Midi Keyboard for beginner
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  1. #1
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    Default Midi Keyboard for beginner

    i will start messing with production and i am getting NI Maschine mk2
    i want also to add a midi keyboard to try to create some melodies and generally to control virtual synths easier than using maschine's pads

    i am not a piano player,i am novice and my budget is limited so i decided to start with something cheap and give it a try,i dont want to buy something that would be overkill but neither something that i will want to upgrade it soon

    i was thinking about 49 keys but price for 61 keys is similar for the entry models,i have much space on my desk and maybe later i will try to learn the basics and i will be "missing" that one more octave,so i think 61 keys will be a better choice than 49

    also another option was to choose a keyboard bundled with ableton live lite so i have the opportunity to try it and if i like it to use it as my daw

    about knobs/sliders/pads i would like some knobs/sliders for ableton but dont care about pads because i will have maschine's pads

    as a conclusion i ended up to M-audio Oxygen 61 3d gen. and Alesis QX61 but couldn't find any stores near me to check them,so i can compare them only from their speqs

    -Alesis has midi in/out and ac power while M-audio is only usb powered
    -M-audio has 9 sliders and 9 buttons under them while alesis has 8 sliders and no buttons under the sliders,does it counts when controlling ableton with a midi keyboard in addition to Maschine?
    -in this price range quality is low,in some reviews i saw the upper plastic section of Alesis moving little bit up/down when you push it but i read some better comments for its keys than Oxygen's
    -both of them don't have aftertouch but i dont know if i would take advantage of it and the cheapest keyboard with aftertouch is much more expensive

    what is your opinion?go for one of them?which would you suggest?save money and go for something better (with aftertouch)?
    Last edited by AxWELL; 02-05-2013 at 04:20 AM.

  2. #2
    Tech Guru William Gibson's Avatar
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    Im was in the same situation as you about a month ago. Just started producing and wanted somethi g to get me going. If you ask 20 people what they sugvest you will get 15 different answers. I ended up going with alesis and I'm so glad I did. The build quality for the price is amazing and it is bundled with ableton lite. Check out the Q61 for sure.

    Do you have a copy of ableton yet? I have suite 8 so I didnt use the one that just came packaged with the alesis. If you want to get a jumpstart shoot me your address in a pm and ill send you this copy of lite I have that im not using. Good luck bro!

  3. #3
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    thanks for your response
    i dont have ableton thats why i focused to keyboards that have it bundled (even it is the limited lite version)

    i was closer to alesis qx61 at first but after reading a lot around web i am confused

  4. #4
    Tech Guru William Gibson's Avatar
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    Yea, that is the nature of the beast. For every 20 people that say the alesis is awesome, there are 20 that say its a piece of crap. There are pros and cons to everything. Its just a matter of weeding out the keyboards with the cons that you can live with.

  5. #5
    Tech Guru Tarekith's Avatar
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    Check out the MPK series from Akai too, very good feeling keyboard and controls compared to some of the others I've tried.

  6. #6
    Tech Guru grazz16's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tarekith View Post
    Check out the MPK series from Akai too, very good feeling keyboard and controls compared to some of the others I've tried.
    I've got the MPK mini and its a great little keyboard for the price. Sure i'd love to have a full size one but i doubt most of us have the space for one of those on our desks :P And for your purposes this will be more than enough

  7. #7
    Tech Guru Tarekith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grazz16 View Post
    I've got the MPK mini and its a great little keyboard for the price. Sure i'd love to have a full size one but i doubt most of us have the space for one of those on our desks :P And for your purposes this will be more than enough
    He said he has much space on his desk.

  8. #8
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    thanks guys
    akai mpk looks/is awesome but the price for 49/61 keys is too high for my budget,also too many pads (not bad but already maschine has many pads),i think that even i had the money i would go for something with lower price

  9. #9
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    finally decided to get alesis qx61
    i found it and checked it at a local store and for its price looks very nice,keys feel little "hard" but its ok,i tried some semi-weighted keys and don't fit my synth style
    it has very nice build quality,doesn't look so toyish and looks good value for money
    i read many bad reviews for m-audio oxygen(keys,quality) and many good reviews but i could't find it at any store to check it so i don't want to buy something that i never saw how it really looks like

    also the only pros of the oxygen is that it has more buttons to control a daw but alesis has midi in/out,bigger screen with more information,smaller depth,you can split the keys in different zones and it's a newer model.I think at same price oxygen's keys will not be so different or better
    Last edited by AxWELL; 02-05-2013 at 04:21 AM.

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