I was also at Midwest in December 2018. Without getting into the details, it would be nice if someone made an alto clarinet with a low D instead of Eb, which would let you play basset horn parts by reading them a step up. Only Yamaha told me that was a good idea and they didn't know why nobody had suggested that before. But they aren't going to do it now. My recourse is to find a good used instrument (an oxymoron for alto clarinets) and have Stephen Fox add the extra half step. Hopefully by this fall.