Which Keyboard Controller for P5 ?

Just received my copy of P5 & mailed off the paperwork to get the free P5v2 upgrade. I quickly decided I'm going to need a keyboard/surface controller combination. M-Audio has a number of them (Oxygen8 & O2) and the Evolution (MK-425C& MK-449C). I don't necessarily need the MicPre (in Ozone & Ozonic)... I'm sure I'm missing some other keyboard controllers with some desirable features, so let me know about them. I'm also using Sonar 4 Producer.

Thanks for your help... glad to join the P5 pack.

David

ORIGINAL: ZuN
I have the Oxygen8 and i use it with my notebook as my portable P5 Setup, I like the oxygen8 for being small and portable,

Same here! Love, but it is a bit smallish.

tho i do miss having more keys to play on. If this is for your main P5 Setup I would suggest looking into something with more keys, the minimum i would say is 49 Keys.

In the "main studio" I have a full blown 88 key Fatar. I think having ONLY an Oxygen8 might be enough if you are just doing MIDI triggering and step sequencing. For somebody that wants to really rip and play a keyboard, Oxygen8 might not be enough.

this is at once a good and bad question for Nick H.
as I don't believe he's ever met a midi controller he didn't like

i considered the Oxygen 8 because of my great concern for maximum portability, but I went with an Edorp PCR- 50. (I figured there was an off-chance I might actually want to learn to play two handed some day)
The newer Edorols have a much nicer playing bed and I think even the previous one (that has had some wear issues) has a much nicer feel than the M-Audio boards.

but this is one one case where getting into a shop with physical gear to try makes sense

Another route you might consider is to get a used hardware synth controller. I use a Yamaha CS1x. It sounds pretty decent and, is velocity sensitive, but doesn't have aftertouch. It also has 6 knobs that send midi CC. You can pick em up on ebay for about $150. Obviously there are tons of synths like this out there as well.

Eric

Having praised the oxygen 8 for what it is, if you're a proper player then avoid it like the plague as the keys have a pretty dreadful feel to them. The oxygen 8 is great for just entering notes and then quantizing them, but not really that great at recreating the feel of a real piano. Proving you get what you pay for i suppose.

Like mentioned above, it depends on if you want to play keyboards or not.

I have an Edirol PCR-30 that probably should have been a PCR-50. The 30 isn't bad - 37 keys is better than 25. That's usually good enough to rough in some drums, bass lines, and basic chords, but it still isn't enough for proper 2 handed playing - which I am on the learning curve for. This one stays on my desk.

Luckily, I found an Evolution MK-361C with 61 keys on a clearance sale for dirt cheap not too long ago. I have this one on a stand nearby for practicing and 2 handed parts. The Edirol keys definitely have "feel" to them, and the Evolution only has rotary knobs, vs the knobs and sliders of the Edirol, but the Evolution is working fairly well.

jvanva

What a question. Wrench is right, I'm a big fan of the USB midi controller. Here are some favorites

1) Edirol PCR-30 and PRC-50, i have both of these. But, the PCR-M30 and PCR-M50 are even better. They have the same high quality synth action as Roland's Phantom keyboards and are very nice feeling. Plus they are charcoal colored, which is the next silver

2) The Korg Kontrol49 is really really cool, nice velocity sensative pads, and a pretty good editor from what I've heard.

3) The Evolution UC-33 is excellent too if you just need a knob box.

4) If you got the money for it the M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 is also really cool. It's a nice hammer action keyboard with a bunch of knobs and sliders. You are basically getting a pretty good keyboard, a UC-33, and a bunch of sliders for around $500.

Of course if I had infinite funds I would purchase all of these controllers.

Wrench...I know...I have a problem

ORIGINAL: blipp

Having praised the oxygen 8 for what it is, if you're a proper player then avoid it like the plague as the keys have a pretty dreadful feel to them.

I've got an Oxygen8, but I agree it's not for real musos, who I imagine would keep falling off the end of two octaves. I sold my last full sized keyboard (Alesis QS6) a couple of years ago, but as luck would have it I've never been a proper player.

Beat me to it, Nick. I paid big bucks for the Remote25, but it's the best two-oct that I've ever played. The 'feel ' is really good, customizable with velocity curves. 8 sliders; 8 knobs; 8 encoders; aftertouch; X/Y pad. There's 24 programmable switches, plus dedicated [yet programmable] switches for octave, transport functions, editing & modes, and function keys. The combo pitch/mod joystick isn't the greatest, ergonomically and for reliability, so I keep an older Novation nearby for the wheels, etc. But I don't know how I could ever get away without having an X/Y again. It's that useful. The R25 grown with the new drivers, and an available editor/librarian for moving the 64 template presets. Great main controller.

I also use a couple of Oxygen8(s). I've found the USB drivers to be flakey, but with such a high number of O8 users here without problems, perhaps that's system-specific here. The lo-res knobs, intermittent MIDI messages, and obscure programming bums me out, along with the 24/7 on mode [no template memory]. But it's a great little utility controller, perhaps without the best velocity response. I use them for bass lines, initial drum programming, static pads: things that with a narrow velocity range, or something that'll get compressed later anyway. I've found them to be more reliable with a dedicated power supply, and with substituting the USB drivers with direct MIDI Out.

And if you guys keep talking up the Kontrol49, I'm going to cave in & snag that one, too; if only for the programmable pads. The only thing holding me back from that purchase is the lack of aftertouch. I might be better off adding a larger Novation to The Array. But my resolve is fading ...

I was going to pick up that korg microkontrol by i didn't like the velocity pads at all, i had to really wack them to get them to trigger, but man that Kontrol49 looks hot, I need to go and test one out.

Just received my copy of P5 & mailed off the paperwork to get the free P5v2 upgrade. I quickly decided I'm going to need a keyboard/surface controller combination. M-Audio has a number of them (Oxygen8 & O2) and the Evolution (MK-425C& MK-449C). I don't necessarily need the MicPre (in Ozone & Ozonic)... I'm sure I'm missing some other keyboard controllers with some desirable features, so let me know about them. I'm also using Sonar 4 Producer.

Get the Pro 88 with piano wieghted keys. Its really great! Lots of midi controllers.
I can change sounds in P5 on vsti by clicking one of 8 buttons. I have not figured out how to change it to pick specific sounds I want.
Also you can define ranges for instruments. There are 4 possible global ranges and those can be changed either per sound or per instrument like Psyn2.

I got a roland pc 300 USB version, work well gonna get a new one sonner or later somthing with more faders and knobs.

I have a Edirol PCR-50 (49 key synth action) and a Fatar SL-990 (88 key weighted hammer action) set upper and lower respectively on a two-tier keyboard stand. I've found that the PCR-50 is wonderful for controlling drums/synth, but inadequate for piano/electromechanical piano, for reasons of feel and response. I'm not a good enough piano player to make piano or em-piano sound good with synth action. The SL-990 has proven a perfect solution, especially since I got it for $300...

They're not daisy chained, actually, One goes in the Midi in of the M-Audio FW1814 and the other goes in the midi in of the BCF-2000. I should set it up that they're daisy-chained into the sound card, I know... I just haven't gotten around to turning around the rather heavy rack I put the soundcard in.

Is there any templates you know of for the M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 for the newly released Enigma Editor for P5 or Sonor V4 Producer? If not I I will post mine as I make them up on the P5 web site.

Bob,

There aren't any that I know of. It would be very cool if you posted your templates. I'm sure people would get some use out of them.

Thanks!

-Nick

Hey - looks like that E-MU controller has aftertouch too. Ships this month. Interesting ...