ZBoard custom gaming keyboard

willum · Post by **willum** » Thu May 05, 2005 8:59 pm

Check this out: http://www.zboard.com. I bought one for my wife because she's a World of Warcraft fanatic. Each time I looked at it, I thought "wouldn't this be so perfect for Ableton Live?" It's essentially a customizable modular QWERTY keyboard on steroids. You can snap in customized keysets for different apps (mostly games at the moment). I am shocked that nobody has thought of a keyset for Live yet! There are so many possibilities for this thing, and the price point is incredible (base unit is about as cheap as a USB keyboard, with the custom keyset costing about the same).

Live needs a ZBoard keyset! Go to http://www.zboard.com and post on the forum, let them know there is a demand.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:06 pm

I think there was a thread on here awhile back about the Nostromo n-52 Speedpad (which I think I'll invest in myself once I can round up some paypal credits to waste on an ebay auction.. heh).

Personally, I think the most redeeming feature of this keyboard is that you get a picture of a rather, *ahem*, well-equipped elf on your numberpad. Yowsa!

willum · Post by **willum** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:16 pm

Video game porn aside, imagine a custom keyset for Live. There was a recent posting about a guy who wanted to tear apart a USB keyboard, spraypaint the keys, and put it back together as some kind of controller. With the ZBoard you'd have the ability to make visually easy controls for navigating, launching clips, and all of that other stuff. You COULD use your ordinary QWERTY keyboard, but I don't want to be searching for "T" when I could just glance and see the launch clip key. See what I'm getting at?

I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't gotten more interest from Live users. Yes, it is only a QWERTY keyboard with fancy overlays, but it would be so much easier to use.

supster · Post by **supster** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:39 pm

Live needs user customized keymaps like every other DAW

then there would really be no need for this.

no:

Live need user custom keymaps MORE than a tradiional DAW

why its taking them so long to implement this i dont know. really, realy have my fingers crossed for vs 5 on this ...

its the one thing that should be the simplest to implement yet goes so far ...
.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:46 pm

I agree, another one on the list of so obvious, yet so weirdly missing!

there are so many simple things that live5 needs to add it is getting quite a long list of even these simple things. It makes me wonder about them!

EG: key assign, recent projects, browser 'sort by ...' , etc.

conny · Post by **conny** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:21 am

A little OT maybe, but the XML Editor I have been working with as an "application engineer" for some years has the ability to change the keyboards numerical keypad to a set of mighty shortcuts for a wide range of actions.
I know, laptoppers get frustrated but the shorts are all accessible through function key and some twisted finger moves.
// C

willum · Post by **willum** » Fri May 06, 2005 3:08 am

Folks, you should head on over to the forum at http://www.zboard.com and start asking why there are no custom keysets for Ableton Live. If enough people express interest, it could compel them to consider making products for the music market. If you're not familiar with ZBoard, check it out, it's pretty cool. I think a modular customizable keyboard would be a great thing for Live. Let them know ZBoard needs to be added to the list of controller options for Live users.

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:28 am

http://www.ergodex.com looks cool too. Keys you can "stick" onto a base, in whatever configuration.

Kage · Post by **Kage** » Fri May 06, 2005 8:25 am

That ergokeys thing looks sweet

conny · Post by **conny** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:05 am

I wanted this in the 80's, a Buchla controller:

// C