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I'm going to purchase DP today and want to purchase a USB Keyboard Controller along with it. I would like to use it for MIDI production as well as parameter adjustment. There are so many choices at zzounds, can you recommend any? Thanks.

alozano wrote:I'm going to purchase DP today and want to purchase a USB Keyboard Controller along with it. I would like to use it for MIDI production as well as parameter adjustment. There are so many choices at zzounds, can you recommend any? Thanks.

My brother is using the Alesis Photon and so far seems to like it. It was preprogrammed for DP, so his set up was straight forward.

I had a look at the behringer bcf2000 and I like it's features, however would I be able to control soft synths from such a control surface?

alozano wrote:I had a look at the behringer bcf2000 and I like it's features, however would I be able to control soft synths from such a control surface?

It depends what you mean. The behringer is a control surface intended mainly for mixing. Controlling soft synths typically means playing MIDI notes which trigger the sounds, which requires a keyboard or guitar or wind controller. If it's the latter that you are intending to do, then the behringer won't help.

Billf thanks for your help. I've decided to buy the bcf2000 to control DP and I am going to hold out for version 5 so I can use it's "MIDI notes" feature to input MIDI data from my keyboard.

Edirol/Roland PC-300, M-Audio Oxygen8, and M-Audio Trigger Finger. The Trigger Finger is a lot of fun with BFD.

Here's a recommendation from the old school.

The Yamaha KX 76---the sweetest synth action ever made. Absolutely out-of-date, heavy, with an impenetrable edit mode, still I love it. And if it makes you feel like playing, well, what's THAT worth?

i have an edirol pcr m1. little bitty thing. but i'm actually eyeing one of the novation controllers...the action on the edirol, though short-throw, is a little stiff, and the pitchbend controller is driving me nuts...

M-Audio Keystation 88es. It's an okay non-weighted 88 key thingy. Powered by USB which is cool.
I have a Fatar 88plus which I like a WHOLE lot better. Awesome keyboards on those Fatars. Great feel. Weighted. But it's up on blocks, so to speak. Hope to get her runnin' again soon.

Still using my Yamaha KX88.

M-Audio do some great un-weighted, semi-weighted, and weighted keyboards - good price too.

westla wrote:Still using my Yamaha KX88.

Same here.

I'm looking at the http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UF8/
but won't buy until i try. A session key player bought the mAudio one and it started sticking in 3 weeks. I'm gonna miss the KX88 but it looks like a tank that needs to be abandoned so the newly renovated room needs a shiny controller...

KEYSTATION PRO 88

alozano wrote:I'm going to purchase DP today and want to purchase a USB Keyboard Controller along with it. I would like to use it for MIDI production as well as parameter adjustment. There are so many choices at zzounds, can you recommend any? Thanks.

I don't use any USB keyboards or interfaces except for MOTU MIDI Time Piece AV. My MIDI controllers include a Kurzweil 2600, and a Yamaha WX5 Wind Controller. The latter is what I use for most of my orchestral input. The Kurzweil is an incredible instrument. I still marvel at what it can do, and I use it for many things. But in this age of VIs, I think one no longer needs such an expensive and highly programmable keyboard as that. Being a pianist (at least a hack of a pianist), I do require a keyboard that gives me tactile feedback like that of a Steinway, and the Kurzweil 88 key "Fatar" keyboards (standard in the 88 key 2600) come pretty close for me. I've experimented and managed to strike the keys at every level from 1 to 127, which is also important. That it recognizes every single velocity level is essential. Some keyboards only recognize about 12 or so. (really cheap ones, of course)

So, if I were doing it again, I'd probably just go with VIs and some rack gear, and just get a Fatar 88, or maybe a Kurzweil 88-key controller (probably a Fatar, anyway), not their top-of-the-line synth/sampler. Of course, the WX5 is essential for me, a woodwind player.

Shooshie

motumacman wrote:KEYSTATION PRO 88

Same here - a bit pricey, but 88 fully weighted piano-action keys plus a bunch of faders (which work great for Hammond VIs) and solid construction sold me on it. I used an Edirol PCR50 for a while, but it just felt like a toy to me.

Also use an Akai MPD16 for playing drum parts - it rocks.