Help a noob pick a midi controller.

G

g0dmoney

New member
Anyone have any idea what would be the best midi controller for a total beginner? I'm interested in using this to produce some industrial type sounds in metal music. I primarily use fruityloops and cool edit pro in my project studio and would be willing to try out various soft-synth programs... I need a pretty quick answer so I can get this before christmas... The ability to play drum samples and stuff as well would be a definate plus.. Like the MicroKontrol made by Korg. I am also leaning towards one of these: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Radium61-main.html

Would like it to be less than $300 if possible. Thanks! :D
 
yamaha cs2x

i just bought one on ebay for £102 - it has all the functions of a controller and has loads of great sounds, 16 part multi timbral, it is also very easy to edit and create your own sounds - it was voted best value synth by future music - you will need a usb midi port that you can pick up quite cheap however i would also recommend buying a usb soundcard such as the m audio quattro with 4 jack ins and 4 outs, very low latency, + midi in / out so you have it all in one - you could then also use your outputs for samples from the pc to your desk - i bought one the other day second hand for £100 - both items will be a lot cheaper where you are. a great sequencing tool is cubase sx, reason is ok but its all software related, you can still do the same with cubase even link the two to play together but cubase can do it all and has soft synths, plugins etc and you can input external hardware such as keyboards etc. if your going to sample grooves / loops then get your hands on recycle - its amazing - it analises your loops and breaks them down into sections plus fx - you can totally sort out your loops to play perfectly in time - they import into cubase easily and also reason - hope this is of some help!
 
g0dmoney said:
Like the MicroKontrol made by Korg. :D
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I know the pads on the MicroKontrol look nice, but once you get into using them their limits become all too apparent. Being small it's tough to hit just one, especially if you're planning to take it out to a gig.

You'd be best off with something like the Radium --- you can program anything you want, drums included, from the midi keyboard and having control faders right at your fingertips is a true convenience.
 
thanks for the replies guys.. I went ahead and bought an Edirol pcr-80, which is a 61 key controller with all the goodies I would need for what im doing.. At least I think lol. Now, I guess reason 2.5 is a decent enough soft synth to run it on? I'm wanting to program drums with it too btw. Thanks!
 
i was told that the edirol was a better piece of equipment for the money involved.. and that the keys didnt feel as cheap or flimsy as an m-audio.. but that's just what i was told.. nothing to compare it to yet, in fact i dont get to use the edirol until christmas, lol.
 
It doesnt matter much what Midi Keyboard you use. Especially not if you are new to this in general.
Reason 2.5 can do most of the stuff required to make good tunes. It has drummachines, "samplers", tons of sounds and a multitude of other options.
The first barriers you will run into is (hopefully not) your own skillevel and your PC processing power.
Good luck and welcome to the club.
Now you really can call your studio a project studio, now that you have a midi controller keyboard :D
 
g0dmoney said:
what led you away from the m-audio line? I use an m-audio keystation 61es and I'm a total newbie at this, but really like the m-audio line and would purchase other stuff in their line.
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I just sent back one of my BX5 monitors that developed an abnoxious rattle behind the speaker, and my dmp3 because the gain pot for channel B is noisy as shit and loose. Makes me wonder how good their QC is.
 
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