Yeah, the biggest thing for me is that sacrificing velocity and aftertouch is something I am very rarely willing to do. In a tiny, portable, throw-it-in-your-backpack synth like the OP-1, OK, I can understand the Cherry-style keys as a reasonable compromise to save space and weight while still giving a decent-sized playing surface.
But on a bigger synth that is clearly meant to be played with two hands, I’m like “Give me velocity, or give me death!” I just can’t understand the Cherry keys. I want more expressive control of the sound. But that’s probably in large part because I started out in music as a cello player—I’m so deeply used to using my fingers to modulate the sounds I generate that it’s hard not to have that available.
So I’d have the same gripe with the Reface CS, since its velocity-sensitive keybed doesn’t actually impact the synth engine at all. I’d prefer its more readable control panel to the white-on-beige of the Vongon, though. That’s an interesting design choice on Vongon’s part.
I’m sure that for some people, that could be a feature. Having a synth whose labels seem to disappear might promote learning to play the instrument by muscle memory, just like one would learn a guitar (or a cello). But I play way too many instruments to be muscle-memorizing more than I have to at this point. I’d genuinely rather do menu-diving on a bright and contrasty screen than have to squint at a super-low-contrast knob-per-function panel.
Long story short, it’s just not for me.
). I didn’t care about the labels in front, I was already comfortable with the UI (Juno style and I’ve watched some videos). Really easy to learn.