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Looper's Delight
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Well, I'm happy with both my Akai MPK49 and M-Audio Venom. You can get some really good deals on the Venom these days. The Akai has afterouch and the Venom doesn't. Honestly though, I'm not sure I have very high standards in keyboards, and I've never played a Korg Trinity, so I can't compare the keyboard actions. On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 10:59 AM, Buzap <buzap@gmx.net> wrote: > Hi folks > > I'm looking for a compact yet capable midi (or USB) keyboard. Year after > year, I go through the same procedure: Go to a music store, try out ALL > available midi/USB keyboards - then go home empty handed... Sure, with a > 2000+ EUR/$ synthesizer, you sometimes get nice keyboard action. But usb > keyboard controllers? > Once in a while, I unbox my beautiful Korg Trinity and I'm amazed how > musical & expressive the keyboard plays: My right hand plays a wonderful > (I believe Fatar) top quality keyboard with responsive aftertouch. In my > left hand, I have a joystick (x = pitch, y+/- = two modulations), ribbon > control and two switches directly available. > > I have to yet recreate that experience on a midi/usb keyboard + software > setting. > As for software, Logic's Sculpture was an exciting discovery recently. > Can't believe I've ignored such a great physical modeling instrument for > so long... I love it! > > With hardware keyboards, I still have problems. > > First a word on quality/responsiveness/aftertouch: > Is it me or do midi/usb keyboards in recent years lack the quality of > simple keyboards in the 90ies? > I mean, in early 90ies, even a cheaper Yamaha/Casio keyboard would have > decent action. Even the crappy old Casio VL-1 from the 80ies has better > built quality than most laptop-sized keyboards nowadays. > Talking about responsiveness: Hardly any keyboard seems to have > aftertouch. Lack thereof completely takes the life out of the virtual > instrument for me. > > Then modulation wheels (yuck): > If the compact keyboards provide any modulation/pitchbend at all, it's > mostly wheels (vs joystick). I wonder: How do you actually manage to use > two (=pitchbend+mod) wheels at the same time? With a joystick, I can > manage more parameters easily (see above). Mod wheels? I don't know... > > Here a word on 37 keys: > I find 2 octaves utterly useless. First, you only get real two octaves > when you play the note "C". For any other note, you only have one "real" > full octave. And for entering chord progressions, it's never enough. > With 37 keys, you can start off in the middle octave and you can always > jump up/down one octave (then realign with octave buttons). For me it's > perfect for single handed playing. For two hands, I at least need 5 > octaves minimum. So don't know why people come up with 25/49-keybards. > While we're at it: Why start with the note "C"? Starting with F/G would > be much more useful... > > Ok, so, what are my options? My favorite being the Korg Microkey... > KORG MICROKEY 37 (http://www.korg.com/microkey) > + compact size > + good keyboard action > + pitchbend and mod wheel! > - lacks aftertouch > - no sustain pedal > NOVATION SL 37 / successor?? > (http://novationmusic.de/midi-controllers/sl-mkii) > + As far as I remember, action was quite nice. > + Expressive controls (joystick, touchpad, aftertouch) > - too bulky, faders etc. take a lot of space > ? Not available anymore, any decent successor??? > ALESIS VORTEX KEYTAR (http://www.alesis.com/vortex) > +/- it's a keytar! :-) > + Has aftertouch!! > ? Any experience playing it / or keytar advice in general??? > ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS? > ? > > As always, looking forward to your feedback :) > Buzap > -- Art Simon simart@gmail.com