What are the popular MIDI keyboard controllers w/DP?

[daniel.sneed]

When it comes to action, IMHO, Fatar rules. Both in semi-weighted and in full hammer keys (I own both).
AFAICT, you may find some Fatar keybeds in Studiologic and Novation controllers, and in Kurzweil and Waldorf synths.
IMOE, all others keys feel somewhat *toyish*. Of course, as usual, YMMV.

[Tritonemusic]

When it comes to action, IMHO, Fatar rules....
AFAICT, you may find some Fatar keybeds in Studiologic and Novation controllers, and in Kurzweil and Waldorf synths.

I bought a Studiologic keyboard because of the Fatar keybed. I love it.

[HCMarkus]

The Roland A series keys feel very nice to me; not loud and clackity like so many others.
The A series pads are weak though. I use them for Organ preset selection.

[cuttime]

Not trying to sell anything, but I see Arturia now has the wooden legs kits that people have been waiting for, for over a year. I haven't used them and I can't vouch for their sturdiness as I use a metal "Z" stand.

https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid ... s/overview

[daniel.sneed]

Thanks Cuttime.
I see Arturia KeyLab 88 MkII has a Fatar keybed too.
Great !

[everysandwichJFS]

Has anyone successfully linked DP11 with a Novation Launchkey MKIII? All I can get is basic mod wheels and keys. No pads,buttons, sliders, knobs etc. I managed to do it in Logic with some effort and a Novation download just for Logic, but I'm told by Novation that I have to program Launchkey from DP in order to set it up. I've no clue how to start that. Any pointers are welcome, and apologies for the breadth of my MIDI ignorance.

[Anders Peev]

What a great thread! I've been scrolling through the post and learned a lot!

daniel.sneed, did you get the Arturia Essential 49? Did it work well integrating with DP?

Yours,

Anders

[James Steele]

Did I comment in this thread already? Can't tell. I've been really happy with my Native Instruments S61 Mk2... especially because DP 11 supports it so well. The Mixer mode works great and you can page through the channels on the screens and adjust volume and pan as well as access any VIs in any instances of Komplete Kontrol.

[Michael Canavan]

Did I comment in this thread already? Can't tell. I've been really happy with my Native Instruments S61 Mk2... especially because DP 11 supports it so well. The Mixer mode works great and you can page through the channels on the screens and adjust volume and pan as well as access any VIs in any instances of Komplete Kontrol.

I'm gonna go ahead and second this. I'm one of many people who were upset at NI for Kore and avoided Komplete Control and their keyboards forever, but recently I found a great deal on the SL88 MKII.

There are some teething issues with the Komplete Kontrol plug in and Apple Silicon, but even then, it's a fantastic combination more than half of my plug ins are searchable by all sorts of categories, all from the keyboard. These "nks ready" plug ins all map the most commonly used parameters to the 8 knobs on the keyboard, which is a feature of Live, Bitwig and Logic I miss in DP. The Light guide above the keys is absolutly a game changer when it comes to Kontakt instruments and hunting and pecking around your keyboard to find key switches, not to mention Kompletes drum laibraries mapping in different colors the parts of the drum etc.

Finally, it's a Fatar keyboard, and unlike some of their earlier hardware it does not require software to get basic MIDI CC's for the knobs and buttons in case NI go under tomorrow, so IMO you can't got wrong with it.

[HCMarkus]

I sold my A800 (still use an A500 for my live rig) because I found I like the Arturia Keylab 61 MkII action quite a bit more. Now that Kontakt has preview built-in, one of the main reasons for Komplete Kontrol is less compelling. And I'm happy to not be struggling with KK and my M1 Mac. The Keylab is built like a tank and exudes a feel of quality, from the keyboard to faders and rotary controllers to drum pads.

Funny thing is, currently working on a score, I find myself using an old M-Audio Axiom 49 (which I recently purchased from our esteemed Moderator, James Steele) more than either the Arturia or my Yamaha P-255. Why? Because the Axiom is stationed directly in front of me; I'm beyond the real performance stages of my score and focus is now on cleaning stuff up, slipping and sliding to fit what is hopefully a very close to final edit of the 90 minute film. The only things I'm adding are notes and FX here and there, for which the Axiom is perfectly adequate.

That said, I'm still a firm believer in having both 88 hammer action and 61 synth action keyboards when recording. The 88 gives so much more control over velocity-sensitive VIs, and the 61 lets me move more quickly and apply aftertouch when required (and do organ smears without bloodying up the 88.)

[James Steele]

Funny thing is, currently working on a score, I find myself using an old M-Audio Axiom 49 (which I recently purchased from our esteemed Moderator, James Steele) more than either the Arturia or my Yamaha P-255. Why? Because the Axiom is stationed directly in front of me; I'm beyond the real performance stages of my score and focus is now on cleaning stuff up, slipping and sliding to fit what is hopefully a very close to final edit of the 90 minute film. The only things I'm adding are notes and FX here and there, for which the Axiom is perfectly adequate.

I'm glad it's working out! Haha... I kind of miss having a keyboard controller directly in front of me. I got into playing the the MC Control & MC Mix and kind set my desk up now as more mixing focused, which time will tell if that was the best decision or not. Probably will work out okay as long as I'm doing mostly guitar oriented stuff without too much keyboards.

[Michael Canavan]

I sold my A800 (still use an A500 for my live rig) because I found I like the Arturia Keylab 61 MkII action quite a bit more. Now that Kontakt has preview built-in, one of the main reasons for Komplete Kontrol is less compelling. And I'm happy to not be struggling with KK and my M1 Mac. The Keylab is built like a tank and exudes a feel of quality, from the keyboard to faders and rotary controllers to drum pads.

A friend of mine bought a Keylab and loves it, but I have to say the preview isn't as compelling to me as the light guide on keyswitch instruments and drums, that's what really sells Kontakt and Komplete Control here. I'm not struggling with KK here, Arturia need to step up their game, but they probably will soon enough.

That said, I'm still a firm believer in having both 88 hammer action and 61 synth action keyboards when recording. The 88 gives so much more control over velocity-sensitive VIs, and the 61 lets me move more quickly and apply aftertouch when required (and do organ smears without bloodying up the 88.)

The S88 MKII has aftertouch

[HCMarkus]

The S88 MKII has aftertouch

Yes, but I've never liked it as much on a weighted keyboard and, even if I did, I wouldn't want to give up the responsive light action keyboard.

[bayswater]

I sold my A800 (still use an A500 for my live rig) because I found I like the Arturia Keylab 61 MkII action quite a bit more. — The Keylab is built like a tank and exudes a feel of quality, from the keyboard to faders and rotary controllers to drum pads.

A friend of mine bought a Keylab and loves it,

I had that keyboard. It was a lemon. After a year, G4 stopped working, then within days G3 and G2 died, then other keys. The pieces that that keep the tops of the keys level deteriorated, so some rested up higher than others. While it did a lot of things I found some of the simpler functions fussy and complicated to use.

[HCMarkus]

I sold my A800 (still use an A500 for my live rig) because I found I like the Arturia Keylab 61 MkII action quite a bit more. — The Keylab is built like a tank and exudes a feel of quality, from the keyboard to faders and rotary controllers to drum pads.

A friend of mine bought a Keylab and loves it,

I had that keyboard. It was a lemon. After a year, G4 stopped working, then within days G3 and G2 died, then other keys. The pieces that that keep the tops of the keys level deteriorated, so some rested up higher than others. While it did a lot of things I found some of the simpler functions fussy and complicated to use.

The Roland or the Arturia? If Arturia, was it the MkII? The build quality of mine is superb, and the accompany App made setting it up very easy.