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Which MIDI keyboard/controller


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What do you use with logic pro X?

 

I am in a search for a new MIDI KyB. Up to 49 keys.

 

I used to use an EDIROL PCR keyb. I liked the fact it had 8 knobs and sliders. It was a smaller keyb. so expanding would be nice.

The keybed felt solid. Had no aftertouch so that would be nice on a new kyb.

 

It would be also cool to have trigger pads altho not necessary.

I also briefly had an Alesis V40 but that one felt real cheap.

If I do automation I either midi learn or just draw with a mouse.

Not sure if I'll be using it live. Prolly not.

 

Currently looking @ Arturia Key Lab MkII but seems kinda overkill for my needs.

I will probably never use analog synths.... and the fact you cant scroll thru sample sets on triggerpads kinda defeats their purpose, when you can get the whole range on the keyboard, no?

 

Fire away and thank you

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Funny thing. For me, the most important thing is: "eighty-eight keys." The first controller I bought was stupid-simple, no gadgets, and I loved it until ... it died. :cry: And I found out that it would cost far more than it had cost me, to fix the thing.

 

The first replacement that I bought had "all kinds of knobs, dials, sliders and other gee-gaws," but it was very heavy and I found that I simply did not use all those "fee-churs" after all. (Even though Logic had no problems supporting them: it instantly recognized the unit and seemed to know all about it.)

 

Finally, I sold the thing and bought my latest 88-key "axe," which is a full-featured synthesizer in its own right. (And which Logic also knows by name ...)

 

(Shortly before I bought it, I was sorely tempted by a "student's electronic piano" which cost a fourth as much, but which "had great feel under my hands." And, six or seven really great built-in piano sounds, too!)

 

To be quite honest, I think that your choice of keyboard is very much like a marriage: "choose carefully, because you're going to live with it for a very long time." :) Don't just try to pick from a catalog – take yourself somewhere where you can actually play it. Plug in the headphones that you brought with you and spend at least half an hour seeing how it feels beneath your hands.

 

One thing that I've definitely noticed is that ... very often, keyboards that are "loaded with fee-churs" seem to have ... very crappy keyboards! :roll: Don't ask me why. (Of course, when you reach the stratospheric price points of "professional gear," you get both fee-churs and fantastic feel.)

 

So: "go somewhere and play it," for a not-inconsequential amount of time. "Do you think that you could marry this?"

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I did see a Roland E-Piano at Costco the other day. Very nice keyboard feel, basically a real piano? Apparently will be available for about $550 around Black Friday timeframe.

 

The keyboard is far nicer than my, getting elderly, Casio PX-330. Since I am not going to get the Steinway grand for my living room ;-) someday I may upgrade to the Roland piano set up to work with MainStage (RD-88). It's good enough stand-alone, and should be fine for the studio "piano".

 

I drove my first Roland digital piano back in 1980's (rented) and decided that for home and MIDI use they were outstanding. Still seem to fit the bill.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Funny thing. For me, the most important thing is: "eighty-eight keys." The first controller I bought was stupid-simple, no gadgets, and I loved it until ... it died. :cry: And I found out that it would cost far more than it had cost me, to fix the thing.

 

The first replacement that I bought had "all kinds of knobs, dials, sliders and other gee-gaws," but it was very heavy and I found that I simply did not use all those "fee-churs" after all. (Even though Logic had no problems supporting them: it instantly recognized the unit and seemed to know all about it.)

 

Finally, I sold the thing and bought my latest 88-key "axe," which is a full-featured synthesizer in its own right. (And which Logic also knows by name ...)

 

(Shortly before I bought it, I was sorely tempted by a "student's electronic piano" which cost a fourth as much, but which "had great feel under my hands." And, six or seven really great built-in piano sounds, too!)

 

To be quite honest, I think that your choice of keyboard is very much like a marriage: "choose carefully, because you're going to live with it for a very long time." :) Don't just try to pick from a catalog – take yourself somewhere where you can actually play it. Plug in the headphones that you brought with you and spend at least half an hour seeing how it feels beneath your hands.

