Fatar Keybeds

[Throbert]

I had a Trinity ad loved it's action. I'd still be using it accept it was ripped when my house was broke into. I played a Triton extreme 76 and it had as good if no better key bed in it. I have a TR 76 and don't like the action on it.

[JDBlackhawk]

Like to revive these zombie posts. The aforementioned Fusion 8HD is in fact a Fatar TP40-unfortunately I found 3 different versions-2 of which I own, and others owned at the Fusion group, If you go to the alesismusic user group you will find I did a ton of restoration on these older fusions, and posted all the info I found about these. One version has green pivots-and i think it is actually called a TP-30, and was used on the QS8 Alesis series first, then installed apparently on some of the 8HDs. There are no differences in velocity response between black vs. white keys from what I am told. Mine have the pink style pivots-and the bizarre part is that one has 2 different counterweight/fulcrum arms-to compensate the key throws among the black and white keys, and it works well. My other does not-all the counterweights are the same color-and this has a 20-step discrepancy in velocity comparing the black and white keys-a pretty nasty defect. and both were installed in my fusions that were manufactured only a few months apart-I checked factory stamps inside the key assemblies. d** aggravating problem. and for sh** and giggles (I was sold on it appearance honestly-never judge a book by its cover!) I purchased a Korg SP-500 from japan-probably overpaid fo it but then, being an equipment whore runs into money doesn't it? The pleasant surprise (I had to take this one apart too-a bad habit of mine) and discovered-the same Fatar TP40-with the 2 dirfferent counterweights-but this one has no aftertouch like the Fusion does and it is a graded hammer version-this is an old digital-I didn't think there were graded actions back then, but this one is. And it is labelled by Korg as "RH-2" so now you know-this is a Fatar key assembly, not a Korg. so I'm torn-these are very comfortable to play-I agree many weighted controllers are actually heavier than a grand or upright, and since a grand generally has a longer pivot-I do not get that nice balanced momentum you can get on a grand for fortissimo-and have always found that less punishing on my chops too. So for now I'm keeping the SP-500, but the sound ROM is not very good. the acoustic and electric pianos are pretty dead sounding, with no internal eq or editing, but the TP40 key action works for me-a bit lighter than some-I can execute fast organ runs and yet play weightier piano parts equally well. A shame, very handy OS for a digital-with multitrack recording and editing possible.

[miden]

Like to revive these zombie posts. The aforementioned Fusion 8HD is in fact a Fatar TP40-unfortunately I found 3 different versions-2 of which I own, and others owned at the Fusion group, If you go to the alesismusic user group you will find I did a ton of restoration on these older fusions, and posted all the info I found about these. One version has green pivots-and i think it is actually called a TP-30, and was used on the QS8 Alesis series first, then installed apparently on some of the 8HDs. There are no differences in velocity response between black vs. white keys from what I am told. Mine have the pink style pivots-and the bizarre part is that one has 2 different counterweight/fulcrum arms-to compensate the key throws among the black and white keys, and it works well. My other does not-all the counterweights are the same color-and this has a 20-step discrepancy in velocity comparing the black and white keys-a pretty nasty defect. and both were installed in my fusions that were manufactured only a few months apart-I checked factory stamps inside the key assemblies. d** aggravating problem. and for sh** and giggles (I was sold on it appearance honestly-never judge a book by its cover!) I purchased a Korg SP-500 from japan-probably overpaid fo it but then, being an equipment whore runs into money doesn't it? The pleasant surprise (I had to take this one apart too-a bad habit of mine) and discovered-the same Fatar TP40-with the 2 dirfferent counterweights-but this one has no aftertouch like the Fusion does and it is a graded hammer version-this is an old digital-I didn't think there were graded actions back then, but this one is. And it is labelled by Korg as "RH-2" so now you know-this is a Fatar key assembly, not a Korg. so I'm torn-these are very comfortable to play-I agree many weighted controllers are actually heavier than a grand or upright, and since a grand generally has a longer pivot-I do not get that nice balanced momentum you can get on a grand for fortissimo-and have always found that less punishing on my chops too. So for now I'm keeping the SP-500, but the sound ROM is not very good. the acoustic and electric pianos are pretty dead sounding, with no internal eq or editing, but the TP40 key action works for me-a bit lighter than some-I can execute fast organ runs and yet play weightier piano parts equally well. A shame, very handy OS for a digital-with multitrack recording and editing possible.

 

 

Unfortunately one needed to go into "zombie mode" to read this. Please PLEASE try using paragraphs

[JDBlackhawk]

How to edit an existing post? I don't see an option here. Also looks like posts default to a very small font without using the advanced features?

[JDBlackhawk]

Changed my mind a bit after playing the SP-500 for a few days-mostly re the operating system, which although a completely closed system-which I expected in a consumer digital piano from 2001-surprisingly easy to work with. I can throw together a decent set of 4-5 track arrangements in minutes since there are no endless menus to wade through-the touchscreen was a very handy idea, and still is. The limitations-forcing me to work with what is there-the drumkits although not editable at all-are surprisingly clean and very usable after all.the fact that there are only a few electronic pianos-not terrible. and a few organs are at least usable. definitely not a replacement for an organ clone or my other workstations.

 

The frustrating part-there are only 2 acoustic pianos that are usable-the others are pretty horrible-Korg did not make these stereo-sounds like they crushed the stereo samples to mono and the results are pretty nasty to my ears. I'm working with the sysex midi implementation to see if i can"fool" this closed operating system to giving up some of its information-there is no bulk dump command from the keyboard, but there is one in the sysex implementation for example.

 

Another huge plus-for an 88-key weighted instrument-to come in at 42 pounds. Back then-I'm pretty sure this was fairly unique for a consumer or stage piano with the TP-40 key assembly. My 8HD's are 58 pounds, and they feel like it!

 

If anyone here is interested-if you have a Korg or other 88-key with a velocity mismatch between the black and white keys-apparently some Fatars had/have this problem and I've run across other workstations that have this discrepancy, even newest....not the SP-500 which is very well regulated/balanced for velocity response-I've not run across any of the older or newer Korgs with this problem, I guess it's possible.

 

I did an extensive mod which-finally after much study/experimentation-I managed to fix. Involved installing small springs under the keys-some Fatars have these installed already, mine did not for whatever reason. Was a very difficult mod but made an unplayable fusion 8HD playable for classic and jazz repertoire.

 

If interested, PM me (can we do that here administrator?) I will direct you to those posts, not on this user group as it involves another brand's user group.

 

 

And to Miden-how's this-I used the advanced editor to up the font size too. After eye operations many years of studying scores, and years proof-reading and printing copy as an apprentice for a job with a newspaper-with 8-point fonts, this size just doesn't work for me anymore!!!