So I went for a Studiologic SL Grand - and ended up sending two of them back - both had uneven keyboards with a number of random keys giving out noticeably hotter velocity than others so making notes jump out as louder than other ones.

Just for curiosity, SL Grand has a calibration feature via its SL Editor called "Key Balance" to calibrate it, even if normally you shouldn't need to change it, did you try to check it before sending it back? https://www.studiologic-music.com/suppo ... 5/?lang=en

Anyway, meantime Fatar has evolved its TP40W keybed (which was used on the SL Grand) and the new TP400W has been reported to be better/more consistent, it is currently used on the Numa X Piano GT by Studiologic.

[M_a_c]

I got the SL73 for some years and changed it to the NumaX73 in the end. Both Keybeds had no trouble at all, while the SL73 was much harder to play
and the NumaX73 was perfect to me (and adds some great physical modelling sounds). I also had some electric repair jobs for others SL-Users to do and had both models already opened on my desk. So I cannot understand, how the described malfunction on the keybed could happen... You should talk directly to Studiologic / Fatar for a solution...

[JohnDonovan]

So I went for a Studiologic SL Grand - and ended up sending two of them back - both had uneven keyboards with a number of random keys giving out noticeably hotter velocity than others so making notes jump out as louder than other ones.

Just for curiosity, SL Grand has a calibration feature via its SL Editor called "Key Balance" to calibrate it, even if normally you shouldn't need to change it, did you try to check it before sending it back? https://www.studiologic-music.com/suppo ... 5/?lang=en

Anyway, meantime Fatar has evolved its TP40W keybed (which was used on the SL Grand) and the new TP400W has been reported to be better/more consistent, it is currently used on the Numa X Piano GT by Studiologic.

Yes I’m aware of that and discussed it with the store; but I’d worry that if I gained down those keys so to speak, then playing them at quieter velocities they’d be out of balance with other keys the other way.
Also, I’ve never had to do this with any other keyboard - and I called up a colleague who sets up keyboards for theatre shows and has used a number of SL88 Studios, and he’d never had this problem either. So I don’t know if I’ve just encountered a dodgy batch or something - But I don’t want to have to deal with that having bought a brand new keyboard.

[maxpiano]

So I went for a Studiologic SL Grand - and ended up sending two of them back - both had uneven keyboards with a number of random keys giving out noticeably hotter velocity than others so making notes jump out as louder than other ones.

Just for curiosity, SL Grand has a calibration feature via its SL Editor called "Key Balance" to calibrate it, even if normally you shouldn't need to change it, did you try to check it before sending it back? https://www.studiologic-music.com/suppo ... 5/?lang=en

Anyway, meantime Fatar has evolved its TP40W keybed (which was used on the SL Grand) and the new TP400W has been reported to be better/more consistent, it is currently used on the Numa X Piano GT by Studiologic.

Yes I’m aware of that and discussed it with the store; but I’d worry that if I gained down those keys so to speak, then playing them at quieter velocities they’d be out of balance with other keys the other way.
Also, I’ve never had to do this with any other keyboard - and I called up a colleague who sets up keyboards for theatre shows and has used a number of SL88 Studios, and he’d never had this problem either. So I don’t know if I’ve just encountered a dodgy batch or something - But I don’t want to have to deal with that having bought a brand new keyboard.

Sure, being brand new as I said you should not be supposed to have to do any "dramatic" recalibration. If you have a chance to try the NXP GT anyway I think you may find it better. Regarding VPC1, I had it in teh past and as FZiegler sugegsted I was using a MIDI box to add Expression pedal to it (no need to PB/MW as I was using it mainly for piano and some additional pad sometimes, so EXP was enough)

[JohnDonovan]

Will keep an eye out for the NXP GT if I'm near a shop that has one. But I'm intrigued when so many other manafacturers use Fatar anyway, why the SL Grand would arrive like that. I know Nord make a point to say they calibrate each keyboard at the factory: are Korg/Yamaha etc all doing this too and just never mentioned it in their marketing?

[Schorsch]

The likes of Yamah, Korg, Roland all don't use Fatar but build their own keybeds as far as I know.

I wouldn't be surprised if they calibrate them at their factory as well but they just don't advertise it since it's their own product and therefore does not give them a competitive advantage above others using the same keybed (since there are no others doing that).

That's different from a 3rd party product like the Fatar keybeds used in a Nord keyboard as well as in keyboard from other brands, where Nord can claim that they optimize the standard Fatar keybeds and others maybe don't.

[JohnDonovan]

The likes of Yamah, Korg, Roland all don't use Fatar but build their own keybeds as far as I know.

I wouldn't be surprised if they calibrate them at their factory as well but they just don't advertise it since it's their own product and therefore does not give them a competitive advantage above others using the same keybed (since there are no others doing that).

That's different from a 3rd party product like the Fatar keybeds used in a Nord keyboard as well as in keyboard from other brands, where Nord can claim that they optimize the standard Fatar keybeds and others maybe don't.

Interesting - I'd thought Fatar were slightly more widespread than they seem to be now. Think Korg used to use some Fatar beds, but I'm probably going back to the days of the Trinity (showing my age!). I just googled and see Kurzweil use a lot of Fatar actions - never noticed any problems when playing those, although again I haven't played a Kurzweil for a while now - at one time they were the keyboard of choice for many musical theatre shows.