MIDI keyboard

[Pedro]

I'm interested in buying one when I have the money. I'm thinking about something cheap, bellow €100 or $150. What do you recommend?

And another question, is the MIDI latency related to a poor soundcard? I mean, I have a poor soundcard, if I bought a MIDI keyboard would I be wasting money to never take advantage of the full capabilities of the keyboard?

[13STARZ+]

Mate, buy a cheap keyboard and use the line in feature, it works just the same.

[64Guitars]

I assume you're talking about a midi keyboard controller with no internal sounds of its own which you'd connect to your computer via midi to play sounds from a software synth on your PC. There are lots of such controllers that will do the job but I think a midi keyboard instrument with its own built-in sounds is a better choice. Yamaha's PSR series keyboards are quite good for the price.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-PSRE213-Electronic-Portable-Keyboard?sku=702174

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-PSRE313-Electronic-Portable-Keyboard?sku=702175

Their internal sounds are quite good and they even have a built-in stereo amp/speaker system so you can just turn it on and play. And they have Midi In/Out which allows you to use it as a keyboard controller. So, why buy just a controller when you can have a complete keyboard instrument for about the same price and still use it as a controller if you choose? I guess the only advantage of a keyboard controller is that they usually have some buttons and controls that you can program to control various parameters of the software synth. I don't think you can do that with the Yamahas. But if that's not important to you, the Yamahas have a lot of advantages over a keyboard controller. See the Yamaha web pages to learn more:

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,,CNTID%25253D555512%252526CTID%25253D205000,00.html

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,,CNTID%25253D555565%252526CTID%25253D205000%252526RLTID%25253D590%252526DETYP%25253DRELATION,00.html#

Oh, and keyboard controllers often have midi over USB so you can connect it to your computer without a separate midi interface. But the Yamahas only have standard midi connectors, so you'd need a midi interface to connect it to your computer. Something like this:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-UX16-USB-MIDI-Interface?sku=332007

[13STARZ+]

i just used the line in, and recorded the keys to a free track.

[Pedro]

Havent thought about that, they are definitely a better choice! There are so many GREAT VST plugins out there, I want to be able to use them as well.

Thank you very much 64Guitars and 13Starz+

[Pedro]

Do you know if these Keyoards support VST? I mean, is it possible to use VST on them without having to use the computer?

This way I would be fully and completely free of the computer to create my music.

[Scorpios]

The latency issue will rely on the soundcard. Though an affordable and good option is the m-audio 24/96... if you are using a built in motherboard soundcard, the M-audio will be a nice step up for under 100$, giving you digital, analog and midi ins/outs. I have seen them on ebay for almost half the price lately, I am going to get a second one in the near future.

For a while I was using a cheap casio with midi out to my pc for software such as Reason, FLStudio, Kontakt etc and it worked nicely, but the keys were not velocity sensative - But basically any sound files or banks I have on my pc could be controlled by the casio, and with a lot of sequencing software you have the possibility to adjust the velocity, edit the notes etc on the pc and since it records only the midi data, the possibilities are pretty endless. I have even seen a Korg Triton sound bank available now for Reason.

I ended up getting a midi controller last year though, as I wanted something very compact that I could place right in front of my pc keyboard, that was velocity sensetive, and with assignable controls to tweak sounds in real time. I was looking into the m-audio oxygen models but ended up getting a Behringer for 99$ that had a few more knobs and dials for slightly cheaper than m-audios similar makes:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-UCONTROL-UMX25-25Key-USBMIDI-Controller-Keyboard?sku=702543

You can hook it up via midi or usb. I know people who have invested thousands in Korg keyboards etc, but honestly I would prefer a midi controller with the right software any day. I can constantly find new sound banks that sound just as good as top notch keyboards, easily edit my own sounds, and even make my own samples, not to mention it makes recording and writing parts extremely easy with the use of a pc.

The only drawback is if you want to use a keyboard for stand alone and have something portable without a pc, which is still fairly easy if you have a laptop.

You can check out some stuff I did with the casio and Reason here:
www.myspace.com/talktothedead

[Pedro]

Thats pretty awesome, and you did all that with the Casio keyboard? There are awesome sounds in that Myspace. The latency issue is what bothers me most because as you said it is only resolved with a new soundcard (I've thought about buying that particular soundcard for ages but then ended up buying Micro BR). What would be really cool would be if one could use VST in the keyboard without using a laptop or a PC.

Velocity sensivity means the keys could not sense different dynamics, right?

[Scorpios]

Yeah the casio just triggers the sound banks I have on Reason. Trying it with a latency issue though, is almost impossible and extremely aggravating.

I have used a couple midi controllers that will work also as standalone synthesizers, but those are much higher in price.

Velocity sensitive is when the keys react to how hard you hit them, in most cases just with volume, but I have a lot of patches that will react differently... i.e. some orchestral patches, hitting the key soft will play maybe just strings or woodwinds, hitting hard will trigger the whole orchestra with percussion, etc.

There might even be some cheaper alternatives for a soundcard with low latency, the m-audio is just all around convenient and definitely worth the price and very versatile with all the software I have used... I have read about a lot of people using soundblaster cards and coming across more issues than it's worth.

though 3 days left on this bid, I am sure it won't stay at 99 cents...you may want to keep an eye on it:
http://cgi.ebay.com/M-Audio-Audiophile-24-96-Delta-Pro-Sound-Card_W0QQitemZ230216646260QQihZ013QQcategoryZ41787QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Pedro]

i.e. some orchestral patches, hitting the key soft will play maybe just strings or woodwinds, hitting hard will trigger the whole orchestra with percussion, etc.

That sounds very very cool.

Thanks for the ebay link, I'm not buying it though, I feel that I have too many things to record and too little music. I want to invest more in learning music and pratice.