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[ms] · Est. May 2002

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Forums / General Yakkity Yak

midi keyboards

29 durable postsStarted 2006-04-13Latest 2006-06-09
#26615Post 1 of 29

i'm going to buy one to work w/reason. thinking about this one: [url]http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Oxygen49-main.html[/url] should be enough for my needs, i could probably get by with one of the 25 key models too.

any idears?

#609317Post 2 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

Go for the 49 key one. I've got the 25 key one and sometimes it can be a real pain since you have to shift your octive. I will eventually get the larger one myself but need to find time to get back into producing.

#609758Post 3 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

I agree, definately go for the 49. I personaly have the Radium 49.

#609795Post 4 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

yeah i bought a 25 key oxygen 8 and now wish i had bought a 49 key. though it would ben nice to have some of those new controllers that they have out today.

#610467Post 5 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

more keys=merrier.

#610568Post 6 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

more knobs the merrier.

#610672Post 7 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

i used to have the radium 61, unless you are a keyboardist you dont need that many keys; 49 is good enough. i hope they fixed the sticky note problem in their new lines of controllers. new axiom series looks nice

#611235Post 8 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

i was just talking to one of my producer friends yesterday, and he highly reccommends the Korg MicroKorg that you see people like Trentemoeller using for their midi needs. It has all kinds of little things that most people don't really focus on. Like aftertouch for one. That, and it's got some bad ass sounds straight out of the box.

#611698Post 9 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

The Novation X series are awesome, especially for ableton.

[url]http://www.novationmusic.com/product.asp?id=1&Type=1&bArchive=False[/url]

A lot of my friends have them, I hope to be picking one up in the future.

#617913Post 10 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

ok i have to revoke my thoughts on the microkorg. it is an awesome keyboard, but I think my friend gave me some info he wasn't 100% sure on.

#617968Post 11 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

I've heard good things about these:

[url]http://www.novationmusic.com/product.asp?id=1&Type=1[/url]

#619535Post 12 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[IMG]http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/product_pics/big/radium_49.jpg[/IMG]

ma baby :)

#619757Post 13 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

in all honesty i would try and buy an old jp8000 or something, thats what i use, u get all the midi control plus u get a killer of an extra hardware synth and for the money you would pay for a brand new midi controller you might be able to find one for around the same kind of money...the trouble with half those small midi controllers is that they are so "plastic and weak"

#620331Post 14 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

I´ve been down to the music store today and the guy was pretty cool and let me inside their studio. I tried out the M-Audio Axiom 25 and I was very impressed by the build quality, by the "touch" of the keys and the ammount of controllers you get, for the price.

Of course, I also tested one of the new Novation Remote SL 25, that one was even better but it´s too expensive. I´ll be going with the Axiom in less than 2 months

#623896Post 15 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

The Novation Remote SL series might suit you well too. The new SL series have small LED indicators that dynamically change depending on which software program you're in. No more sticky tapes!

#624314Post 16 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

there are two categories in m-audio's web site.

one is midi controllers : [url]http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Oxygen49-main.html[/url]

the other one is audio interface keyborads: [url]http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us[/url] MAudioOzone-main.html

what are the technical difference between them?

#624382Post 17 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

my guess is the audio interface keybaords have a soundcard built in

#625064Post 18 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[quote=groffhibbitz]my guess is the audio interface keybaords have a soundcard built in[/quote]

indeed

#625180Post 19 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

so if we are working with computer, we don't need audio interface keyboards. midi controllers are enough?

#625656Post 20 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

no, a professional grade sound card(midi/audio interface) is essential for working with soft synths or any other aspects of computer based production. you will need one thats capable of producing low latency (one that has a solid ASIO driver for PC). so that when you hit a key on your midi keyboard it will output the sound instantly.

i have a m-audio firewire 410, personally i perfer a external box so that i can plug in cables with out goin to the back of my PC. i use a hardware synth (Alesis Ion) to control soft synths.

