Viscount Legend LM as General MIDI Controller?

[johnincolorado]

I just watched this video demonstrating the Viscount Legend One plus Viscount Legend LM:

And was impressed enough to research the Viscount Legend LM 61:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/viscount_legend_lm_61.htm

At $644 and with 5-pin MIDI (and that big shelf to set a keyboard on) it makes me wonder if that might be a great candidate for setting anyone's favorite 61-key board on it and doubling their fun.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a great idea? Am I missing something here?

 

[ghostler]

That is the keyboard lower controller module, I looked at what it is connected to:

Kraft Music: Viscount Legend One 61 Stage Keyboard , which is priced at $1,975.00 US. The 73 key version is $200 more.

Kraft Music: Viscount Legend LM 61 Lower Manual for Legend One is priced at $855.00 US.

The LM as a lower controller makes me wonder that if your keyboard is capable of handling another keyboard as an additional controller, why not instead if you have a second keyboard with control capability, use it instead? Spare yourself the quid?

 

[johnincolorado]

That is the keyboard lower controller module, I looked at what it is connected to:

Kraft Music: Viscount Legend One 61 Stage Keyboard , which is priced at $1,975.00 US. The 73 key version is $200 more.

Kraft Music: Viscount Legend LM 61 Lower Manual for Legend One is priced at $855.00 US.

The LM as a lower controller makes me wonder that if your keyboard is capable of handling another keyboard as an additional controller, why not instead if you have a second keyboard with control capability, use it instead? Spare yourself the quid?

Your question is very logical. Perhaps if I explain my quest my initial post will make a little more sense.

I would love to have a Nord Organ Dual Combo or Hammond SKX Pro Dual, or (now that I've discovered it) the Viscount Legend One with its Lower Manual under it. That dual-manual setup is what I consider to be perfect, much better than stacking two keyboards in a gadgety stand (or stands) that never get the 2 keyboards close enough to each other and also obscure the controls of the lower keyboard.

I'm too cheap to shell out for any of these options, so I've approximated them with a 2-layer shelf I constructed, and a Yamaha MX61 on top and M-Audio Keystation under it, sharing the Yamaha's sounds:

This works perfectly for me, and I should just let it be. But the discovery of the Viscount Lower Manual, and my continuing GAS, made me wonder if there could be a strategy here:

1. Replace the home-made shelf and the M-Audio Keystation with the Viscount Lower Manual. This would require that the Viscount Lower Manual has consistent enough MIDI behavior that it would work like the Keystation does.
2. In the future, replace the Yamaha MX61 with the Viscount Legend One, completing the quest.

You pointing out that my quoted price of $644 for the Viscount Lower Manual comes from a shop in Germany, admittedly sets me back. That was an optimistic oversight on my part. The US price of $855 makes my strategy even less logical than before!

But GAS being GAS, I'm sure I'll rally and find some other illogical path toward my goal...

 

[delaware dave]

The viscount LM comes in two sizes, 61 and 73 key. So you could purchase a 61Key upper manual and stack it on a 73 key LM. It would have correct spacing for organ playing and a better keybed on the bottom for piano playing and because the 73 key is lightly weighted it would make a decent lower manual even for organ playing.

 

[johnincolorado]

The viscount LM comes in two sizes, 61 and 73 key. So you could purchase a 61Key upper manual and stack it on a 73 key LM. It would have correct spacing for organ playing and a better keybed on the bottom for piano playing and because the 73 key is lightly weighted it would make a decent lower manual even for organ playing.

I like the way you think!

 

[ghostler]

About the only neg. I can think of is if Viscount has done something proprietary to the communication between the LM slave unit and the One master unit, making it incompatible unless you use only their keyboard (the One) with it.

 

[Mocks Fate]

This thread touches on a similar subject I posted a short time ago:

Piano style keyboard x 2?

I'm wondering if anyone makes a dual piano keyboard similar to a double manual organ? By this I mean a proper keyboard with 88 weighted keys and at least 128 polyphony. (Google search found a couple joke/junk options, but nothing proper.) The reason I'm asking is this may allow gigging musicians...

www.keyboardforums.com

 

[johnincolorado]

This thread touches on a similar subject I posted a short time ago:

Piano style keyboard x 2?

I'm wondering if anyone makes a dual piano keyboard similar to a double manual organ? By this I mean a proper keyboard with 88 weighted keys and at least 128 polyphony. (Google search found a couple joke/junk options, but nothing proper.) The reason I'm asking is this may allow gigging musicians...

www.keyboardforums.com

Well, I guess if you found an 88-key MIDI board that meets your criteria (88 weighted keys) and paired it with an 88-key keyboard that meets your criteria (88 weighted keys and 128 polyphony) and built yourself a wider version of the dual-manual shelf I posted in Post #3 of this thread, then you would have a close approximation of what you were looking for in your post, right?