On first sight I thought ālooks normalā but then I zoomed in and it looks like the screen rises (and almost bends) on the bottom side.
Is this the bit youāre concerned about?
No, my impression stems just from using it and never noticing any polyAT issues across the keyboard.
Yes thatās exactly what concerns me.
Would you be so kind to please check the aftertouch response of your keys in the System > Calibrate AT setting page? Maybe it is something common and adjusting the offset is just the way to go?
Iām on a business trip till Monday after next (away from my studio). If no one else with an Iridium Keyboard has come to your help by then, Iāll happily test it for you.
My feeling is though, that the screen alone is reason enough to ask for a different unit. My Iridium Keyboard is immaculately engineered, I think at that price point you can expect a flawless instrument.
Youāre right. I guess Iāll return it then. Will have to pay more for a brand new one then I guess, as this open box was about ā¬180 cheaper
Still hope someone can test the aftertouch response of each individual key 
So I swapped my keyboard for a new one. The new one has no issues with the screen, but now I have 2 keys with a different aftertouch response: both the lowest and the highest key! Iām starting to think that this is inevitable and most units may have this issue, some more than others. Maybe I should just āfixā this issue by using the per key afterouch correction and be done with it? But still, it doesnāt feel right for a ā¬2.5k deviceā¦
Thatās a bummer. Since the quality of keybed is one of the selling points of the Iridium Keyboard, that level of inconsistency seems unacceptable!
From the other Iridium thread, it seems like there are a variety of issues new Iridium owners frequently face. Iāve been really tempted to pull the trigger on an Iridium but it sounds like maybe there are quality control issues in the Waldorf factory.
Can you share a picture of what youāre talking about? I tested my keys in the settings menu by pressing each one. There is some variation between different keys but they all get somewhat close to the top. Most keys are not being pushed all the way 100% because I am reluctant to press on them that hard, but you can tell many of them seem to āmax outā somewhere short of 100% on the meter. Or rather it does seem that some need to be pressed harder than others in order to get them to the top.
If you post a picture I can confirm if any of my keys have a similar defect, or if yours is much more outside the norm.
Here is a video:
Ok. I canāt quite see what your Max AT Threshold is set at. On my synth, at 78-80%, I struggle to reach 100% on any key without applying pressure that seems dangerous, and some keys definitely feel like they arenāt quite as sensitive, though its not by a large margin like your bottom key. However, I tried setting it at 70% and at that setting every key seems to comfortably hit 100% with a more reasonable amount of pressure.
If you also have yours set at 70% (i Canāt tell if its 70 or 78), then you do indeed seem to have a bottom key thats less sensitive. But if youāre at 78%-80%, Iād say yours isnāt way different from mine. I donāt think I have a single key that is quite as unresponsive as your bottom one, but there is clear variation along the board, some keys just wonāt go to the top unless I lower the max to 70 or so, whereas others go up to 100% fairly easy. If it were me, I would play with the individual key calibration settings and see if thereās any problem while playing and doing real-world stuff.
Also obviously contact Waldorf if you havenāt. It seems there is some imprecision in the boards, and they may be able to tell you if yours is out of the normal range, or give you guidance on fixing it. Perhaps it just needs to be broken in a bit.
I should also add that Iāve had my keyboard for about 2 months but it is practically unused. I have been very busy with other things, and also using other keyboards to control it, so it may also need some ābreaking inā.
It is set at the default (about 69%).
I agree, the other keys have some variation as well, but not as much as those 2 keys.
Also the 2 keys that are less sensitive, also are about 1 mm lower in the keybed.
Is there a chance this is easy to fix myself? Maybe I just have to reseat the key or something?
I will say I donāt think I have a key that is quite that lacking in sensitivity. Might be worth getting a replacement if Waldorf or your retailer will handle it for no cost. Good units are possible, as I believe mine is in working order, and I know these units well as I owned an Iridium desktop since they were newly released, so while I havenāt put a ton of mileage on the keyboard yet, I have done some deep sound design on it.
Again, contact Waldorf and see what they say. If you go through the whole return process and get another one that is faulty, I wouldnāt blame you for returning it and getting your money back.
I know you previously received an answer to the contrary but, at least now if not then, the IK does transmit release velocity. I set up a patch with it on my M just to confirm what Iād read before and was surprised to find it working. I also just found a Gearspace post mentioning it too, wish Iād seen that before!
I was actually debating a Blofeld keyboard as a master controller because it has release velocity when an IK came up at a good price - I figured I could at least try the poly aftertouch to see how much Iād get on with it. I love the way it feels on this keybed, but unexpectedly getting release velocity too has pushed the IK fully into ākeepingā territory.
Considering how much of an āeverything but the kitchen sinkā synth this is, it seems very odd to me that itās not offered as a modulation source in its own engine though.
I ordered one today. Placed the order for a new unit but I was informed shortly after by the retailer that they only had a demo unit, but with all accessories and box, naturally. They offered me an additional discount equivalent to 45 euro, for a total of about 2483ā¬.
Itās apparently in good-as-new condition and was quite recently (about a week ago) brought in to their showroom, so I figured that with the ~177ā¬ savings along with its condition it was a fairly easy decision to make. If the condition isnāt as expected I could send it back, but even if it had a small scratch or something I think Iād still be rather happy with the price.
Been watching some demos in anticipation of courseā¦
I just saw one come up locally for sale for $1K ā¦ would I be a fool to pass this up? The only thing the seller noted wrong with it was a small scratch on one of the keys (pretty minor in the pic). It still has the screen protector on it.
Thatās exceptionally cheap. Is it in within the proximity of where you live? If so, check it out first. Iād perhaps be a little skeptical about it being set that low in price. The Core version is double that.
Itās about two hours away. I would want to power it up and test it for sure. Iāll email and see if I can smell a scam. In the pics posted, there are lots of other synths in the background including Waldorf Quantum ā¦ so maybe they are just trying to offload equipment. But it does seem too good to be true.
āIf it seems to good to be trueā¦ā
As a slight cautionary tale Iāll mention that I bought one used recently and after having sporadic freezes Waldorf have said itās defective and the last update was that their UK support was saying it probably needs to go back to Germany. It took quite a while to get to this point since I had to rule out OS bugs etc., which are pretty widely reported online in themselves.
Waldorf stuff and this line of synths in particular seems quite prone to issues, some of which might not be apparent from a brief test.
Having said that, $1k is cheap enough that itās probably worth taking the chance anyway. If someone had offered me this one for that Iād have taken it even knowing it likes to freeze up. If nothing else you get an amazing keybed.