MadManMike Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 Afternoon chaps! I'm looking to upgrade some of my shite underperforming equipment. I currently have a Creative Soundblaster USB 5.1 Live soundcard that works fine for games & films but can't handle the sample rate of production so lags and freezes when I'm working on tracks. Also, I'm buying a midi keyboard and that won't allow me to plug it in. So, I'm looking at this: PCI Soundcard That appears to be able to take a midi keyboard, and going by the description will be ideal. Any thoughts / suggestions on alternatives? For reference, I'm looking at this keyboard: Alesis Midi Keyboard Any thoughts? I posted this on a production forum and got loads of elitest responses like "Get a Korg for $2,000, that Alesis is cheap..." - If I'm looking at £79 keyboards, do they not realise I don't have $2,000 in my pocket?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobo_Grimmer Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 (edited) Any thoughts? I posted this on a production forum and got loads of elitest responses like "Get a Korg for $2,000, that Alesis is cheap..." - If I'm looking at £79 keyboards, do they not realise I don't have $2,000 in my pocket?? Edited February 21, 2010 by Bobo_Grimmer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 Cheers for the reply dude, nope, not after any twiddly knobs or anything fancy - it's purely to use for Fruityloops to test notes on VST plugins and stuff... So you reckon they both look good value for money? Obviously if I could afford a beasty Korg synth I would buy one, but for budget FL control the Alesis seems good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendrix Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 M-Audio, in my books, are low level entry stuff, and £50 seems cheap for something like that. I paid £350 for my interface when I bought it about 2 years ago, but it's worth the money. Focusrite Saffire The best bit about it is, it's portable, and gets a great sound for live samples. The midi is very quick, and the interface has never crashed. You'd be fed up of the lag, and crap quality audio on the M-Audio stuff quite quickly. Focusrite do a LE (Lite) version of the Saffire, which is about £100 less, and they pop up 2nd hand a lot. Seriously, don't buy M-Audio for interfaces, only for keyboards. If you want any demos of the quality of the Focusrite, PM me and I'll pop a MP3 over. Keyboard seems fine, Alesis have nice feeling keyboards. P.S. - Recording your live sets with the focusrite would be easy as it can take a huge frequency band in and it's a mission to get it to distort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 See there's the problem, your one is 7 times more expensive lol... There must be something half decent around £60? I'm not going to be playing live or recording, it's literally just for production - the keyboard is for testing notes in VST's, I won't be recording me playing (I can't even play a keyboard / piano) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendrix Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 See there's the problem, your one is 7 times more expensive lol... There must be something half decent around £60? I'm not going to be playing live or recording, it's literally just for production - the keyboard is for testing notes in VST's, I won't be recording me playing (I can't even play a keyboard / piano) Make it just over £100 and you can have this. I know a couple of people with it, and they find it really handy. It's small, doesn't lag, and it's got a decent build quality. Or; for £80, this one. It's a keyboard and interface in one, doesn't lag much considering it's USB. If you're only using the keyboard to trigger sounds, get the cheapest possible midi keyboard you can get (especially if you're not using it to play chords in on.). Like; this or this. The handy bit with the second one is you can choose the octaves, therefore it gives you the ability to have a large plugin running with loads of trigger, and you can flip up and down the octaves to select them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenpoll_41 Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Like; this or this. The handy bit with the second one is you can choose the octaves, therefore it gives you the ability to have a large plugin running with loads of trigger, and you can flip up and down the octaves to select them. I recently got the second one - AKAI LPK25, really good piece of kit really responsive and its just a USB to plug it in and works straight away. Only downside i've found is that if you're playing chords and trying to play actual piano music on it its not got a big enough key range, but i can play piano so may not bother you. Can't recomend it enough though for synth work and its pressure sensitive as well so you can get hard and soft sounds out of your synths and cheap too, picked mine up for £40 inc postage next day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Awesome, Thanks for all the reviews and suggestions - I'll have a browse after work and see what I can afford / like the look of Thanks again everyone, much appreciated!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spikenipple Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Just to note, if you have a MIDI keyboard with a usb port you don't need to plug it into the midi port...you'd be harder pushed to find a MIDI keyboard without USB these days than vice versa. If you can stretch to a nicer audio interface then do (this is great for the price: clickage), the Audiophile series aren't really worth the money, even at that low price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.