MIDI master keyboard from
Quasimidi
The Cyber 6 is basically a Quasimidi Raven with no internal sound capabilities. The main features are:
- 61 velocity and aftertouch sensitive keys (5 octaves)
- Pitch bend and two mod wheels
- Foot controller and two foot switch inputs
- Two MIDI out, one in and one through
- Handles up to 32 MIDI channels
- Programmable master keyboard layout with the capacity for controlling up to eight separate synthesizers
- Two "motivators" that can be run simultaneously with
a selection of arpeggiators, gated-chords and wave-sequencing
- A sequencer that can be triggered from the keyboard for live perfomances
- Drum sequencer similar to the TR 909
Pros:
Almost anything you can demand from a master keyboard. Using the main keyboard programming features together with the two "motivators" you can create incredibly complex layers, chord flows and rythms. The arpeggiators are fairly standard (up, down, up+down and random), but since you can combine several of them and also tweak almost every aspect of the midi events sent, you don't really need any more.
Splitting and layering the keyboard for use with several midi instruments simultaneously is easy, e.g. I have played two synth modules, one bass/drum module and two software synths from one Cyber 6 setup and I didn't have to touch a single knob or fader away from the keyboard to get the sound I wanted.
Cons:
On the first page of the manual (more on this piece of litterature later) it says "Have great fun with learning by doing" and that is how it works: The only thing you can be sure of is that to get the result you want, the first thing you would try is most likely wrong. It takes a lot of fiddling around the interface to get to know this beast.
This might be a pseudo-con, but anyway: We have all heard about German engineering, right? Well, this seems to be the same kind of engineering that produced the Tiger Tank. You can easily get the impression that the Cyber 6 was arc welded together from battleship armor plates (forget about carrying it around in a one-hand transport case). Not that it looks like a piece of military hardware, but it handles like one. To get the aftertouch to kick in you would almost have to literally kick the keys.
The manual isn't much help, but still worth a read for the hilarious translations from German (or in some cases the lack of translation)...
The biggest drawback may be the fact that Quasimidi is no longer in business. Their customer support was really good and with the problems I've mentioned you could really use some support...
Conclusion:
This is probably not a good choice for a first master keyboard for your home setup. But if you feel that your standard controller is not enough and you're lucky enough to find a Cyber 6 for sale I would definately recommend you to give it a try.