JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Keyboard and Piano Forum Idea's For Good Midi Controller?

What is a good brand and cheap midi controller for my puter. I am an absolute newbie on these and being disabled I can't afford a whole lot, but I don't really want a cheapo either. I guess I want one with good flexibility more than anything.

Depends on what you want from the controller.

Three questions you should ask yourself:

1. Do you want to just enter MIDI notes or do you want to play entire compositions? In other words, do you want to be EDM-artist-flavor-of-the-month, or play Chopin?

2. Do you care about a lot of controls, i.e. buttons, pads, faders? Most traditional musicians don't need them too much, but if you're creating EDM, hip-hop, etc. you kinda need them

3. What size are you comfortable with? Portable controllers are great but have tiny keys which can make playing complex melodies difficult. Full-size keyboards (49 keys and above) on the other hand take up a lot of desk space

If you want playability and have a budget, you'll do better with a digital piano instead of a plain MIDI controller. The piano will have far better keys. If you'd still go for a MIDI controller, I suggest something with semi-weighted keys. These do a better approximation of acoustic piano keys and don't always cost a bomb.

As for brands, I've never seen anyone regret buying an Akai. Their keys aren't the best but their pad quality is top notch. For keys, I suggest going for a Roland. Their A-500 Pro is a fantastic keyboard. Stay away from M-Audio; their keys have a habit of falling apart after a few heavy jam sessions. Another great but slightly expensive brand is Nektar. Their Panorama P4 is great.

If cheap is your thing and you need something small, go for an Akai MPK Mini. If you'd rather have a full set of keys, pick something from midiPlus or Nektar's GX61

This is a good overview of MIDI keyboards

Also check out this list if you're using a Mac (I know lots of musicians do)

WOW you know your stuff, as someone who was brought up on

old fashioned analogue recording with 8 track maximum I have only

started using Digital gear around Ten years ago

I would love to be able to mix the two, as VOCALS via Digital

never sounds right to me ; But I have managed to get a pretty good

sound via a lot of trial and error , Plus the fact that one can add or re write

a measure or two with out starting the whole song demo again using Digital

as opposed to Analogue Recorders

Thanks for your response to the gents enquiry

There are a few different things to cover here.
1) Do you care about how many keys your controller has?
2) Do you want a bunch of different parameter controls or does that not matter?
3) Weighted keys? Most controllers won't have weighted keys so you would want to get a digital piano if you want that in my opinion.

I would recommend going with the popular Akai MPK 249 or the Arturia Keylab MK2 as it's brand new and getting great reviews. This has only 49 keys, but it's plenty!

Here's some great controllers that I was recommended:

https://keyboardkraze.com/best-midi-controllers/

I also found this to be cool to as it looks like there are now Bluetooth controllers.

Hope this helps you!

There's lots of options available. I think Akai is a pretty good place to start. I personally use a Yamaha P-45, but this is more of a digital piano and not a MIDI controller, though I use it as one.