Checking in on everyone who picked up a unit, the “Sound on Sound” review for the Super 6 mentioned it was a ‘synth-action’ keyboard in passing and I was curious about how ‘light’ of a synth-action keybed the Super 6 has. I was wondering if anyone could chime in with any comments!
The Super 6 has had my eye for almost a year now especially because of the custom waveforms and the only thing that I’m concerned about is whether the keybed is actually a ‘synth-action’ keybed. There’s something iffy about my wrists and fingers and I find that it’s not very comfortable for me to play any synths with semi-weighted keybeds just because they take too much strength to press down on the keys, and it’s difficult to get a chance to try a unit out. Any kind of feedback would be super appreciated!
Hey, I don’t think you’ll have any problem with the keys. They aren’t weighted keys, and they feel similar to most other keys I’ve tried on other synths (Prophet Rev 2, Deepmind, etc).
Thank you for your input! If you don’t mind me asking, do you find that the keys on the Super 6 are springy, like they have a lot of resistance or push back on your fingers when you press down? I know that the Rev 2 is described as “semi-weighted” and that’s what worries me as it’s the resistance of the springs that would really stand out.
I personally find them very light, I would say the only time I feel I need to exert pressure is when I’m using AT. I don’t have a rev2 to compare it to right now, but I can say that the keys feel the exact same as the Prophet X’s keyboard. There is a little bit of spring, but it doesn’t give it a weighted feel to me. Basically, if you have any other midi keyboards/synths that are of decent quality and aren’t weighted, the keys of the super 6 are likely to feel the same!
The keys are definitely not weighted in any way, but the aftertouch needs much more preasure than a fully weighted hammer action keybed needs for playing.
Just chiming in because I have a Rev2 right below my S6.
The Rev2’s keybed is marginally stiffer than the S6. It feels like the keys go farther into the body, so the spring has more leverage against you when you play them, relative to the S6. It’s not a massive difference, but it’s something I do notice when first switching from one to the other.
I also have to watch my posture and my wrists, I use ergonomic mouse/keyboards at all my computers, work and home, and try to spend less time on them these days. Wrist posture is a huge help, that means some keyboards I have to sit/stand certain ways to play them (to get my wrists in the right position), but it helps. I went from having wrist pain constantly a year ago to almost never having it now.
Not silent, but not as loud as my Rev2. Even with headphones, I have to close the door when I play that one because it bothers people. The S6 doesn’t get such a reaction from people.
Pretty sure it’s a Fatar (FP9s??) Keybed if that means anything to you. I have had lots and the fatar always comes out my favourite. (Hope I’m not wrong now. )
Hey guys, on the topic of pressure required for aftertouch… I’ve never had a synth with aftertouch before, and I’ve noticed that it requires quite a bit of pressure. Is this safe?? I’m worried about damaging the keybed from using it.
EDIT: Some synths allow you to adjust the AT response curve along with the velocity response curve. I just thumbed through my paper manual and didn’t see a way to adjust it, but that may be out of date.
On the topic of actual key pressure, how does everyone feel about the response curve? I find it currently doesn’t have a very wide response and goes from min to max over a very small distance. It’s much more apparent when using it as a MIDI output to control other synths.
its a million times better than the yamaha montage 6 that it replaced thats for sure! AT is always very tricky to match to other synths via midi as the response curve is coded for the original synth. Its also super subjective… but personally i think its about right…
A bit late to this but I’ve just found the same thing whilst trying to program a classic OB-6 type keys sound. I had a look to see if you can change this in v3 of the manual but can’t see anything there. Would be a nice thing to be able to tweak especially for people that play a bit heavier.
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