Query - Best of Smallest Older MIDI Keyboards-

[SewerSide]

Hello...
    Figured I'd put this here as it's not a question about OpenMPT.
    Wanted perhaps some input on what is considered like tops of older type MIDI keyboards that are 2 octaves (no more than that). It has to have REAL pitch - mod wheels not buttons, nice feeling keys, quality build. I say older because I use XP so I don't want something new that might have to have some software or driver install that won't work on XP.
    All I have is a Korg NANOkey & an old M-Audio Oxygen-8 I want a better class of small KB with better velocity sensitivity - THANX.

[Saga Musix]

Just a note - practically all modern MIDI USB devices are class compliant, meaning that they all will work with Windows XP without any additional drivers. It's not necessary to go with older hardware.

That said, the only experience with smaller-scale keyboards I have is the Korg microKey, which is alright for its size. Can't say if it's better or worse than the Oxygen-8.

[SewerSide]

Thanks there...OK 'class compliant' is a good thing but does that go for older music soft?...I have the NANOkey which is recognized by my system but won't work right with alotta apps until I install the MIDI driver (DrvTools_e(1.14_r6).exe) otherwise it would only be good to hit someone over the head with.

So maybe older soft more picky I don't know the deal there.

I also see weirdly that old slider-knob controllers (no keyboard) are rare or non-existant I was also gonna get an old keyfax phatboy as well but don't seem to be any for sale. I looked for other similar but the prices are sky-high you can get same WITH keyboard for way cheaper. The insane prices as well is everyone smoking crack these days?

[Saga Musix]

Whether a device is class compliant or not (or any other property of the device driver for that matter) changes nothing about how music applications interact with it. As there's are several nanoKey products by Korg it's hard to tell what the problem is, but I could imagine that the more programmable variations (with drum pads etc.) require a driver to be set up properly. If you really want to dig deeper I would suggest to monitor the MIDI input with a software like SendSX, which will show you each and every MIDI command sent by the hardware. It's hard to imagine for me that some commands would be missing just because the class-compliant driver is used instead of Korg's custom driver, but maybe different commands would be sent instead.

That being said - a lot of modern hardware still has DIN MIDI jacks. If you get a MIDI interface that is compatible with Windows XP (again, class-compliant USB interfaces shouldn't require a driver anyway), you can connect it to any MIDI keyboard with a 5-pin MIDI jack (some of the slimmer devices also use a 3.5mm jack to DIN converter cable to save space), no matter how new or old.

The insane prices as well is everyone smoking crack these days

Pretty much all prices for any sort of vintage gear follow the same curve: First everything gets cheap because a newer, better product is released, but at some point those devices become more desirable again, and they also become rarer. At that point the curve goes up again. With the usual nostalgia cycle, a lot of people are buying back the stuff they sold 20 years ago, which drives up demand.

[SewerSide]

Thanx Saga Musix very thorough explanation...HaHAH! Buying back the stuff they sold 20 years ago!...I bet THAT is what it really is as nothing else makes any sense of it...