Cheap MIDI?

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Hi, me again ;-)

OK, so I've pretty much figured out that I can't plug my guitar into a Magic MIDI Converter Box.

Is there such a thing as a bare-bones, cheap MIDI keyboard that I could plunk around on? Say, from Radio Shack or Future Shop ... $100 or so? I'm guessing that the keys will be pretty small and it will come with Otto Drummer.

What are the basics I should I look for?
 
M audio makes a midi keyboard called the oxygen 8. It runs at about $139... I hear its awesome, I was gonna get one myself someday, but if anyone knows of anything cheaper, let us know!
 
If you want cheap, get an Evolution controller. All of my dedicated MIDI keyboards are Evolution. They are tanks!

The M-Audio stuff is way over priced.

If you want cheaper than cheap, get any old Casio keyboard with a MIDI out port on it.

You won't get either a pitch or mod wheel that way, but if you are just "plunking around" you might not miss them.

Carl
 
>OK, so I've pretty much figured out that I can't plug my guitar into a Magic MIDI Converter Box.

Not so fast! You CAN hook up a guitar to produce 6-channel MIDI output. You need a HEX pickup and a MIDI converter!

And you have to play squeaky clean for it to work.

But it works.

Look at the AXON Neural Net or the Roland GI-20. They both use the Roland GK-2A hex pickup or equivalent.
 
drstawl said:
>OK, so I've pretty much figured out that I can't plug my guitar into a Magic MIDI Converter Box.

Not so fast! You CAN hook up a guitar to produce 6-channel MIDI output. You need a HEX pickup and a MIDI converter!

And you have to play squeaky clean for it to work.

But it works.

Look at the AXON Neural Net or the Roland GI-20. They both use the Roland GK-2A hex pickup or equivalent.
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That's a pretty expensive prospect though.

:D

Carl
 
Krakit said:
That's a pretty expensive prospect though.
:D
Carl
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It's come down quite a bit. A friend found a Pawn Shop Roland-Ready strat for $250 (a little more than list on the pickup itself) and the GI-20 is about $400.
 
drstawl said:
It's come down quite a bit. A friend found a Pawn Shop Roland-Ready strat for $250 (a little more than list on the pickup itself) and the GI-20 is about $400.
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Yeah, but you're in Californi - eh? ;-) Up here, old, beat-up Strats go for $1000--that's with normal pickups.

I'm using a Strat copy that I wired up. Don't want to tinker with it too much more. So far, I like the cheap keyboard suggestions :-)
 
christiaan said:
I have one of these: http://www.midi-classics.com/h/h17048.htm
Paid just €69,- (new) for it, a couple of months ago.
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Hmmm, that looks interesting. It say it 'transmits on MIDI channel 1 only' ... is that a bad thing?

(I've never played with MIDI before ... NO! ... Yes, I know...hard to believe ;-) ... anyone wanna give me a crash course in it?
 
I say go with the cheap evolution...they make good stuff. Plus, the Oxygen 8 will limit you with only two octaves of keys...and you aren't going to need the extra knobs for "plunkin' around"...
 
Editor said:
Hmmm, that looks interesting. It say it 'transmits on MIDI channel 1 only' ... is that a bad thing?
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Neh, not really. Maybe in a huge, complicated midi setup it is less than ideal but I've hooked it up to a sblive and to a Midiman Midisport 4x4 interface and in both cases it worked just fine.
 
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