#625750Post 21 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[quote=audiotherapy]

i have a m-audio firewire 410, personally i perfer a external box so that i can plug in cables with out goin to the back of my PC. i use a hardware synth (Alesis Ion) to control soft synths.[/quote] plus the fact that there is less interfierance from internal noise sources which helps when sampling

#625949Post 22 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[quote=red1]plus the fact that there is less interfierance from internal noise sources which helps when sampling[/quote]

Or, if you?re skint, you can download this for free and get low latency with your internal soundcard : [URL="http://www.asio4all.com"]www.asio4all.com[/URL]

I can go below 10ms with my shitty internal soundcard with these drivers!8)

#626729Post 23 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[quote=Kinetic]Or, if you?re skint, you can download this for free and get low latency with your internal soundcard : [URL="http://www.asio4all.com"]www.asio4all.com[/URL]

I can go below 10ms with my shitty internal soundcard with these drivers!8)[/quote]

Very nice I will be grabbing this shortly. Thanks!

#627111Post 24 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

yea I was just about to mention that as well... asio4all is good stuff!

IMO, you can use this just fine with a midi controller that has no sound card built in and you will be fine. These days, you can buy a midi controller with a usb connection to your computer. I would highly recommend this as otherwise you will be spending time hooking up a separte midi interface to your computer (which you will have to buy) or trying to use midi via your computers joystick port which is a pain as well...

and really, you only need that external sound card if you are going to be hooking up a lot of things to your computer (ie, mixer, synth1, synth2, laptop, etc).

In the next few years (maybe next year) more and more gear will have built in USB audio, because it is pretty cheap and easy to do. For example, instead of buying that external audio interface to hook up your mixer to your computer, you will hook up your mixer directly to your computer via USB (the new Xone 3d already has this capability). The new synth you buy will send audio and midi to/from your computer (the access virus TI does this). There are even some decent studio monitors that will be coming out soon that I bet will have a USB port on them as well, so you don't even need to have that amp or 'receiver' anymore.

btw, for a good site for reviews of gear, and forums about gear, check out [url]www.createdigitalmusic.com[/url] it's got a lot of info and it's not too hard to find (I find sites like the futureproducers forums have a lot of info, but also a lot of repeated or useless info and it's way too difficult to sort through it to find what you want).

hope this helps!

#631437Post 25 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[url]http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/05/02/how-to-solve-garbled-audio-on-windows-with-simple-settings/#comments[/url]

#642156Post 26 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

I am a proud owner of the M-Audio Axiom 25 key. More keys would be nice but I chose the 25 for its portabliity. I go most everywhere w/ my axiom and iBook so that when an idiea arises...i can got it down w/ reason. Besides, overdubbing within a loop isnt that big of a pain when your trying to lay down muliple octaves. I have no complaints and this unit is very versatile w/ pots, pads, and just about everything on the axiom being programable. I will definately be purchasing a larger controller when the funds are available, I just really like the portability. Great price too. If only it had a thru midi port........

[IMG]http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/1/8/5/330185.jpg[/IMG]

M-Audio Axiom 25 25-Key USB MIDI Controller Features:

25-keys Velocity-sensitive semi-weighted keyboard with assignable aftertouch Backlit LCD screen 8 MIDI-assignable trigger pads 8 MIDI-assignable rotary encoder knobs 6 transport buttons reassignable to other MIDI parameters Assignable pitch bend and modulation wheels Sustain and expression pedal jacks USB port and MIDI I/O USB bus or AC powered Class-compliant with Windows XP and Mac OS X 20 non-volatile memory locations Comes with Enigma librarian/editor software and Ableton Live Lite 4 music production software

#642935Post 27 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[quote=audiotherapy]no, a professional grade sound card(midi/audio interface) is essential for working with soft synths or any other aspects of computer based production. you will need one thats capable of producing low latency (one that has a solid ASIO driver for PC). so that when you hit a key on your midi keyboard it will output the sound instantly.

i have a m-audio firewire 410, personally i perfer a external box so that i can plug in cables with out goin to the back of my PC. i use a hardware synth (Alesis Ion) to control soft synths.[/quote]

ahahahahhahaha.. i love your avatar! took me 2 seconds to get it.

what's that gold doo-rag doing on the owl... ... ohH.. ahahahahahha

#651276Post 28 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

[URL="http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/robotspeak-store_1899_2312060"][/URL][URL="http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/robotspeak-store_1899_2312060"][IMG]http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/robotspeak-store_1899_2312060[/IMG][/URL]

Novation REmote 25 SL. my next toy.

#651586Post 29 of 29

Re: midi keyboards

I wish I could have shelled out the $ for the Novation. It was over twice what I paid for the Axiom. Nice choice though....

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