Buying a MIDI keyboard

[AlisterFlint]

there's always a good thing to do, when you're ready to buy a keyboard: go to your closest music gear dealer, and try a few out. that'd give you a good idea of weighted/semi-weighted feel..

on a sidenote, although Nano's do have key-touch response, it is acting up every now and then, and is in no way close to what you'd feel with your Oyxgen, for instance. NanoPad is a little more accurate though..

[Saga Musix]

Exactly, visiting some music gear store (if possible one of the larger kind) is the best thing to do.

[Louigi Verona]

Yeah, I own M-Audio Oxygen 61 and it is a great keyboard. I like it a bit more than the one Chris mentioned, however it is more personal preference than anything else. I really like the feel of the Oxygen keys.

[psishock]

i have M-Audio Oxygen 49 (its another story that i never use it), very cool midi keyboard and an excellent feature/quality/price combo. Didnt found a better deal anywhere actually.

What it doesn't have compared to M-Audio Axiom family is the semi-weighted action keys with assignable aftertouch. Basically pick a keyboard that suit your needs.

[Oliwerko]

Yeah, prior to buying I'm definitely gonna check out some live.

But from what I hear I guess I'll end up with Oxygen...

Thanks for valuable input all of you, I very much appreciate it!

[TheEagle]

composing with QWERTZ is tiresome and inconvenient

I'm thinking since last summer about buying a MIDI keyboard for exact the same reason, but I couldn't decide yet. Basically because I'm not sure if such a keyboard is useful for me or not.
So, may I ask you for a favour, Oliwerko? Could you please report you first experiences with the keyboard once you've bought it? That would be very nice.

Thanks in advance.

Greetings,
TheEagle

[psishock]

I'm thinking since last summer about buying a MIDI keyboard for exact the same reason, but I couldn't decide yet. Basically because I'm not sure if such a keyboard is useful for me or not.

well from my experience, it's definitely not useful for me, and figured that one out after i bought mine. Tried to play, work with it, but always ended up using my PC keyboard and the mouse. They feel much more natural and comfortable, i can control the movements and any specified controls, inputs with those 2, while i feel quite restricted with the MIDI keyboard. I must move my hand all the time between it and the PC keyb, and i can compose melodies or fx much more easier with them too.

I think MIDI keyboard can be an advantage to the actual (piano and similar) keyboard players, or live playing, but for working with trackers and messing with huge amount of effects, automation and structures, the PC keyb + mouse is the best combo.

[uncloned]

don't overlook a GM midi casio keyboards.

they are built surprising good for the money in my experience - are touch sensitive and have midi.

I used one until last year.

[Louigi Verona]

Are those the ones that have sounds on them? Like synths with soundbanks + midi?

[Saga Musix]

Well, about the usefulness, I normally use QWERTZ input for most of the tracking, but for the last half year when I didn't have a proper soundcard and thus no MIDI, I realized that I was far less creative than normally. I normally don't use my Synth for recording (but that does also happen), but more for jamming, which is important for me. Jamming on my synth is a lot more comfortable, I especially can try out new weird chords without key ghosting. Also, my Synth is a ROM Sampler, meaning that it's one more source of creativity with all the samples and filters and effects, but that's not true for a MIDI keyboard of course.

[Oliwerko]

Eagle  :arrow:  sure, I'll definitely post my experience here after/if I buy a keyboard.

I can imagine that having to switch between a MIDI keyboard and QWERTZ can be frustrating, but I find inventing new 'creative' stuff difficult on QWERTZ.

Seriously, 2-octave range with black keys in diagonal right position? I know that for entering other stuff it's totally ok, but...I guess I have to find out.

[uncloned]

Are those the ones that have sounds on them? Like synths with soundbanks + midi?

yep

http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/casio_ctk-601.cfm

that is the one I'm referring to and I did buy it in 1997.

now you can get the same model more or less for $99

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3078835&CAWELAID=222878824

[Louigi Verona]

Haha!
I have almost the same Casio keyboard - I think it differs only in colors. Nice thingy though the instruments on it sound really cheap!

[Oliwerko]

Okay, here we go:

Today I went and checked out the Oxygen personally, and bought it right away.

It's exactly how I wanted it, the key response is soft, sliders and knobs work perfectly. The aftertouch is a bit insensitive, so you have to hit really hard to get full 'loud' effect, but I'm probably not gonna use it during regular composing anyway.

Now the fun part:
I unpacked it, plugged in the USB cable and that's it. It has no audible delay whatsoever. This gives new meaning to the phrase Plug'n'play, I guess  

It's a bit more spacey than I thought it would be, but 61 keys will suffice for a long time for me.

So - at the first glance, it's just what I wanted.

I also focused on the inconvenience of switching to/from mouse/QWERTY, and it wasn't really bugging me. I had the QWERTY placed in front of the MIDI keyboard with mouse just right of it. Reaching out for the controls wasn't a problem, and I had everything at my disposal. Of course, I was getting these urges to hit escape and instead of escape there was the pitch bend wheel, but I gues I'll get used to it.

From trying it out today I'm very satisfied. Of course, only experience and time will show if it was the right decision, but as of now, it looks like a very good investment.

Now learning to play that thing, or even only placing the fingers on it like they should be, that's a whole another story...

[Saga Musix]

The aftertouch is a bit insensitive, so you have to hit really hard to get full 'loud' effect, but I'm probably not gonna use it during regular composing anyway.

Even my synth from the early to mid-90s has configurable key sensitivity. I bet your controller can do that, too.