Midi Keyboard Controllers?

[Len Grantham]

Last week I ordered Synthogy Ivory, a couple other VI's, and a m-audio keystation pro88.
After reading some reviews I am a little worried about the keystation. All of the reviews (most of them about a year old) say that it is not that good for piano.Being a guitar player I never new that there was that much difference in keyboards.

Should I give it a try anyway or just send it back and get something else? If I return it what would be a good replacement within a reasonable price range of the keystation?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Len

[kmshroom]

Depends what you're trying to do. The Pro88 is damn good, and for the price, extremely good value. I'm surprised there are bad reviews of it at all.

If you're a pianist, and you're playing really demanding piano stuff, then you want to be quite picky about your digital piano or midi controller's "piano feel" or "hammer action."

If you're not a pianist, and you're doing pop music or anything else, where piano parts aren't going to be on the level of say, at least a Clementi Sonatina (or equivalent based on your genre), then it really doesn't matter.

Just try it out. If you like the feel, you like the feel. Doesn't matter what any piano snob tells you. Piano players, like myself, can get picky about the piano feel, but that doesn't necessarily mean the best/most expensive is the best.

Also, even though I have a full out digital piano as my main MIDI controller, half my MIDI work is done on the keyboard section of my Virus Indigo Redback. Those piano keys have a completely cheap feel to them (NO hammer action whatsoever), but for many things, such as drums and whatnot, those keys are much better for the job than a fake piano feeling monster.

[Len Grantham]

kmshroom,
Thanks for the input. After I posted I talked to a friend of mine and he told me pretty much the exact same thing.

Thanks,
Len