Looking for midi keys, $300-ish....

[-andrew-]

Hi all -

Preface: Primarily using with 11 Suite.

I'm not a live performer, and will generally be using the keyboard for experimenting, playing to figure things out, and composing relatively small clips that will be combined later.

I've been reading about a few main keyboards - M-Audio Oxygen Pro 49, Arturia Keylab Essential, and Novation Launchkey Mk3.

However, each one seems to have some associated negatives about being hard to integrate, or something not working the way it should, etc. A tiny bit nerve-wracking actually!

I do like idea that M-Audio has aftertouch, but just this morning I read about a different device (Launchpad Pro Mk3) whose aftertouch still isn't working properly after 3 years... so don't know if the M-Audio has any issues. (I haven't read about any).

I'm not thinking I'm going to be using built-in controls to edit much, but I do like the idea of being able to navigate around using a scroll wheel like the Keylab has.

Any thoughts about these 3? Or, others that may work well? I don't mind having a synth, of course, but really only want to stretch my budget, if needed, by a little bit.

thanks!

[login]

To me all of them feel cheap and do the same, they are usable. Got with the more simple one.

[-andrew-]

Picked up a used Launchkey 61 Mk3 at Guitar Center. Looked mint. Wasn't expecting to buy it but I was picking up some other stuff & there it was!

Hooked it up, seems ok. Not sure about setting minimum velocity, and still relatively new to Ableton, but so far, so good.

[yur2die4]

I recently got a Launchkey and was surprised how fun it was! Yeah. A few small feature trade offs. But overall, it’s got plenty of fun attributes. Funny enough, I haven’t tried it with Live yet heheh. Was mostly using it with iOS or with some hardware synth toys.

[[erm]]

Moved to 3rd party midi controllers forum.

[-andrew-]

I recently got a Launchkey and was surprised how fun it was! Yeah. A few small feature trade offs. But overall, it’s got plenty of fun attributes. Funny enough, I haven’t tried it with Live yet heheh. Was mostly using it with iOS or with some hardware synth toys.

I hooked it up to Ableton first just to make sure it connected properly - at least that's what I told myself. Did a stupid little 4-bar 4-track jazz... ish... thing.

Only issue was not really understanding velocities. Going to put up a new post about that in a minute.