Studiologic SL990XP

This controller has a manufacturing defect. It can transmit sustain pedal activitiy only on channel 1! Other than that unbelievable oversight it seems solidly built. Many shops and catalogues were selling the SL990XP for $299 including shipping and at that price it was too tempting for me since my older ST900 used regularly since '99 was needing periodic attention (done by me.

Controls are very minimum so it is best used to engender an acoustic piano's capability. It does have a volume pedal jack which you might need if you used it to trigger organ sounds but why? A hammer action 88 key unit seems inappropriate for pop or jazz organ playing.
I think Fatar realized the design mistake of the sustain pedal shortcoming and followed up with a more feature laden controller for about $500 and are just hoping these are sold quickly and allowed the discounters the discretion to almost dump them at $299.

One midi out, no USB

I wish someone would do a feature on Fatar/Studiologic and try to ascertain the company ethos and explain it to the professional community. I know they do work for other keyboard brands but how is it that they recycle their controllers in such odd ways. They had super complex controllers in the late nineties, then stripped down ones, then cobbled quasi useful ones and just odd tradeoffs regarding features and price. They sold quite a few SL880s even though many had problems with the user interface and bare bones LED programming. They've had mothership stuff that rivalled the best that Roland ever put out but then they fall back. I'm clueless. I currently have two SL990s, ST900 and now the SL990XP but have owned their Studio 90 when it first came out. I have always use an ANATEK PocketCurve to enable more subtle control when using Fatar's hammer action controllers.