I'm a decent guitarist - but a BAD keyboard player - need advice re: midi controllers

S

smili

New member
Hi all. I'm primarily a guitarist, and I'm not very good at playing piano but am getting into midi a little bit for composing. So I'm requesting advice regarding a midi controller for somebody who sucks at keys.

I have a Studiologic SL-990 Pro midi controller but I think because I'm not a good keyboardist I'm having trouble with timing on the input when trying to play. I find it particularly hard to play drums on the keys, but even just basic note input is kindof tough to time well given the "throw" of the keys on the controller I have.

Anyhow - for somebody like me who's not much of a keyboard player - would you recommend something "lesser" quality? I'm looking at things like

- Akai MPK 25
- Kork microKey 37
- Alesis Percpad for something to input drums on (using sticks to hit with)

Basically, are the keyboards that better players consider "bad" sensitivity and things like that - would those type of controllers be better for somebody like me who's not a keyboard player just trying to get things done with proper timing?

I've looked at guitar-to-midi converter for input - but have ruled that out based on searches indicating it's probably easier to learn to play keys adequately than to learn to play guitar to midi.

I appreciate feedback on this. I don't want to spend more money if the answer is that "I just need to learn to play the controller I have better" -but if the less realistic controllers are better for bad players then I'd be willing to go that route just to get some things done. Thanks again
 
sounds to me like you may might have some latency issues when recording you midi.
good or bad midi controllers are really going to change the timing issues. I use a real old casio keyboard as my controller. You just need to have some patients, keep working at it, and research your DAW and midi equipment to see if there is a way to tighten up the timing issues.

not sure where you live , but there are several colleges around here that offer classes for midi music.. you night look into something like that, also you can step write in midi, so trying to play live is not an issue.
 
Toastedgoat (love the user i.d. by the way) - thanks for responding. I think the timing on the device I have is OK (It's the Studiologic SL990 pro into an Emu 1820m), I really do think it's just user error. The keys are weighted and feel alot like a piano keyboard - but it's the throw (the up and down) that makes timing difficult for me - especially noticeable on trying to drums in particular.

In my mind I think a very light touch device would be better for my "bad" keyboarding skills, but don't know if that'd be true because I always see folks with the lower end stuff wishing they had something better.
 
I think you can bypass the "touch" response in almost every midi type keyboard. It will still feel weighted but it responds differently. I bought the cheapest thing I could find for a midi controller keyboard, a used casio wk1500 for $50.00 , funny thing is, I have used this keyboard for gigging.. It's sounds aren't great but they are usable... the best thing is it's great for recording midi piano, and organ parts for my songs.
 
I'm not sure what you mean about learning to play midi guitar. If its set up correctly, it pretty much just works. You need to be careful about voicings and articulations if you want to sound like a real keyboard or whatever, but that's not an issue for drums.

When I was trying to beat out drums on a keyboard I found that the best for me was to do one drum at a time. I would aim for the key that played the drum I wanted but not worry at all - in the performance - whether I hit the adjacent keys. Just play that area of the keyboard like a bongo, and filter out the unwanted notes later.

You might do look for something with actual pads for drum work like the Axiom or something, but I think if you tried with a guitar controller you would never want to touch a keyboard again.
 
ashcat_lt - what guitar midi system do you rec? I'd read several places on the web from many users who'd tried to set it up and discouraging me from spending on guitar to midi conversion - but if it's ready for use that'd be my preferred route. Guitar is so much easier for me to play. I don't care so much sounding like a synth or piano. I'm using to input more individual lines - like orchestra parts - that sort of thing. (I can barely play piano anyway - just enough to be dangerous).
 
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