18
votes
Accepted
Is the number of keys on a controller keyboard important in music production?
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 ...
- 24.1k
14
votes
Is there such thing as a piano-like keyboard with all whole tones between two adjacent white keys?
I've looked into this before, and there really don't seem to be any keyboards like this available apart from the Jankó Keyboard. Whether that's because it's really a bad idea or more due to the ...
- 149
11
votes
Accepted
Recording with midi/synth vs actual instrument?
[are there] any guidelines as far as recording a mechanical instrument versus using a midi controller or synth?
No, only pros and cons. It all depends on what you want the finished product to sound ...
- 2,140
9
votes
Recording with midi/synth vs actual instrument?
The real instrument will sound more real, but as you note, there are many challenges to recording acoustic instruments or anything with a microphone that are completely bypassed when using a virtual ...
- 50.9k
8
votes
Can someone learn practicing piano with a MIDI keyboard?
If you truly mean "as if I were practicing on a true piano" (as in an acoustic one)...
A decent weighted digital piano (which is actually a true synthesizer) will usually run $400-ish. I'd recommend ...
- 6,053
8
votes
Cheap way to make sound from a MIDI keyboard, without PC
Firstly, does your USB keyboard have MIDI out (DIN) sockets as well...
...or is it USB only?
If it is USB only, then it is possible to get a hardware converter (from USB to traditional 'DIN' MIDI) ...
- 45.6k
8
votes
Cheap way to make sound from a MIDI keyboard, without PC
If you're willing to do it DIY, single board computers like a Raspberry Pi have enough processing oomph to act as (simple) synthesizers. They come with a USB and sound ports, it's just a matter of ...
- 17.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Cheap way to make sound from a MIDI keyboard, without PC
If you want to go really cheap, I found this little sound module on Amazon that costs only £50. Haven't tried it, but it should get the job done. Accepts both USB and MIDI as an input and in the ...
- 186
7
votes
Pedalled sounds disappear if many are played
You're probably running out of voices of polyphony. You haven't clarified what virtual instrument or synthesizer is the sound source, but most of them have some sort of voice limit, ranging from 1 to ...
- 50.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Does using a portable keyboard with slim or mini keys mess with muscle memory, as a pianist?
can you switch easily between normal and mini key sizes like it was
two different instruments, or do you feel that your playing on a real
piano is badly impacted with the bad habits you constructed ...
- 24.1k
6
votes
Can someone learn practicing piano with a MIDI keyboard?
Imagine learning to drive in a simulator and never getting in a car. (Would you call yourself a "driver"?)
There are many physical aspects of piano playing that are impossible to reproduce without ...
- 464
6
votes
Yamaha P45 Digital Piano - Can it be made MIDI compatible?
Yes
You have to download the USB MIDI drivers and then you can connect the P-45 to a computer to control software synthesizers and/or record and play back MIDI data. If you want to control other ...
- 50.9k
6
votes
Do Virtual Synth Softwares need any physical buttons? Do I need to have any extra buttons on my MIDI keyboard?
TL;DR Extra knobs and buttons are not absolutely necessary, but then again a MIDI keyboard is not absolutely necessary either, because you can just use a mouse. But since you're buying a MIDI keyboard,...
- 24.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Pedalled sounds disappear if many are played
Hardware instruments (e.g. digital pianos) have a limit on the number of simultaneous notes that they can produce - this part of their spec is called "polyphony". As Todd explained, once you exceed ...
- 45.6k
6
votes
Accepted
At what rate does the volume (velocity) of a note decay?
You needn't calculate or estimate or do fancy math. Others have measured piano string decay rates, and they're messy:
Measurements have been made on a high‐quality spinet piano to determine the ...
- 5,770
6
votes
Is the number of keys on a controller keyboard important in music production?
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 ...
- 17.4k
6
votes
Is the number of keys on a controller keyboard important in music production?
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, ...
- 172k
5
votes
Can someone learn practicing piano with a MIDI keyboard?
I am a pianist and have both a baby grand Koehler and Campbell and a Casio Privia for traveling/notating music on a computer. I don't mind practicing on the keyboard but I notice there are two major ...
- 568
5
votes
Accepted
Will a portable electronic keyboard sound better if connected to MIDI software?
MIDI is a standard for carrying sound-related instructions like "start playing note 102 on channel 15 with velocity 187" from a producer (like a keyboard, a drum pad, or a sequencer in playback mode) ...
- 35.7k
5
votes
How to get started recording music with Reaper?
Reaper is an awesome tool and can do A LOT, so it's a bit overwhelming but in its basic use, it's quite simple, once you know what you're doing. You can find a lot of tutorials and resources on the ...
- 1,958
5
votes
Is "pattern-based" playing specific to instruments or tradition?
I believe that when J. Rudess is referring to "pattern based" he is talking about describing musical phrases as a series of relative intervals, and then repeating those series of intervals from ...
- 17.5k
5
votes
Accepted
How to play a MIDI controller keyboard on Windows?
First make sure that Windows is receiving MIDI from your keyboard. If you are connecting through USB you might need to install drivers, or do some setup. Google your keyboard's model and check the ...
- 15.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Is a 32-key midi controller enough to aide in learning music theory?
One way to think about it is:
a single staff spans about an octave and a fifth, i.e. about 20 notes, so if your exercises/experiments fit within a single staff (treble or bass) 32 keys should be ...
- 17.5k
5
votes
Should I buy Midi controller with pads or with more key?
First, know that specific product recommendations are off-top here. But I'll point out a few points to consider as far as features.
Number of keys
Do you plan to learn piano/keys? 25 should be fine ...
- 4,083
5
votes
Accepted
Tuning a keyboard
I can't speak to the logistics of connecting your particular keyboard. But one piece of software that is useful for this (and has been around forever) is Scala. Depending on the abilities of your ...
- 11.9k
5
votes
aux line in as midi controller
There IS software that claims to generate MIDI from audio input. 'Imperfect' would be too kind :-) Use a keyboard that DOES have a MIDI output. Life's too short to do it the hard way.
- 77.7k
5
votes
Accepted
What do shorter-than-thirty-two-note MIDI pedalboards bar you from playing?
One octave keyboards make smooth voice leading impossible. Sure, you can play any chord, but if you want to go from F to Dm, you can't just move the high C up to a D because you don't have that key. ...
- 176
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