felis

What you can do with a keyboard depends in part on the capabilities that are built into it. IMO - most are sadly lacking.

Alesis Micron/Akai MiniAK?

Halion also shows what could be possible in a future AN-X. It's had a VA zone for a long time, and it's more advance than any of the Yamaha AN/VA hardware I've had.

The 73 key model has the most off. I prefer a 73 or 76 key model over either a 61 or 88 key.

Thread derail - sorry 'bout that. About Nautilus. Korg is getting very close to making a board I'd consider getting. Sad to say they're the only one of the big 3 so far.

I only remember a $500 price increase, from $2000 to $2500 for the PC4, after the launch and until this recent sale. It's the same price as the PC4-7 now at some places, but I don't know how long the sale is for.

Several places also have $500 off on the Kurzweil PC4, and I doubt they're planning to replace it. So I wouldn't read too much into a sales price.

I passed on the Nektar after writing to them and learning that their boards don't send release velocity. But I understand that that's a big 'YMMV' for most people.

I don't know the current specs, but there are several things I really like about my 49 key MK1. First of all, it sends release velocity, it also has great aftertouch feel, and the pads can send polyphonic aftertouch. If the MKII can do those things, I'd be very tempted to pick one up. It's really shameful that manufacturers don't put that kind of information in the specs.

I'm in the process of doing that now on a pc. It's a PITA.

Just rumors, but lots of talk about Yamaha's AN system.

Absolutely essential.

About the aftertouch - I was just messing with it a bit, and it kicks in easier with the PC4-7 on the white keys than it does on the PC4. I think they must have moved the sensor strip down a bit. Black keys feel about the same. I can activate the AT with my pinkie on the 76, and can't do it on the 88. There's so many other controls though that unless you've got both hands on the keys, there's no real need to use it. Even then, there's plenty of pedal inputs as an alternative. An aside - when rearranging stuff, I stepped on my ancient breath controller and snapped it off in two places. The PC4 series doesn't have an input for that, and it always felt a bit dorky using it anyways, so I guess that's no great loss. 🤣

1st thing I noticed is that it boots up a little quicker than the PC4. Maybe I need to get the latest OS in the PC4. Also, the aftertouch kicks in a little easier. That was my biggest complaint about the PC4. They're really very similar except for fewer keys and a different feel to them. I'm not too good at describing actions, but it just feels right to me - no adjustment period. Also seems a little quicker on the rebound. Craziness occurred right away, thinking maybe I should try to trade the 88 keys for another 76. I have a setup upstairs and downstairs. I'm moving more towards softsynths, but the Kurzweils are the only boards I want to use to control them. Anyways, it's not just a honeymoon period after having the PC4 for a few years, and several other Kurzweils before that. But I've got to say, I love this PC4-7 right out of the gate. Instant bonding with this one. Oh - and at 20 pounds, I was expecting it to maybe feel a bit flimsy, but it's not at all. That said, I don't play gigs - only home use, so I don't know how it would stand up to constant load ins/outs.

I've had a PC4 for a few years now, and just got a PC4-7 today. I immediately feel right at home with the keys on the PC4-7. I've always been more of a synth guy than trying to get a realistic piano feel though. I'm comfortable with the 88 key version now, but liked the 76 better right away.

If you can find 11 with a dongle, you can use that to update to 12 which can be used without the dongle. When you update, the 11 version can still be used with the dongle, but if it's ever sold, it can't be updated again. Also, Steinberg will eventually shut down the servers that maintain the previous versions, so that if something goes wrong with 11, you won't be able to fix it. Progress - the never ending upgrade cycle.

I've also got Absolute. I was debating dropping it and starting over with just Halion. But after mulling it over a bit I updated to Absolute 6.

I have a wish list, but no predictions.

The small Korg keyboards have vsti versions that you can demo to see if they work for you. https://www.korg.com/us/products/software/modwave_native/ I tried them all. I like the Modwave best, the OP6 was pretty good, but I've got a lot of FM stuff already. The Wavestate didn't work for me - choked my computer. But that was an early 1st version. Maybe it'd work better for me now, but I just don't gel with the whole concept. The others mentioned in this thread are probably good, but I'm not in the market for them.

Sounds like you might like this one - visual representations galore - and there's a free version: https://vital.audio/ scroll down the linked page a bit

GForce SEM is relatively simple to use and sounds absolutely gorgeous: https://gforcesoftware.com/products/sem/ Not free, but inexpensive for what it offers. There's a demo to try too, at the bottom of the page..

Nice free update for those who already have Pigments, a half price buy in price ($99 instead of $199) for those who don't, and a demo for those thinking about it: https://www.arturia.com/products/software-instruments/pigments/overview

I wrote to him when Karma first came out, asking if it would ever be general purpose software that you could use like an inset effect. He said - yes, but not for a while. Been over 20 years now, and it hasn't happened yet, so I guess he wasn't kidding.

Just Oddity 3 and a couple Remo Vintage Emporer drum head packs for my Ludwig sets.