USB Midi Controller Keyboards reach new heights of sophistication at Soundsliveshop
Posted By Connie on June 28, 2011
One of the fastest expanding categories of music technology, USB Midi Controller Keyboards seem to currently dominate the pages of many music tech mags. Their increasing use by project recordists and home studio musicians is an indication of how far this family of products has developed.
So what is a USB Midi Controller Keyboard? Basically, it is an interface that allows a computer based musician to send instructions to any midi-compatible software tool, whether that’s a composing and notoation package, a digital audio workstation or, in some cases, a music production plugin. By using a controller keyboard, a musician ends up with a far more familiar interface than the standard laptop or PC keyboard.
The rapid growth in the controller keyboard market had left musicians with the high quality problem of having a vast array of keyboards to choose from and they are generally all good at what they do. However, in the quest for the best, certain manufacturers stand out. Whilst M-Audio remain at the top of the tree in terms of sales of USB midi controller keyboards with their Axiom and Oxygen keyboards in particular, strong competitive pressure is coming from Novation with their superb SL and Nocturn keyboards, the Cakewalk A500 and the trigger-happy Alesis QX49 as well as strong offerings from the likes of Roland and Korg.
To the uninitiated, one of the puzzles of usb midi controller keyboards is how to actually get your new toy talking to your chosen DAW or music production software. After all, they come with very specific software tools and increasingly complex functionality. In the early days of controller keyboards, this could take many hours of second guessing as musicians tried to map the various controls on the keyboard to the functions of their music software. Alternatively, many people just didn’t bother and resorted to using their pc keyboard.
Recent developments by manufacturers have brought some of the obvious benefits of consumer hardware and software marketing to musicians, with the frankly necessary step of offering easy compatibility between bits of gear. Whether its the presets for many leading keyboards within DAW software such as PreSonus Studio One and Cubase 6, or the auto learning capabilities of keyboard software like Novation Automap, the world has become much easier for digital musicians.
The message now, thankfully, is that there is nothing to stop any musician unleashing their creativity via the relatively intuitive medium of a proper keyboard ans Soundsliveshop have a great selection of them.
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