metasonix whkb (bare board) price : $90.00   whkb (finished keyboard assembly) price : $299.00

the metasonix whkb is a wicki-hayden keyboard intended for use with the doepfer ctm-64 midi keyboard interface. it is a partial diy kit, requiring some skill in assembly; an enclosure is at the discretion of the user.

because midi controllers that do not have the commonplace piano-keyboard design are very rare, metasonix decided to offer this keyboard to the synthesizer community. the wicki-hayden layout, or variations of it, have been used on accordions and concertinas for more than 100 years. those who learn it have often said it is far easier to play than the piano black-white key arrangement, involving far smaller stretches and less finger motion. it is especially suitable for beginning electronic musicians. three octaves of control range are provided.

row layout for each octave is:
f# g# a#   c d e   a# g# f#
c# d#   f g a b   c# d#

it is possible to rewire the keys for a different layout, by cutting one trace per key and soldering jumpers to connect that key to a different circuit. the keys are 160-gram tact switches with removable/exchangeable keycaps of various colors. connectors on the whkb plug directly into the ctm64 i/o sockets and plug. a small joystick at lower left can be connected to control any two of the ctm64's four analog potentiometer inputs (#1 being for pitch bend and #2 being for modulation midi outputs). the ctm64 interface is sold separately.

please click here to visit the manufacturer's webpage for more info.