re: Eventstation & Loopers-delight mailing list.

["Wolf, Bill" <bwolf@blueflameinc.com>]

The EventStation sounds great.  I've had a DrumKat for years and hate
programming it!  There are a number of cool things that it can do but
getting to those things is prohibitively difficult.  There are some
aspects such as Motifs that it seems only Mario, Alternate mode's owner
can do.  And I hate that I had to pay for upgrades.  Plus there's a
problem where the FSR corrodes every few years requiring a $200+
replacement.  As much as I love playing it, I'm not a happy customer.
But I've never played anything else that physically even comes close to
it.  

The main reason I bought it was not for the midi capabilities but for
the pad configuration.  I haven't seen another FSR based compact box
with 10 pads with excellent rebound that's built to last,etc,etc.  All
of the midi routing and stuff I treat as extra.  I think that represents
a common Kat customer.  They also make the purely midi interface - the
midi kitty, but I don't think it's very popular.  (they're blowing them
out for cheap on their website http://www.alternatemode.com)

I also have a Roland vkit hybrid.  I can see some advantages to plugging
my pads into the EventStation and not the vdrum brain - I'd gain better
sequencing for one.  But I loose the positional sensitivity the TD10
offers.  IMHO, the EventStation without an innovative pad option might
not appeal to many drummers.  (Of course it would be great for the
acoustic trigger crowd but from the features you listed it sounds more
oriented to the sophisticated electronic player.)   

One could build a kit with any of the external pads & stands but when
you add in the cost of an EventStation + sampler such as the Kurzweil,
it gets outrageously expensive.  Most people would head toward a package
such as vdrums, Yamaha, dynacord setups.  From that as a base, they'd
start to add on.  The cool thing about the drumkat is that it
supplements what I already have.  And I can use it with just my modules
rack for a more portable setup.

Have you considered building your own Drumkat like controller?  Or
merging with or licensing Kat's pad setup somehow?  Alternate mode's
pretty tiny and the owner, Mario seems to be a nice guy and a hardcore
musician.  

BTW, the Drumbar looks amazing!  Since it already has a midi out what
would be some of the advantages to using it with the eventstation?  

Thanks

 Kind regards
 -Bill Wolf
  NYC



Bill Wolf
B l u e f l a m e, Inc.
3 University Plaza Suite 600 Hackensack, NJ 07601-6223
T 877 488 7222 ext 127
E-mail bwolf@blueflameinc.com
http://www.blueflameinc.com