Ableton Forum

And a second bump for midi controllers with polyphonic aftertouch! It's ridiculous that there aren't more alternatives for this feature. And it's also ridiculous that Arturia actually sell the yamaha cs80 clone vstI, when you just know that most of the people who buy it don't have access to a controller that gets to the good bits - the poly aftertouch.

So, which (current) ones do have polyphonic aftertouch?

Now, I don't have one of these, but if I were to look into a new one, I'd look at

http://www.macmidimusic.com/prod.itml/icOid/10060

Hi,
I just picked up a keystation 61 es to augment my oxygen8. I'm using it for composition (I hopped on that Garritan Personal Orchestra group buy - woo hoo!). In the studio you can use the oxygen8 to play those 2 octaves you are missing on the 61es, but it is kinda hard to carry out a good piano performance in a live situation this way, I would think.
At $150 (sale price at guitar center) it was a great budget choice for playable keys, although I would have gone with the 88 es if I had thought it was worth the extra $100.

p.s. yeah, trying to play anything both-hands-together on the oxygen8 is really frustrating. You can learn scales and chords using 2 octaves, but to actually play any pieces you will need at least 61 keys.

Also, if you are trying to play classical piano, you will need to adjust the velocity to make it dynamic enough (i.e. subtracting drive in the Ableton "velocity" midi effect). Otherwise it will be really hard to play at p or pp dynamic levels.

Has anybody tried the Doepfer D3M yet?

Novation Remotes. What they said above, plus Novation has the best support in the industry. No, scratch that, best support in *any* industry.

But is two octaves enough on the Remotes? Isn't it restricting not having at least a few more keys especially when playing live?

AdamJay wrote:Ensoniq SQ-80

Two Words:
Polyphonic Aftertouch.


oh and Three more Words:
Really farking heavy!

I sold my SQ-80 last year, I wouldn't recommend it as a keyboard controller.

I have a Yamaha CS1x that I like a lot, it is OK enough as a synth (which is nice to have when you just want to play) but it also has 6 knobs located on the left side that work nicely in Live. The position is better than most other 'controllers'. You can pick them up cheap too. Mine was ~$200 US (I did a trade though).

A new keyboard worth mentioning www.cme-pro.com. These look alot like the Yamaha Motif series.

I habe a maudio keystation and it feels kind of cheap, well it works and does its job but still i think i wouldn't buy a second one...

Finally i bought a Studiologic SL 990
and i really like it.

I bought it second hand in perfect condition for
230,-Euros.

Nice deal!!!

to the original poster:
if you buy a keyboard to practice playing keys, i'd advise you to buy a full-weighted keybaord, something like a digital piano (yamaha's preferably).
and more important: you can listen to what everybody says here, but you HAVE to try the keyboard first, feel if the keys are heavy/fast enough. you can't rely only on what ppl here say to you (though they are very wise), but first and before all, get your hands on it.

another thing: i'd say go for something 2nd hand of good quality, instead of something brand new but poorly built. in that respect, yamaha is great.
i have a P80 digital piano since 2000, and i know that if i bought mine 2nd hand now, i'd make a bargain. it's very solidly built and has such a nice piano sound...

another point: roland and yamaha have experience in building/designing keyboard mechanisms, which is a very difficult thing to do. i'd trust them more than m-audio when it comes to keyboard feeling... it's not only a matter of having 61 or 88 keys, it's also a matter of how to make them behave correctly.

and there is no such thing as aftertouch on a real piano. so if you're looking for a keyboard on which to play piano, you shouldn't overrate this feature.

Astral Fridge Magnet wrote:But is two octaves enough on the Remotes? Isn't it restricting not having at least a few more keys especially when playing live?

Two octaves is 'good enough' for my music. I only play one-handed and the octave switch buttons are very well placed.
They also have Remote-49 & Remote 61.

Is there a keyboard out there that mimics an organ keyboard? (E.g. no velocity and the tone plays very early when you press a key.) Sorry, if this should be a dumb question - I have almost no experience with electric keyboards...

TheAnimal wrote:Has anybody tried the Doepfer D3M yet?

I was wondering that same thing. Is it weighted like a piano? The site mentions "waterfall" action but I don't know what that is. I guess it's meant to mimic the feel of an organ but I'm curious if it's a good choice as a cheap alternative to a weighted keyboard.