Mike,

Interesting post, Mike.

No doubt the materials like buckypaper, new plastic composites, and even carbon fiber will be the wave of the future for electronic enclosures.

Think about...how many TV cabinets are made of metal anymore...very very few.

Same will be with keyboards...there probably will be some parts of the casing that will be metal, but these will only grace the higher end workstations, and digital pianos.

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if Roland's (and Korg's) next batch of arrangers are all plastic, with maybe a metal panel on the TOTL model, but somehow, I think they will be all plastic.

Cheaper, no need of painting, as well as strong as needed for the intended application....plastic, or some form of composite will be what we'll get in the near future.

Ian