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Which waterfall controller?


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I"m looking for a good lightweight controller to take to jam sessions to use with Galileo 2. We have a piano player that comes out hence the desire for an controller for organ use mainly. I"ve been told about M Audio Axiom Pro 61 any other waterfall controllers that you have used and would recommend.
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There are three different types of keys for a synthesizer; diving board, waterfall and lipped. It's making reference to the shape of the key. Waterfall is smooth on the end and rolls over like a counter top. Diving board looks just like it sounds. Lipped has a lip on the end that extends past the end of the key. I personally don't have a preference. It just has to feel 'right'. :)
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Thanks. I've never heard those designations or descriptions of the physical keys, but what do I know? I'm a guitar player. I took inventory of the two keyboards around here and I think I have one lipped and one diving board. That is, if my guess of a lipped key is one like a real piano key, where the top surface is an ivory veneer that hangs over the outboard edge of the key a bit? A diving board is just like a square block? And a waterfall is like a diving board with a rounded corner on the top edge?

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Waterfall actions aren't as common as they used to be... some people even mistake lipped keys for waterfall. M-Audio is one of the few companies that even does lipped keys nowadays, as diving boards are so much cheaper to make.

 

If your organist would be okay with non-sharp lipped keys, there are a few options that might work for you. Nearly all keyboards made by Nektar and StudioLogic have lipped keys. The Novation Impulse series does too, and the Alesis VI series and M-Audio CODE series.

 

Unfortunately, actual waterfall keys are a lot more rare. Some possibilities:

 

This double manual monstrosity from GSi

 

The StudioLogic Numa Compact 2x , which is not a controller primarily but might have waterfall keys (the Compact 2 is lightly lipped but the 2x is designed for organ use and might be waterfall).

 

I hope this helps.

 

mike

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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I use the Studiologic Numa Organ 2 as a waterfall MIDI controller. I have owned it for years and probably have only used the internal organ sound engine once or twice. One little quirk is that only a limited number of its controls output MIDI CC data over USB, but just about all of the controls output MIDI CC data over the MIDI OUT DIN. I have used it with VB3, AcousticSamples B5, and now IK Multimedia's B-3X. It works and feels great, and has all of the controls you'll ever need in a single manual organ controller!
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Thanks I will try to find the Nord and the Studiologica units. There was a Numa Organ 2 for sale ($650 cdn) last month but CL listing expired before I responded. $650 just seemed to good to be true and raised some obvious concerns.
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Actually $650CDN isn't out of line for a Numa Organ 2, if it's been well used. I would want to play it before buying at that price, for sure.

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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