Is the number of keys on a controller keyboard important in music production?

Question

Recently, I've been doing bedroom productions as a personal hobby, and I've been thinking of buying a midi keyboard, a digital piano, or a synthesizer to help me produce songs.

Right now, I'm using only Launchpad to create music, which is quite a challenge.

This is why I decided to buy a midi keyboard, a digital piano, or a synthesizer, taking advantage of my experience of playing the piano in the past, but when I looked into it, I found that there are quite a few different types. Not only the number of keys, but also the presence or absence of pads, knobs, sliders, and so on, there are a wide range of differences.

So, after a while of research, I settled on one candidate. Since my room is not very big, so the number of keys is small, but I am thinking of Novation's Launchkey with 49 keys or 61 keys.

Not only because I use Novation's equipment, but also because from what I've researched it seems to fit what I want to do.

So my question is, is it better to have more keys, or is it okay with fewer keys for music production? How important is it when you are creating music?

Answer 1

An instrument is a set of easy-to-do vs. hard-to-do factors. The instruments and tools you use for composing and arranging - just like your personal skills as well - are bound to affect the actual content you produce, not only how quickly you get it done. If something is very hard to do with your tools, you may find yourself seeking to do something else instead, even if your music requires that hard-to-do element. And if something is very easy to do with your tools, you may find yourself doing that more than would be good for the end-result.

For some genres and types of music production, it's not important to have a keyboard at all, but for others it might be essential. Many hip-hop producers do everything with a 4x4 drum pad.

Do you want to play full-range piano? Then you need a full-range piano keyboard. But on the other hand, if you have a full-range piano, you may be tempted to play full-range piano, even if it is detrimental to your music. For a lot of types of pop music, it's better NOT to have a wide range, NOT to play too many notes simultaneously, and NOT to have velocity sensitivity for each note. Instead, have a very controlled number of elements, each with a very controlled range of pitches and dynamics. This might be perfectly doable on a 2-octave keyboard.

• Backing chords: 2 octaves are enough
• Lead melody: 2 octaves are enough
• Drum pattern: 2 octaves are enough
• Bass line: 2 octaves are enough

For sketching out a full chord progression with low bass and chords at the same time, 2 octaves is too narrow, 3-4 octaves are needed. But you don't have to do it that way, and there's a danger that you'll start making pianist-style things.

If you have too many keys, too many tracks, too many instruments, too many presets, too many plugins, too easily available, you might lose control and focus over what you're really trying to do.

Still, if you want to play a full-range piano part like a pianist, it's better to have a full-range piano keyboard. It's not the tools, it's what you do with them.

You could even look at your current situation as an opportunity. :) The Launchpad makes you think about the notes you play in a different way, doesn't it? Personally, I sometimes like to play new unfamiliar instruments where it's hard to produce notes, because then I'll have to think more about what notes to play and when. These notes are expensive, so I'll have to make every note count! If notes are cheap, you'll produce low-value music... right? ;)

Answer 2

Regardless of the genre of music you’re interested in or your proficiency level on keyboard the difference between the two is 163mm or less than 7” in length. I’m pretty sure you will at some point wish you had the larger keyboard if you get the 49 key controller. You probably will never wish you had those 7 extra inches of space if you get the 61 key controller.

Answer 3

As an erstwhile pianist, you will probably regret not having a full size keyboard for when you decide to be a pianist again. Trouble is, there aren't that many controllers that have weighted keys, which narrows the field even more!

If all you'll be doing is production, then a range of 4 octaves will do for most, but you'll be using the octave shift button quite a lot. There's also 76 key controllers, which might fill the compromise. But from my prespective, I'd be moving furniture round to accommodate the most keys possible, making it more future-proof.

Answer 4

Although I'm more of a "performing" pianist/keyboard player than producer-of-tracks, etc., my long-ago self-delusion that cheaper-and-smaller keyboards would "be perfectly fine", especially since full keyboards, and touch-sensitive ones, were much more expensive... proved indeed to be that: delusional.

Even though piano music, whether Beethoven-Brahms or Tatum/Peterson, doesn't so often go to the extremes, sometimes it does. Also, a person who semi-seriously studied piano with the full 88 will have acquired some sense of that, and will expect those extreme keys to be available when desired, even if rarely. When playing on shorter keyboards, and accompanying, I've found my fingers hitting outside the keyboard for quite innocent reasons... and it's distracting.

And having weighted keys, although a further expense, is another thing a person will be thankful for, years and years after the investment. "For just pennies a day", as they say.

On the other hand, if you really are not thinking of yourself as a keyboard person at all, and truly never want to be, then, yeah, a keyboard is just yet-another controller, and need not conform to any sort of performance issues... Still, you might change your mind later...