Sidewinder X4 - Possibly a good tracking keyboard?

[Saga Musix]

I'm currently looking into getting a new keyboard, and so far the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 looks very promising. It seems to be one of the very rare keyboards which cost less than €100 but have anti-ghosting. I consider that as a very valuable feature for tracking, as it means one can virtually press as many keys at the same time as one wants - nice for trying out chords in the sample/pattern editor!
Does anyone have that keyboard and recommend it?

[LPChip]

I'm currently looking into getting a new keyboard, and so far the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 looks very promising. It seems to be one of the very rare keyboards which cost less than €100 but have anti-ghosting. I consider that as a very valuable feature for tracking, as it means one can virtually press as many keys at the same time as one wants - nice for trying out chords in the sample/pattern editor!
Does anyone have that keyboard and recommend it?

There are several choices actually. Just look for a gaming keyboard, and you're set to go. Even a Logitech G11 which should be around 50 euro will do. Do note, that even if they say they have anti ghosting for x many keys, it still doesn't say that you can press QETO at the same time. Some keys just don't go together. My G15 has 9 anti ghost keys, but I can still find a combination of 4 keys that don't go together. This unfortunately will always be the case.

Probably the only keyboard that can do this, would be the Creative Prodikeys.

[Saga Musix]

Well, the X4 apparently offers "up to 26 keys simultaneously without ghosting" (yeah right, who can press 26 kays at the same time?) - and acoording to some tests, the anti-ghosting on the X4 works much better than on the Logitech G15. Though I haven't had a look yet if it works with every combination.

This unfortunately will always be the case.

Just because it doesn't work on one keyboard, that doesn't mean that it will "always" be the case. It just depends on the technology the keyboard manufacturer uses, and that is sadly still lowtech in most keyboards.

Here are two charts for comparison, but they only seem to cover keys typically used in games. A "1" indicates that a combination works, a "0" indicates that it doesn't.
X4: http://www.computerbase.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=188459&stc=1&d=1275003327
G15: http://www2.pic-upload.de/28.05.10/sbhzwp3cylqf.png

[LPChip]

You're right. I have tried multiple keyboards, The G15 but also the ZBoard. Both have this problem, but that doesn't mean they all have this.

I just wanted to warn you about this.

But you might be right that the X4 doesn't have this problem. If so, I'd like to know.

[Saga Musix]

Yeah, me too, that's why I was asking here in the first place. X) I might buy it nevertheless and return it to the store if it doesn't work as expected.

There are very good keyboards which have no ghosting at all, but most of them cost €100+. Would be really cool if at least the X4 would be an alternative below €100...

[LPChip]

Alternatively, you could of course always go for a midi controller. X)

[Saga Musix]

Alternatively, you could of course always go for a midi controller. X)

Can I type emails with that? I actually do need a new keyboard, so I want to go for a good one.

[LPChip]

Alternatively, you could of course always go for a midi controller. X)

Can I type emails with that? I actually do need a new keyboard, so I want to go for a good one.

Ahh... I see

One tip: before you buy any keyboard, watch closely to the layout. Some keyboards tend to place the \| key on a vague location. Like left of the Z and under the ]} key instead of next to it.

I replaced my G15 keyboard with a G15 v2 keyboard, and the fuckers actually changed the layout. I grabbed my old G15 and am still using that, but its dying.

[Saga Musix]

I'm aware of that. I was actually going through the store yesterday and found that 90% of the keyboards threre were pure crap because of:
- non-standard layout
- 193215972305 extra keys
- wireless
- keyboard/mouse combo
- flat keys

[LPChip]

Indeed. I Often look for these signs, but since it are this many, I sometimes forget to watch for the layout (most common mistake)

[Saga Musix]

Ok, so I just bought an X4... still getting used to it. Guess that will take several days, but... yay!!! The anti-ghosting of this keyboard is impressive! I can finally use some key combinations to play chords that I couldn't do before!

[Rakib]

Under 100€?
It costs less than 50€ in a online store.

[Saga Musix]

Yes, but that I just wanted to imply that the others all cost slightly more than 100.

[Saga Musix]

So I've been using this keyboard for two days now, and and I can say it's really awesome. The perfect tracking keyboard. All key combinations are working flawlessly.
Here I'm pressing 10 keys at once to play a chord: http://sagagames.de/stuff/nojam.ogg