The top of a key on a waterfall keyboard ends where the bottom ends,
so that from the side you would just see a right angle at the
front. The top of a piano style key extends out further at the
front of the keythan does the bottom, so that you get a thin piece
of plastic extending out from the front of the key.

The difference is important if you do a typical hammond organ
glissando with the palm of your hand. Regular keys make this
difficult because the thin extension at the front can cut your hand
or break.The waterfall style key on Hammond organs make a glissando
easy and painless.


--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , Paul Schulz <dasfonk@w...>
wrote:

> Hi David,
>
> tell me, what´s the deal with those "waterfall" keyboards I mean,
> what´s the difference to a standard keyboard
>
> Paul
>
>
>
> David Salter wrote:
>
> > I'm afraid that I am not inspired by the keyboard at all.
> >
> > I love drawbar organs, particularly tone wheel organs.
> >
> > The fact that Doepfer have installed waterfall keys deserves a

big

> > thumbs up, some Hammond playing tricks rely on these keys.
> >
> > It's the "drawbars" I'm not sure about.
> >
> > A real drawbar works by pulling it down to increase the

harmonics (I'm

> > sure they thought of that and I hope the sliders do work in

reverse) but

> > they also click at each value.
> >
> > I use my Kenton studio to control by NI B4 VSTi and it is nasty.
> >
> > Put we are talking about a prototype here and I'm willing to be
> > convinced. After all unless I buy an expensive PM organ from

Korg or

> > Hammond or cough up a fortune for the real thing and sell the

kids to

> > keep it maintained, anything is better than a synth keyboard and

a

> > control surface when trying to capture those Jon Lord moments.
> >
> >
> >
> > David Salter
> > Reuters Ltd
> > UKI Project Management
> > Tel. +44 207 542 2402
> > Fax. +44 207 542 2699
> > Email. david.salter@r...
> > Reuters Messaging. david.salter.reuters.com@r...