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  3. Favorite synth keyboard? Useful switches and dials and sliders for VSL?

  • Favorite synth keyboard? Useful switches and dials and sliders for VSL?

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    Does anyone have recommendations for synth action keyboards that they've configured well for VSL?  I'm a piano player and I have an 88-key hammer action but I just can't play delicate orchestral lines on it so I want something lighter for VSL.  I know the action itself is a personal choice I'll have to make, but I'd like to narrow the field slightly first. There are way too many choices!

    I think 61 key is enough since I have the 88 for piano stuff. I've just gotten back into sequencing and recording and stuff from a long break. I think I'm going to choose Cubase 7  (I wanted to wait for the Windows Digital Performer but my Cubase demo is running out).   My last method of choice was in 1997 using the built-in sequencer on my Kurzweil K2000 LCD screen and a 4-track cassette with MIDI time-code on track 1.   I tried playing with Cakewalk like 8 years ago and I just couldn't move my creative process into that paradigm. I'd been using hardware sequencers with tiny 24-character screens since 1987 - I was a master at it.  I got frustrated and walked away and joined a community chorus for a few years.  Singing didn't require any frustration.
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    Hi there,

    I myself looked into this not long ago, it seems most of the higher-end MIDI controllers are hammer action, which left me a bit stumped for the synth bits. I have only my own preferences to go on (and the keyboards they happened to have in the shop at the time), but I chose a Korg Triton 76-key, which has worked out wonderfully as a balance between the two actions.

    The Korg Kronos has a very, very nice synth action keyboard, but it is expensive. I also found that the smoothest, gentlest synth action keyboards were on Casio products.
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    I finally decided on the Nektar Panorama P6.  http://www.nektartech.com/

    I found that it was similar to the Axiom Pro series but has a color screen and as of March 2013 will have deep 2-way Cubase integration, not just a simple MIDI controller. The action is pretty good as far as non-weighted goes.  I was specifically looking for non-weighted for string stuff.  I still have my 88-key to my left when I want to lay down piano tracks.  They also have a 49 key unit (P4) and even a controller called the P1 without the keyboard  (all the sliders, knobs, and pads).

    I would highly recommend this controller to anyone using Cubase.  Plus it is fully programmable as any other controller if you wanted to control Vienna - any button and slider can be mapped not only to MIDI controls but also to keyboard macros.  It was originally designed just for Reason, and they just announced the Cubase thing at NAMM a few weeks ago.   It was a lucky break that I stumbled on it just days before I bought an Axiom AIR.  I think I'll be much happier with this.