Schrittmacher deception

I wanted to like the Schrittmacher.  Very much.  With all its knobs and buttons it was calling to be tweaked and played.  Yet I've tried it and it was an instant deception.  This thing feels cheap. Around 2000$ for a simple dedicated MIDI step sequencer, and they managed to miss the overall feel of the interface.

I can't say much about it's long term utilisation, as I've spend only a few moments with it.  But after a few moments, I didn't cared for it that much anymore.  I like the concept, I like how it looks, I like it's overall design.  But when I grab it, it doesn't feel good.  For an instrument that puts most of it's value in it's interface, that is a big problem.  Is it just me?  Maybe at half the asking price I would have forgive the knobs and buttons feel.  To a point.  But even there, the overall navigation and usage of this sequencer is not as intuitive as I would have liked.  Yes, you eventually figure out what is going on and how to achieve proper results.  But my comprehension was that this sequencer was to be all about ease of use, so that you grab it and start playing it right away.  By opposition to, say the Notron, that is notoriously complex.

Maybe CV/Gate outputs would have made me liked it a bit more, but the interface comments stays.  It's too bad as there isn't a lot of products in this class.  So my quest for the ultimate step sequencer is still going on. 

http://www.manikin-electronic.com/en/products_schrittmacher.html