poor man's controller/keyboard

  • Thread starter Thread starter dopey
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dopey

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I use soundfonts in flstudio and softsynths in various apps, but so far only been able to use my typing keyboard as a controller for this. So no velocity or other controls at my hands in an analog sense anyway.... so i see there are thing like the maduio oxygen8 and the radiums and then the midi keyboards that go through the game port...

so... which would have less latency, the usb or the midi? And any advice? The radium looks attracitive with more keys, but i really only NEED one octave since it's mostly for bass lines and drum recording with soundfonts and softsynths :D
 
Assuming no driver problems the latency will be more affected by the computer speed and the softsynth rather then midi vs USB. Midi is so damn slow that either is fast enough.

I wouldn't blow off the extra keys so quickly. One octave keyboards are great if you only play in the key of E, lol. I would think 3 octaves is mandatory even just for bass lines.
 
well, you can change the octave through the software on the computer...i am assuming that would change it on the synth.

anyway, my pc is pretty fast, not 64 bit, but about 2 ghz running on 380 fsb with 512 ram, which is about as fast as athlon gets without 64 bit
 
Either USB or MIDI will be fine (or a USB midi-interface). Your computer is three times faster than mine, and I use a Midiman USB Midisport 2x2 with less than 10ms of latency with FLStudio. I would suggest MIDI because you can always expand later if you get more MIDI gear, like a hardware sound module.

You may think that one octave will be enough, but as your chops continue to improve, you will regret having only one octave, I promise. (Do they even make 1-octave controllers?) I would say three as an absolute minimum, but five would be MUCH better. 61-keys are great for most purposes. You soon find that the smaller number of octaves will really limit your songwriting and arranging.
 
thanks chrisjob

ok, well i will see what prices i can find on midi to joystick converters or the usb one, and also prices on midi keyboards.

So you are saying that I can use a midi compatable keyboard to control the instruments in FL studio? Or just that it would be to record? You know what i want i think i will look into it, but i just wanted to make sure. I just have a lot of soundfonts i could get more use of... :D
 
dopey said:

So you are saying that I can use a midi compatable keyboard to control the instruments in FL studio?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. That's what they're for.
 
thanks for the input m8's :D

I am gonna have a look around... where did you get that m-audio for so cheap??! anyway, gonna look for that and a keyboard+ the converter for jopystick port.

whichever is better and cheaper any other opinions welcome. It always comes down to getting what you pay for, guess i won't bother with a two octave board ...
 
I had the radium 61 .. It comflicted with my sound card and it has no velocity .. I think i'm going to be getting a Edirol 32 key controller .. I don't recall the name exacly .. it has velocity, a bit more affordable and uses midi in out ..
 
wow the 49e looks pretty attractive to me...

is there a version with some more sliders/knobs?

this is right up my alley though! thanks brzilian :D
 
I have a Radium 49. 8 knobs and 8 sliders. Works great with my Cakewalk. I use it to control Edirol VSC, DreamStation, Synth1 and some others. I have no problems with it.

Anyone know of some rrealistic DXi drum sounds? Freeware would be great. I'm trying to find some that actually sound like acoustic drums, as opposed to electronic things. Any help is appreciated.
 
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