Ron Ramsay
New member
I’m building up my home studio almost from scratch, and I want to choose a keyboard that will be right for me. I’ve listed various desired specs and questions below, but the biggest issue for me at the moment is:
Can I be happy with a dumb controlling device, or should I buy a keyboard with lots of sounds/features/quality?
My studio will centre on digital techniques with the PC, because I envisage this will yield maximum price/performance. *** So can a decent sound card give me everything I need (sounds/samples…)? Does it make any sense to buy a keyboard with inbuilt sounds, sequencers, etc. that duplicate what PC software and hardware can do? (I can image that such self-sufficiency would be helpful when playing live, or for portability, or freeing yourself from a blasted computer interfering with your creativity…however these things don’t seem a priority for me at this stage).
If a dumb controller is all I need, then what would be good for the following requirements:
- 61 keys is barely OK I guess, but 73 or more would be better – to play piano instruments.
- Must have a foot pedal for sustain.
- Should have a key good action. I would love hammer-weighted, but this is probably not a must for my first keyboard.
- Is “after-touch” a good thing? Would that be good to use for playing expressive instruments?
- How many wheels and other doodads would be useful?
- Is it still good for a dumb device do have knobs/buttons to get limited control without having to always touch the PC keyboard?
I haven’t seen many/any dumb devices that have all these features. It seems that anything “professional” has all the extra sound/sequencer stuff, which I don’t necessarily want to pay for. If this is true, then should I just suffer and learn some more with a “toy”? (I’ve just borrowed a friend’s Yamaha PSR-300), and then buy something really good (with all the extra unnecessary bells and whistles).
Sorry about the epic.
Can I be happy with a dumb controlling device, or should I buy a keyboard with lots of sounds/features/quality?
My studio will centre on digital techniques with the PC, because I envisage this will yield maximum price/performance. *** So can a decent sound card give me everything I need (sounds/samples…)? Does it make any sense to buy a keyboard with inbuilt sounds, sequencers, etc. that duplicate what PC software and hardware can do? (I can image that such self-sufficiency would be helpful when playing live, or for portability, or freeing yourself from a blasted computer interfering with your creativity…however these things don’t seem a priority for me at this stage).
If a dumb controller is all I need, then what would be good for the following requirements:
- 61 keys is barely OK I guess, but 73 or more would be better – to play piano instruments.
- Must have a foot pedal for sustain.
- Should have a key good action. I would love hammer-weighted, but this is probably not a must for my first keyboard.
- Is “after-touch” a good thing? Would that be good to use for playing expressive instruments?
- How many wheels and other doodads would be useful?
- Is it still good for a dumb device do have knobs/buttons to get limited control without having to always touch the PC keyboard?
I haven’t seen many/any dumb devices that have all these features. It seems that anything “professional” has all the extra sound/sequencer stuff, which I don’t necessarily want to pay for. If this is true, then should I just suffer and learn some more with a “toy”? (I’ve just borrowed a friend’s Yamaha PSR-300), and then buy something really good (with all the extra unnecessary bells and whistles).
Sorry about the epic.