 

One thing that I've definitely noticed is that ... very often, keyboards that are "loaded with fee-churs" seem to have ... very crappy keyboards! :roll: Don't ask me why. (Of course, when you reach the stratospheric price points of "professional gear," you get both fee-churs and fantastic feel.)

 

So: "go somewhere and play it," for a not-inconsequential amount of time. "Do you think that you could marry this?"

Good to listen about your keyboard. I am willing to buy Yamaha P71. This piano is among the best piano in the market today. It is also compact and does not occupy more space.
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  • 2 weeks later...

In my present situation, I have the luxury of now being able to use a wide library of sounds from two sources: the keyboard, and Logic. (My keyboard will simply send the sounds right back through the USB interface.) Since I financially could afford it, and because they made a nice deal to "get the car off their lot," I splurged a little, but not a lot. 8-) I also came away with a few other "extras," such as a built-in audio interface that the manufacturers apparently intended for use with karaoke or "beats." (Ick ...)

 

Nevertheless – what you really want at the end of the day is a really good, expressive keyboard that feels very good under y-o-u-r hands. And I don't think that you can find that in a catalog. I played the actual keyboard that I now own in the store for more than half an hour before choosing it over the electronic piano that was nearby, and which I also played for more than half an hour. I could have been satisfied with either one. (The e-piano was a Yamaha brand, and it was a great unit. Quite inexpensive, too.)

 

As you evaluate a controller or a keyboard, pay attention to how the physical mechanism feels under your hands. Also, observe how it responds (if any) to changes in pressure and velocity. (How important these things are to you, if any, depends entirely on the kind of music you want to make.)

 

As for "gee-gaws," if you find that you actually need and will use those "gee-gaws," there also specialized external MIDI/USB devices which specialize in those things, and which do so at a professional level. Be careful that you do not wind up with: "a jack of all trades but a master of none." It is far better to buy a device that is really good at the things that you will use, than to buy one that compromises – according to you – those features to add "additional features" (that you won't actually use ...) while staying within a certain market price-point.

 

"You're going to be married to it. Choose carefully."

 

Fortunately, these days, "we are cursed with an abundance of riches." Almost everything that's out there now is great.

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Looking over the "five beginner synths" list a little more closely, I see that these are classic analog synths – some with keyboards, some without – and this does bring up the important issue of polyphony: how many notes can be sounded at the same time. Some analogs can only play one note at time; others maybe four or six. Well, you've got ten fingers.

 

These days, you probably want a USB connection, not MIDI, and it's a big plus if the synth can send its audio output back through the USB cable into Logic. Otherwise you will need an analog interface. Your Mac may recognize the keyboard, when attached, as a sound input/output option. Some keyboards also support bluetooth for cable-free connectivity.

 

Another thing that some manufacturers have begun to do, and I have no(!) idea why, is that they sell pedals and maybe even power-bricks separately! The pedals should plug into an RCA jack on the back of the unit so that you can easily buy and use an external pedal if you wish.

 

Some piano keyboards have a very interesting "velocity mapping" feature which gives it different "feels." The physical velocity with which you strike the key is mapped to a MIDI velocity profile, and that mapped value is what's sent out as the MIDI data and/or sent to the synthesis unit. Very interesting and it works quite well.

 

It's nice when a piano-unit contains built-in speakers. It should always also have a headphone jack which will mute the speakers.

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If you like the unit – buy it, "and keep the receipt!" :)

 

Whatever unit you select, it's going to be a tool that you use every day. In time you will learn and adapt to its "quirks," and "with it you will make music."

 

Spend what seems to you to be enough time for you to make a decision that you can live with, but don't give in to "analysis paralysis."

 

I repeat the admonition to, if at all possible, "go into a physical store, and physically play it, for a not-insignificant period of time." If you can't realistically do that, check out your online retailer's return policy – they are very certain to have one.

 

However, these days, "no matter what you choose, it's probably going to be good." (Today, we all enjoy "an embarrassment of riches.") If I didn't mind having "just" 61 keys, this controller certainly looks very nice to me! :) I fully expect that Logic will "know all about it," from the moment you plug it in.

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