What Kind Of Midi Controller Should I Get?

[Aluminumfalcone]

I used to play the piano, but I recently had to sell my 61-key Casio for extra money.  Now I am relying on MuseScore-generated accompaniment tracks in my demos that are in progress.

 

I need a new keyboard (an MIDI controller to be precise, and a USB-to-MIDI adapter), but don 't  know whether or not to splurge on an 88-key controller or settle on something smaller.

 

What do you guys think?

[MikeRobinson]

Well, "size does matter," although I've never wished for 88 keys.  For some reason known only to marketroids, you pay dearly for those "extra" 88 - 61 =  27 keys, yet you very rarely actually use them.

 

A lot of controllers seem to have "extra gee-gaws," meant for live performance or just to look good on the showroom floor.  Like the "extra" keys, if you don't use 'em, don't buy 'em.  A perfectly "naked" 61-key controller e.g. from Alesis can be had for about $100 USD.  A virtually identical controller with 27 more keys might cost five or ten(!) times more.  (It's easy enough to do the math and to know that they're just taking gobs of pure-profit here, basically from the buyer's ego.)  Likewise, you can always buy "a box of buttons and knobs" and set it right above or beside the controller, using them to trigger/capture anything you need, configuring every one of them to represent what you want them to mean.

 

I'd focus on the sensitivities of the keys:  velocity, pressure, etc, and ideally if these are adjustable (with a nice knob that you'll set and then forget about).  Sensitivities are the things that actually capture the nuances that mark a "live" performance, which is actually the only thing that you use a keyboard for in a non-live performance situation.  Like speakers, you don't care how the thing looks, only how it "sounds."  (And that it won't break, or totally break your budget, if you accidentally drop it on the ground.  The road is rough, especially in airport baggage claim.)

 

Secondarily you might care how it feels under your fingertips, but I find that if you can play to a good, expressive sample, with a keyboard that manifests good resistance to your touch and captures the nuances that you intend (and that the sample is capable of expressing), your fingers/brain will automagically do the rest.  The keyboard will "feel" right, simply because you're able to make it respond consistently to your mental-image of what you want to be playing.  You pay a lot for keys that try to physically mimic a piano action (or that actually contain one), although, to be fair, the more-expensive ones really do.

 

Sure, people make good money selling very-expensive pianos which will ultimately just look good (and out-of-tune) in someone's two-story living room.  But a controller keyboard is a tool.

Edited February 5, 2014 by MikeRobinson

[infinitesinewave]

Look into Push.

[Styles]

I'd say what suits your budget.

Try M-Audio Key 49   49 keys and pretty kind to the pocket

[infinitesinewave]

If you're using Ableton Live & you're not the best keyboardist out there, Push is THE option. You can dial in any key and mode and it has 64 buttons which gives you a total of 8 octaves (104 keys keyboard) since it removes all the "wrong" notes when you dial in the mode and key. I kind of use the same thing but with the Quneos. The Quneo is another great option... but it limits you to just 16 pads. I have four of them for my live rig which gives me 64. I often load up 4 different instruments to my Quneos and I'm able to improvise easily and fluidly to any track I lay down. In combination, they're more powerful than the Push but you have to get 4 and then program everything yourself. Push comes right out of the box as a production powerhouse.

 

8S

 

Check out my youtube vids to see what I'm talking about... Also search for Push (performance vids)

 

www.youtube.com/infinitesinewave

[justsoulin]

I'm a bit confused here as to whether you need a new keyboard that doubles as a midi controller or you can instead change over to a pad controller, because it's the effects you want to control as opposed being able to play a piano/synth.

 

I've just got a 'new to me' Launchpad, which is made to measure for Ableton and FL Studio. (it works with other DAWS as I'm having to find out, but there's no user guide to help you know how to set it up, pre-program it with the sounds you want etc)

 

So, you're looking to replace the keyboard with another, or move over to a pad controller?

[Aluminumfalcone]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but here are my general thoughts:

 

1.  An acoustic piano is my go-to instrument, but when you don't have enough room for one (such as in my case), you have to improvise.

 

2.  For the sake of practicing, it is important to "exercise" both hands at the same time, so a large keyboard is ideal.

 

3.  From a songwriting point of view, the number of keys is not critical when using MuseScore, but it is a good idea to play your melodies using a VST or MIDI host to see how they sound and how you can play them--it's easy to make melodic lines in MuseScore that you can't reproduce yourself!  Therefore, having less than 88 keys gives you less to work with when making a melody.

[Aluminumfalcone]

We always appreciate it when members update their older posts, particularly when it involves question, as yours did.

That being said, I am a bit confused.

Since the original question was about "what to buy"......exactly what did you end up buying and why?

 

Since this is literally the 1 year anniversary of your question, I'm assuming you've acted on this by now.

Thanks!

 

Tom

 

 

Nothing yet, unfortunately.  I've been going through money and personal struggles and have not had room in my budget to work out a keyboard of any size yet.  I hope that I can afford one in the future, though.