3,5,6,8,9 pads im new at this could anyone give me a hint

[daan]

ive been reading towards ddr here and at bemanystyle, want to play stepmania, my first conclusion is that softpads are a waste of money and i have found the tx4000 to be best option for me here in europe, but have found myself with an stupid question about the number of keys in a pad, when i browse soft pads i found them with 6 or 8 pads, and i found metal pads with 4 keys, then i find this

3 panel (DDR Solo beginner), 4 panel (DDR), 5 panel (Pump It Up), 6 panel (DDR Solo), 8 panel (Technomotion), 9 panel, Dance ManiaX, EZ2 Dancer, EZ2 Real, and Parapara-style games, for all of the above modes.

my question is if i buy the tx4000 which has 6 keys would i be too limited whithin stepmania to some modes, or modes above 6 keys are not available for home users unless u have an arcade machine.

[-Scorpion-]

The game that's being played 90% percent of the time is DDR/ITG, which uses a 4 panel setup. After that there comes PIU, but it's not nearly as popular. You're good with a 4/6 panel setup. The TX's all have 6 panels instead of 4.

[daan]

thats all i needed to hear, now i hope to have chosen the righ pad but that is to be discussed here

http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=111980&highlight=tx4000

THX