Most Expressive Analog/CV Keybed?

What keyboard/keybed/controller do you think is the most expressive? Ultimately I'd like to interface into a modular synth I plan on building. I know some monosynths do not have things like velocity sensitivity or aftertouch, and obviously those are great for added sensitivity and expressive capability. I realize that you can get a MIDI controller with these features, but won't the use of a MIDI to CV converter necessarily impart something like 8-bit or 12-bit stepping? Doesn't that mean that 'analog keybeds' or 'analog controllers' are superior in this manner? So what analogs have the most expressive keybeds?

For comparisons sake are there other advantages to digital systems, or particularly expressive digital/MIDI keyboards? There are of course things that are very different from traditional piano/organ style controllers, such as wind controllers, or the Haaken Continuum. However other piano key based features such as polyphonic pitch bend or polyphonic aftertouch are particularly interesting since that's the instrument I play most (and while I have no idea how something like this might work with CV, I seem to recall reading online about something similar in development at Moog or somewhere ages ago)...

Keyboards manufactured today are less expressive than in the past, in the interests of reduced cost.

The all time king of expression was the Yamaha GX-1, which featured polyphonic aftertouch, and velocity. In addition, the solo keyboard featured side to side sensitivity so that you could actually do vibrato like a violin player.

Next would be the synths that had poly aftertouch (few and far in between) - Yamaha CS80, Prophet T-8, Synclavier, Chroma, and various Ensoniq boards from the 80's.

Then there are the performance controllers that work in harmony with the actual keybed - the CS80/Andromeda ribbon controller, pitch benders, modwheels, pitch sticks.....

Just googled GX-1. I don't expect to be finding one of those for $75 at a yard sale.

Pity.

I think this is perhaps the biggest problem with keyboards these days. These things are supposed to be expressive instruments. They aren't a page of statistics! Advancing synthesis technology or simply packing more sample ROM onboard is all well and good, but shouldn't be coming at the expense of producing a real instrument.

Some of the keyboards you mentioned are great, but MIDI only. Isn't MIDI to CV conversion going to introduce some stepping? Any other CV capable boards worth mentioning? Are there any CV native (e.g. not converted to CV inside the unit from MIDI source) controllers being produced today?

thanks

Some of the keyboards you mentioned are great, but MIDI only. Isn't MIDI to CV conversion going to introduce some stepping? Any other CV capable boards worth mentioning? Are there any CV native (e.g. not converted to CV inside the unit from MIDI source) controllers being produced today? thanks

Nothing polyphonic is being produced today that is natively CV, so yes, MIDI to CV will introduce stepping.

Synthesizers.com still makes a CV monophonic keyboard that also has polyphonic MIDI out, but I can't say if the CV is derived from MIDI or not.

Even the original CV keyboards produce stepped outputs though - that's what you want for producing pitched notes. The original designs were resistor dividers that ran between each key. Later you had the first microprocessor CV keyboard (E-MU) that was a lot more accurate and didn't droop.

I guess I meant stepping in things like velocity, aftertouch, release, pitchbend, modulation wheel, ribbons, etc.