Good encoders. It is rare. It is featured on the cheapest Elektron machines for some bizar reason. No clue as to why they don’t use these on the 1800€ Rytm. 
So weird.
FWIW, I don’t mind pots on MIDI controllers at all. I actually prefer them in most cases.
Nice handle.
Yeah, but the point with MIDI2.0, is that the screens under the knobs will automatically update to the plugins parameters. If they knobs are pots, they should at least have a jump/catch option, which they don’t in this case.
wonder what the keyboard is like, the one in my wavestate sucks ass
I don’t really see the fuzz tbh.
Polyphonic aftertouch has been in existence for decades. I never used the nks Native Instruments stuff, other than Maschine. I was never bothered with low resolution velocity or other control (0-127).
If there is the option to implement micro tuning with MIDI 2.0, it could get interesting.
This “upgrade” is so marginal at this point in time. It is almost embarrassing. This is what 40+ years of “development” brought us. It’s a joke. .
… of the Keystage.
Rumor started, Keystage Mini using the Polytouch keybed from the Hydrasynth Explorer. They’re just finishing up the hardware, for an announcement before the end of the year.
More like, we don’t need this stuff. Give me a good set of keys with enough octaves and we’re all set.
I just don’t think we need all this afterpolymultimiditouch stuff.
Did you see the Polytouch Trademark logo on the front of the Keystage ? That’s the Medeli trademark.
People were right.
Why an Osmose video ?
EDIT : Improved image in post.
The Osmose is MPE. It is utilizing 16 channels at once. I can see the benefits.
However, the Korg / MIDI 2.0 so called new and futuristic “polytouch” is nothing new, as far as I can tell. It sounds like a hip marketing term for the age old polyphonic aftertouch:
I don’t see it 
What am I missing? MPC’s have had polyphonic aftertouch for decades
EDIT
Okay so it adds note on and note off velocity commands:
Seriously…
I am more interested in universal and automatic control mapping with display - it’s why I don’t like using generic midi controllers. A screen and auto mapping goes a long way.
I’m too old for this shit.
So you enjoy a good pot, is that a fact? 
I’m mainly excited for MIDI 2.0 because of the increased bandwidth. There are many other benefits too, and more keyboards with poly aftertouch is hopefully going to be a part of it. You’re right, though - there have been great options in place for decades and this is just a logical progression. It doesn’t have to be new to be better.
Unless the controller picks up and sends out high-resolution sensorial data which a sound source is also able to process at a similar resolution, the marginal bandwidth will not be of any use.
If however a sound source internally used a higher resolution (such as an analog synth, EaganMatrix, etc.) and made it accessible via MIDI 2.0, then having a MIDI 2.0-compatible controller could make a compelling case against control voltage. It would still depend on the resolution of the physical sensors though. A lot of IFs.
For instruments such as the Osmose and Continuum, MIDI 2.0 will definitely make a lot of sense, under the condition that they will receive a MIDI 2.0 update.
I’m sure there are people who can and will make a great use of the poly aftertouch whatever features, but I’ll personally never be a good enough keyboardist for it to matter. It’s cool that the feature exists even if I won’t personally make much use of it.
It’s the other way around: finally, you will be able to make a difference on keys by expressing yourself without a zillion notes. It is there now for everyone to learn 
I like that the poly aftertouch can affect the controller itself, rather than necessarily being sent out to an external synth. The one example i know of is changing the ratchet of individual notes in an arpeggiator sequence. Watch for a few seconds in this queued section of the Loopop video :
So this could be hooked up to a DIN MIDI synth, perhaps something very old that has no idea of poly aftertouch in MIDI and still do useful things with the poly aftertouch control.
I’ve been trying to think of other internal to the controller connections you could hook to poly aftertouch. Certainly note velocity ( the volume or accent of that note in the arpeggio ) could be connected too. I wonder about changing the length of those notes too.
ADDED : Looking at the manual it looks like maybe the length ( Gate Control ) of the notes in the arpeggio can be affected by polyphonic aftertouch. Pretty sure that it can. Not sure what that sounds like in real use though.
The Keystage Manual
Is there any way to download this thing ??
The only downloadable PDF they have is the multilanguage Quick Start Guide.
ADDED : Oh but here are the preset chords for chord mode. They might be fun to play around with, on any keyboard for those of us who play.
And here are the Argeggio Rhythm Patterns :
ADDED ( November 1st ) :
I thought this was an interesting arrangement with the Launchpad Mini. Loopop did this and showed using it in his video, but i don’t recall him talking about it. This would be used with Ableton Live of course.
I was also thinking you could put something like the Retrokits RK-008 MIDI looper with the Keystage as well.
Thinking some about the Keystage and its potentiometer versus encoder choice. As noted in this thread earlier by others, having pots can give advantages. But where it brings shortcomings, is in a “target rich” environment where the knobs are being bounced between multiple functions and/or values quickly. If change is made only between more or less static setups, and not used dynamically in a live performance sort of setting, these controls would work very well.
So what i am thinking is the Keystage is less suited to be used dynamically changing within a DAW like Ableton, but more often useful, mostly in a steady configuration, controlling with the eight knobs and the wheels and poly-aftertouch keys, in a more static control software or hardware surrounding. You can move between these surroundings, but you will need to synch up the controls again.
Did anyone get one of these? Thoughts?
The announcements of the new desktop / rackmount versions of the Modwave, Wavestate, and Opsix, that all support MIDI 2.0 with property exchange, makes clear that the Keystage was developed as a part of this MIDI 2.0 synthesizer system.
Quite an impressive product range.
