[key]: many letters at the same time

Hi maxers,

My problem:
- I'm working to prototype a musical interface in MaxMSP that heavily
relies on the QWERTY keyboard.
- The interface involves many QWERTY keys being pressed "at once"
- [key] works reliably for 1 key "at a time," no problems
- when I introduce 2-6 keys being pressed "at once," there are various
lags that occur with [key].
- specifically, if I connect [key] to [print] and press 6 keys, 1 of 6
of the keys will come immediately; the remaining 5 keys will show up
all at once, about 200 milliseconds later. For this test, I'm printing
directly to the "Max window". In short, one key comes out immediately,
then the rest show up.
- 6 keys "at the same time" seems to be the most [key] can handle;
with 7 keys, it drops one of them out pretty consistently
- I know about ice.key as a [key] alternative, but I emailed them & it
is unclear when the Max5 version will be released...so maybe a
solution lies within ice.key...
- Is this "problem" an OS X limitation? Interestingly, in TextMate I
can type 6 letters at a time, and all 6 show up immediately.
- can any windows users comment on how many keys can be pressed at once?
- searched the mailing list; couldn't find anything relevant to this problem

Specifics:
- OS X, Leopard 10.5.5, running on MacPro and MacBookPro, Max v. 5.0.5
- overdrive is on

Question:
How can I get 6 key messages out of [key] "concurrently"?

I really need this to work -- somehow, anyhow -- for a project due in
two weeks, so i really appreciate the help!

thanks,
Jerzy Gangi