buying a keybed

[Davo]

Can someone point me in the right direction for finding a keybed?  I'd like to explore making my own keyboard without the mess and confusion of cannibalizing an existing midi controller.

Davo

[moogah]

Dood..  if you find one be sure and let the world know!

There is virtually no source for keybeds anymore, but don't let that discourage you.  Your best bet is a broken old synth that still has good keys.

[Davo]

A bit of poking around took me to http://www.fatar.com/home_fatar.htm  They don't list prices, but it does seem clear that they're selling a variety of keybeds.  http://www.doepfer.de/DIY/MKE_keyboards.htm has stuff on interfacing these keybeds.

Davo

[stryd_one]

mmm fatar keys are niiice too...

Please keep us posted on this one!

[gi_joe]

doepfer also sells keybeds. although when i look now i see they are fatar keyboards. they also have cheap demo and prototype models, might be a cheap way to get a nice keybed.. check it out; http://www.doepfer.de/sonder.htm :)

[stryd_one]

(In my thickest Aussie accent) "Sprechen de deutsch?" hehehe

Some good deals there! I would like to know what's up with fatar though cause they had some other nice stuff...for eg...see those joysticks? ;)

[gi_joe]

hah.. crappers.. it's in german. guess that didn't occur to me, being dutch.. so english and german.. it's all foreign to me ;)

oh well....

[stryd_one]

That's what babelfish is for :) It's far from perfect but you get the idea from it. I'm glad you brought it to my attention, because the english doepfer site doesn't link to that! It should say "Doepfer Specials (for German Readers Only)" ;)

[moogah]

Fatar is pretty much the only manufacturer of keybeds in the world.  A few companies used to make their own (Yamaha was one, I believe) but even most of them now use fatar boards.  To my knowledge Fatar in only interested in OEM sales so you can't buy just a few keybeds at a time from them.

[gi_joe]

i have a fatar keybed laying around here by the way. one key is broken off, but it's working. also have a midi out module to go with it..

perhaps you should get your hands on a cheap masterkeyboard on a carboot sale and just pull it apart, like i did, it may even be cheaper then ordering a new one.