Need help on M-Audio MIDI Keyboard Controllers

[faizal_rocks]

Hi guys

I`ve been a guitarist for like 8 years and now I wanna try my hands on electronic stuff. I have always been intrigued by the sounds of the 80s synth pop groups like Depeche Mode etc..u know those electronic basslines and drums?

I did a search here and found out that M-Audio is the popular brand for many. But since I`m new to experimenting with electronic music, I was wondering if anyone can care to explain how the M-Audio keyboard controllers actually operate? I`ve visited the website but still kinda confused. If for a newbie like me, which model would u recommend?

Hope to hear ur replies soon..

Thanx

 

[iansoh]

midi controllers will not get you the electronic sounds, and neither do you need a dedicated midi controller to do electronic music. you might wanna try out some hardware analog synths first to get a feel of electronic sounds. software and midi is going to be more complicated.

 

[faizal_rocks]

midi controllers will not get you the electronic sounds, and neither do you need a dedicated midi controller to do electronic music. you might wanna try out some hardware analog synths first to get a feel of electronic sounds. software and midi is going to be more complicated.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention...I have a Yamaha DGX-205 keyboards so I know what the sounds are like..does that count?

 

[lousybassist]

midi controllers are more different in a way. for example, m-audio's are bundled with Ableton Live software. Its a versatile software capable or arranging or DJing. But basically, the main point of this is that u get to create your own sounds and effects using an in-built prog called Operator. u can get m-audio stuff at sinamex. but bear in mind that it will be the program that is more important then the keyboard in this case.

 

[iansoh]

nah, that's a ROMpler. go and try a proper analog synth.

korg - ms2000b
nord - lead, modular, etc..
roland - JP8000
yamaha - CS2x, CS6x

just to name a few of the more common ones today. i'm not big on analog synths. lowjk and bongman and cheez will know much more.

 

[lowjk]

nah, that's a ROMpler. go and try a proper analog synth.

korg - ms2000b
nord - lead, modular, etc..
roland - JP8000
yamaha - CS2x, CS6x

just to name a few of the more common ones today. i'm not big on analog synths. lowjk and bongman and cheez will know much more.

Error correction
Yamaha AN1X is a virtual analog synth.
CS2X, CS6X are romplers with good analog synth sounds.

For benefit of Faizal, virtual analog recreates the analog sound using software. The difference between a rompler and a virtual analog:

Think of a ROMpler as producing a snapshot of a sound. ie it is static.
Think of a virtual analog as producing a moving picture of the sound. ie it is more "alive" and amendable to more parameter changes.

Look out for the
Yamaha CS2X and the AN200 Loop Factory on the classified pages.
http://soft.com.sg/2006/modules.php?name=NukeC30&op=ViewCatg&id_catg=196

Also:
http://www.luthermusic.com/cgi-bin/WB_ClassifiedsListGen.pl?t=&Cid=8

Look for the AN1X at $450.

Just to get you started. YOu won't get the same sounds as DM as their total equipment list would probably be in the region of $50k and above. But you can get close with virtual analog synths and a good rompler/drum machine.

 

[lowjk]

For Faizal,

Besides going the hardware route,
you can also consider software versions of the synth that DM uses:
eg Arturia Minimoog V, Arturia ARP2600 V which sound very good.

 

[faizal_rocks]

Hi lowjk..thanx for ur reply..wow they are so costly...

 

[Cheez]

Yes, Arturia has a number of great analog softsynths. I believe they came out with the Prophet V this NAMM - also an analog synth with some great sounds. The only thing about Arturia is that they are somehow slightly more CPU hungry than some others - but still, you get very good sounds from them. Furthermore, people who use analog sounds usually do not use a lot of polyphony (some pads, leads, drums etc) - so the limited polyphony is usually not a big problem.

Yamaha DGX is a portasound. A ROMplers, as iansoh and lowjk said, are limited if you want to really dig into analog synthesis. The beauty of analog synthesis is changing the different parameters in real time - you get really unusual sounds ranging from fat basses to the ethereal ambience. You can't do that with ROMplers. The DGX basically just plays back what's stored in the ROM.

You may also want to check out some free analog VSTis - and I believe lowjk is the expert here. I think he has an entire list of free VSTis' links!(right, lowjk?).

 

[lowjk]

You may also want to check out some free analog VSTis - and I believe lowjk is the expert here. I think he has an entire list of free VSTis' links!(right, lowjk?).

Sorry, I though Faizal was going for the keys. So didn't mention the free VSTi.

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mod...st&win=1&free=1&sf=0&receptor=&sort=1&rpp=100

The ones that I have tried and think are good are:
JX220
Atom
Tau
MinimogueVA (supposed to be an Arturia Minimoog V ripoff)
A-Synth (but does not appear in the list) (I'll try to find the link)

Try out the rest too.

jk