source file: mills2.txt Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 15:08:00 -0800 Subject: Starr Labs controllers From: "Fred Kohler" Dear Harold, I would have to say that I would not be interested in a velocity insensitive keyboard of any configuration. I agree that $3500 for a generalized keyboard is quite steep and is more than I can afford as a hobbyist. However I did notice in examining Starr Labs site that any of their MIDI controllers is usable as a generalized keyboard because of their programmability and a feature called zoning. "Zoning features allow up to 16 MIDI channels on the neck at the same time assigned to rectangular zones of arbitrary size. Zones are independently programmable for Base Volume, Channel, Patch number, Velocity, Tuning, Transposition, and MIDI filter." Since the tuning you would use resides in whatever MIDI sound module you are controlling, it's a simple matter to program a tuning to match a zone on a per channel basis or per patch basis. As a sometimes guitar player their Z-Tar guitar shaped controllers with 144 keys and 16 zones are quite appealing to me and are quite a bit more affordable. They start at $1560. They also have a couple of table top style controllers called the Z-Board and G-Board which feature 276 keys and 46! zones as well starting at $2750. I don't mean to sound like a Starr Labs salesman here but I am impressed with how programmable and versatile their regular MIDI controllers are. Even those not designed specifically as generalized keyboards could be used to escape the 7+5 format. ---Fred --------------------------------------------------------- Fred Kohler, #7-240 Burnside Rd E, Victoria, BC, Canada phone:(250)388-7918 email:Fred_Kohler@bc.sympatico.ca --------------------------------------------------------- Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sat, 30 Nov 1996 05:35 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA12440; Sat, 30 Nov 1996 05:36:58 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA12481 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id UAA17361; Fri, 29 Nov 1996 20:36:51 -0800 Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 20:36:51 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu