It’s boosting an all-new 49-key FATAR TP/8SK semi-weighted polyphonic aftertouch pressure-providing keyboard as the first such implementation of that keyboard in the world
https://waldorfmusic.com/en/iridium-keyboard
Not in stock yet.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/IridiumKB--waldorf-iridium-keyboard-49-key-synthesizer
Poly aftertouch sounds great! Hopefully there is a revival of that in more synth keyboards!
From the keys I think the Osmose might be more interesting, for the synth it probably depends what one is looking for. The Iridium has more hands on dials for sure. EaganMatrix cannot (and doesn’t try to) hide that it is deeep.
Not counting the expensive and short-lived VAX 77, there was around a 25-year gap in which no manufacturer produced a full-sized conventional keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch. There are now three, ASM’s Hydrasynth Keyboard and Deluxe and this Waldorf. Behringer has one in the works as well.
The MPE implementation in the Osmose is more interesting to me, but I ordered mine in November 2019 and the latest I heard was that pre-orders might start shipping in June.
The Mellotron M4000D also has polyAT, just to complete the list.
Yeah, definitely kudos to the companies who care to announce and deliver polyAT&Co keyboards!
I’m using my VFX-SD, that I bought when they came out, with the Waldorf Iridium. 6 octaves of poly aftertouch.
It’s pressure-sensitive, but it’s apparently not aftertouch.
I am not sure what about the M4000D doesn’t qualify as polyAT? Mine certainly works like my two other polyAT keyboards-a Chroma and a Roland A80. Could you please point to the disqualifying information?
Watch the video I linked to. Aftertouch modulation normally happens after the key is fully depressed and you apply more pressure (hence aftertouch). That guy’s Mellotron has something more like mid-touch.
Ah, yes I stopped right before he showed how his keyboard is faulty except for the lower and top keys. So, I guess it’s a poly pressure keyboard in his case.
Is his keyboard faulty or is that just how it works? Mellotron calls it “depth sensitivity,” and uses the term “aftertouch” only for the MIDI output. When you press a key gently do you feel it bottom out and then have to push harder for the aftertouch modulation to kick in?
https://www.mellotron.com/digital-mellotron.html
The regular M4000D, the largest digital Mellotron, also has polyphonic depth sensitivity. This means that you can control the volume of each note that is played back in real-time by how deep you press down the key. This technology was developed by Markus to emulate the behavior of a tape being pushed against the replay head. This also gives this instrument Polyphonic Aftertouch via MIDI, which is very unusual for keyboard instruments today.
I had a master keyboard (CME UF8) where it worked exactly as you describe: There was a bottom (so it feld normal for piano playing) and then one had to press even further to activate (in this case global) aftertouch. Continuously measuring the whole travel way of a key is probably more involved sensor-wise. (Usually there are only two to three sensors and velocity is interpolated from these measurements. And aftertouch is measured completely separate.)
But no idea whether the Iridium&Co are perhaps different.
The question is whether the Mellotron M4000D is different.