Digital BW, The Print

The MIS FS uses the VM (read virtual Piezo) black and midtones that are
dilutions of that ink.  It has no standard MIS quad ink in it.

The color of the MIS FS inkset is what I'd call medium warm.  The MIS VM
inkset can go slightly warmer.  The FS inkset has no green or other dyes in
it, so the color will be slightly different than Piezo.

The Piezo 6-inkers appear to just use 4 ink shades.  I first saw a nozzle
check of a 7000 and it looked like the light inks were not lighter at all.
I tried writing some curves for the 7000 and it was impossible.  The Epson
driver tries to substitute the dark for light ink as the tones get darker.
However, with the tones being the same, the curve just goes flat.  So, don't
look for any Epson driver solution to the Piezo software price.  If you want
to use Piezo ink in a 7000, you're going to have to pay the price.

What I didn't know for sure is whether the Piezo hex inks were actually the
same density as the quads.  However, it made sense that Cone would want to
keep the inks the same for economies of scale and print uniformity.

One poster noted that if there are only 4 inks in a hex Piezo system, then
there is room for toners, etc.  Exactly.  That's what the MIS VM inkset
does -- and it still has the same number of gray ink shades as the Piezo
7000 system.

I, frankly, think 4 inks in a 7000 (or any hex printer) is a waste of
printer capacity.  It really turns a 7000 into a quad machine.  That's one
expensive quad printer.  But, if you don't like the limitations of the cheap
old 3000, then there isn't any other printer that will do.  (For cheap old
me, the 3000 is the ticket.)

Since the quad inkset runs so well in the Piezo hex machines, it'll be fun
to see how easy it is to mix the toner(s) into the cyan and make a couple of
dilutions for the other positions -- bingo, neutral (for example) Piezo for
any of the machines. :)

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com