there's only so many variations to a traditional keyboard. And midi 2 and mpe are here. Osmose has stretched the design but it's expensive and untested as to it's reliability. Roli is also expensive and has durability problems. So keyboard design is poised to enter a new universe. They guy who solves the mpe keyboard problem will get the beans. The touchkeys idea has promise but has gone dormant. The Osmose is really a beautiful board but lacks long term durability feedback. As a mechanical designer myself, I can't fathom how those keys will last being played at 360 gigs a year. There's keith mcmillan ....no moving parts for $900 bucks. The alternative isomorphic keybeds like linnstrument and notemode on launchkeys waste alot of space with dublicate notes. I've spent the last year playing with about 10 isomorphic instruments on ipad and they're good for lead solos but not for playing complex two-handed sounds. Now back to Korg, Roland, Yamaha etc. It appears from this years namm, opening tomorrow, but with many releases already public, they're all playing the high end trying to maximize profits on tried and true technology, before mpe arrives to the lower end. No one will pay $2000 and up for a digital piano with scaled hammer action when $500 will buy a mpe board.

@kurth

Note that issue is same to cameras market - lot of Japanese firms holding to proprietary tech.

It is required to make synth modular with synth engines being produced by many firms, with lot of standard libraries with proper size (common to PC). And with standard internal and external connectors with MIDI 2.0 and HID standards usage.

Btw, Roland just announced unification of their own sound engine

I hear you @kurth , I mostly produce at studio , I stopped playing live a couple years ago, so for me its best move I have done

@sammy

Highly suggest in this case to find http://i.korg.com/microstation (used they are very cheap sometimes!)

Very compact, fun and has same engine. Keys are small, but good.

I use(d) a juno 106 and a piano for 30 yrs, and some variety of keyboard controllers. I have developed some opinions about keyboards. The keyboard concept has some abstract connection to our dna refined over centuries. That eliminates most mini keys and other isomorphic designs. It doesn't prelude other systems that are keyboard based as long as they retain the general relationship of the black and white keys. Most digital keyboards are not quite full size. Usually the keys are a half an inch shorter. Haken released a couple of out of my price range instruments, stretching the concept to it's logical conclusion. https://www.gearnews.com/namm-2020-haken-audio-adds-two-new-slim-continuum-fingerboards/ @vitaliy...that korg goes used , with mini keys, for the same price as that new arturia full size 88 key controller.

...the length but not the width, which defines keysize. The length was original dependent on the hammer mechanism. Digital pianos have shortened it half an inch from modern pianos. Any shorter makes it difficult to play into the keybed. Mini keys provoke more mistaken notes than full size keys....because we need a certain width for most sized hands. Most keyboard players agree. My hands personally love the span of modern keybeds. Maybe dwarfs and elves like mini keys ? I've used korg microkeys and a slew of old casio 80's synths, btw. It's interesting that a piano is one thing we can't miniaturize. Although I can't fathom the digital pianos need to duplicate the scaled hammer mechanism. Maybe for concert pianist. The dna part , besides the key width being proportional to the form of the hand, is also the musical structure. How the notes are laid out , vs alternative structures , like isomorphic or microtonal instruments. The piano structure seems to have been a organic development following some natural cerebral musical structure, for more than 2 milleniums, probably following the idea of pan flutes that go back at least 4 milleniums. Isomorphic instruments offer a repetitive chordal pattern but learning music is easier when we have varying structural patterns , like a piano. That's what I decided for me, anyway. Here's a new isomorphic instrument at namm 2020. https://www.musicradar.com/news/namm-2020-lumatone-could-be-the-coolest-isomorphic-midi-keyboard-weve-ever-seen