Alternative (isomorphic) keyboards: Anyone have experience with a C-Thru Axis 49?

C-Thru Music is going under, and this thing is on sale for $250:

http://www.c-thru-music.com/cgi/

I've been curious about alternative note layouts, and I'm considering it now that this keyboard is at least plausibly purchasable. Has anyone played one before?

I figure we can open the discussion to other keyboards with unusual layouts/formats, too.

I tried out a Thummer many years ago when it was still in development:

It was alright, and I picked up the note patterns fairly easily, but it seemed a little pointless. Polyphonic aftertouch on the keys was pretty cool though.

A quick search shows that the company never actually went anywhere, which is a bit unfortunate.

The magical Suzuki Omnichord -

Sounds as cheap as anything, but the cheapness is uttely charming:

Check out this rather terrifying instructional video for it -

Oh man, that looks just great. That battery capacity + bluegrass mode would make you king of the festival.

my grandma had one of those omnichords, i think actually a couple of them, when i was a kid. i've thought about asking her if she still does. i guess the sound they put out is digital in the newer ones but hers were analog, and i remember they sounded kinda cool but are a bit of a one trick pony kinda thing

I'd love to play around on one honestly. I'd be really tempted at that price too.

The omnichord is pretty moddable, if nothing else ;)

http://folktek.com/instruments/symbiotic/omnichord-om250

edit: I actually really like playing keys on a grid interface (ie: monome, launchpad) – allows you to quantize notes in different fashions as well.

One of my teachers in college was really into using a motion wand & pad to control his compositions in C sound.

It was an interesting process, but the music was highly jejune.

Closest I got is the chord buttons on my bontempi:

They're laid out so that the two buttons next to each other are continuations of each other, so to the right of C-E-G is G-B-D and to the right of that is D-F-A etcetera. I suppose that's cool.

But a hex thingy like in the OP would be great.