Hi
I am new to producing having been DJ’ing for a number of years. I am looking for some advice on a good hardware controller to use with Ableton Live e.g. midi keyboard, Akai MPC etc. etc.
Any help much appreciated. I am complete beginner so am looking for something simple I can make a start with.
Cheers
Alfonse
Try this link - not sure if you can get hold of it yet but its prodcued in conjunction with ableton - some vids on you tube if you search maybe a bit pricey tho think its about £400 should be good for both production and dj’ing.
it’s half that price and available May 11th, at least here in the states…
Raymond
How good is that piece of kit though! Defo want to get that for LIVE performances. However if you’re looking for something so you can key in notes then get yourself a midi keyboard.
There are way too many that are awesome to mention so really it comes down to personal preference. Check out Future Music, they have a chart in the back of their top 10.
I agree - if you want play midi notes in then your best bet is a midi keyboard on some vst’s.
I have both but find the controllers usfull for trying out different automation.
For instance i can play a bass line in and then link the controller to the cutoff and release i can then effect the sound as it plays to ry out different ideas.
As Roben said it depends on what you want to do and what your personal preferance.budgit is?
I hope the APC controller is half the price Raymond when it comes out here in the UK - i will certainly give it a look at.
I have tried almost every midi controller so far and I am the most happy with this one http://www.akaipro.com/mpk49 . It is a bit more expensive but does the job really well. I also have this low end midi keyboard too and this can do the Job really well too. http://www.proaudiosolutions.com/product-p/maudio-o2.htm
These two seemed to be the easiest to configure for me and have easy learning curves in my opinion. Some of the other models and brands I have tried were a hassle to setup. Also the easiest device I ever used was this http://www.zzounds.com/item–BEHBCF2000 but it does not have keys if you need them.
I am sure some people may say these are not good or something but in my eperience they are better for me to use.
I have a Korg Kontrol 49 and I love it. The customisable LCD’s are sexy as hell.
The downside is you can secure it to a keyboard stand, which I learned the hard way when I bought one that was too wide for it!
Hi Guys.
Have been on holiday so just got back and have seen all your replies. Thanks for the advice. It looks like a midi keyboard is the way to go. I am currently working my way through the sonic tutorials on Ableton so will make my mind up when I get more familiar with the software.
Going well so far…
Oh yeah I used to own the Ozonic keyboard they use in the tutorials. I loved it but It was firewire and when I left home I had to use a power adaptor with it since my laptop would not power it. Other than that it was an awesome device since it had a 4x4 sound interface in it and can be used with M-Powered Protools.