to-pse Posted July 3, 2004 Report Share Posted July 3, 2004 Hi everyone,I'm currently investigating building a keyboardwhich has polyphonic aftertouch. To do this, Ineed to put a force-sensitive resistor undereach key. Unfortunately these parts cost between4 and 10 Euro/Dollar. As I want to equip an 88key keyboard, this would be a little expensive,so I'm looking for a cheaper source - doesanyone have any pointers?Tobias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JimCook Posted July 3, 2004 Report Share Posted July 3, 2004 There is a company here where I live (Portland, Oregon area) that markets what appears to be the perfect FSR for a polyphonic aftertouch application. They also market panel encoders and wall "wart" power supplies. But, they are a wholesale distributor, not a retail operation. I made a tentative contact with one of their sales reps last year and he seemed receptive to selling direct to me, although I'd imagine that he'd want to sell large quantities.I'll contact him again after the Independence Day holiday next week. In the meantime, surf to http://www.cui.com/ and look around. While they may not want to sell direct to MIDIBoxers around the world, since their warehouse is just down the street, if I can cut a deal with them, I might be willing to buy in small bulk quantities and ship individual orders. I couldn't just focus on just selling FSRs but if their panel encoders, power supplies, etc. are of interest to the community, I could sell those, too.If more experienced MIDIBoxers could look at their wide variety of panel encoders and let me know what looks like the best encoders for MIDIBox applications, that would be very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
to-pse Posted July 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 Thanks a lot. Looks very promising. Let me know whatyou found out when you have talked to the guy...Regards,Tobias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JimCook Posted July 7, 2004 Report Share Posted July 7, 2004 I have not heard back from my contact at CUI but DigiKey is now selling their FSR. Unfortunately, DigiKey wants nearly $6 for them! I have asked my contact if he knows of an alternative product that would work. DigiKey is also selling CUI encoders, but only their expensive optical encoders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
to-pse Posted July 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2004 These companies are all crazy. I'd value a sensorlike this for in between 1 and 2 Dollar/Euro, butno more. No wonder, there are no new keyboard-models with polyphonic aftertouch build anymore...Tobias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JimCook Posted July 8, 2004 Report Share Posted July 8, 2004 I absolutely agree. Cost is the number one reason why channel aftertouch is so common. I finally got a hold of the rep just a second ago. His "best price" was about $4.30 for 50 FSR! He agreed to send me a couple samples (now, if he'd just sample me 86 more I'd be very happy). I'll let you know what they "feel" like.You know, with the right mechanics in the synth action, these sensors look like they might be able to handle generating velocity information as well as aftertouch...He also sampled me a couple of panel encoders (which he says DigiKey is not interested in carrying). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
to-pse Posted July 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2004 That's a shame - really everything over about 2 Bucks is out of the question - it's still a hobbyist project. Perhaps I should find someone who is using those parts in bigger projects (large count) and try to get a share of 100 of those... but who might use such sensors?Tobias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JimCook Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 I agree that $2 would be about right and I told the rep that. He said that the price couldn't come down until production volumes went up. How are production volumes going to go up if the price is too damn high to begin with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimhenry Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 It's a chicken and egg problem. If someone has a product that will use these things in quantity, they'll be able to get a quote for that quantity and hopefully everything will fall in place. Even at $2 each they add $122 to $176 dollars in parts alone to the cost of the keyboard. I don't think a keyboard product will be the place these are used in volume. They need to be pretty closely matched to be useful on a keyboard. Do you really need pressure sensitivity or would a simple on/off that requires extra pressure at the bottom of the key travel be adequate? Theatre organs have this and it is called second touch.Picking up an Ensoniq VFX on eBay is one reasonable way to get polyphonic aftertouch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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