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Is This A Good MIDI Controller?


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When I do step editting with a keyboard, since they're velocity sensitive, does that mean if I tap the key lightly, it will automatically make the volume for that sound low?

duh!

Well, not the volume, the velocity. 2 different things! [google them]

Also, the step sequencer blows. I haven't used the step sequencer since FL3.0

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You guys convinced me - 61-key it is. I can't see myself using a full 88-key that often. I just want it for step editting, basically.

When you guys use MIDI controllers in FL, do you use live recording mode, or step editting?

When I do step editting with a keyboard, since they're velocity sensitive, does that mean if I tap the key lightly, it will automatically make the volume for that sound low?

I use the piano roll 99% of the time, inputting notes using the mouse. Occasionally I record MIDI using my controller. Drums are sequenced using the step sequencer.

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What do you use, then, to record the instruments and make a song? Just live recording?

How else do you use a MIDI controller?

Yes, the entire song is better left off to live recording of EVERYTHING. You can do about 30 decent live takes or 1 mouse-clicked sequence, in the same amount of time. The live takes are already realistic too [don't need to "humanize" anything]. Quantizing takes no time at all, use it at your discretion.

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How else do you use a MIDI controller?

Yes, the entire song is better left off to live recording of EVERYTHING. You can do about 30 decent live takes or 1 mouse-clicked sequence, in the same amount of time. The live takes are already realistic too [don't need to "humanize" anything]. Quantizing takes no time at all, use it at your discretion.

I figured you'd use it with the step sequencer, just because it's more hands-on and precise than using the mouse or keyboard. And it's just easier.

I feel like I'd be off with live takes. Maybe I just need to be a piano player to feel comfortable. Do you know what notes you want to use before you play, or do you just kinda do stuff on the fly?

Quantizing? What's that?

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Whether you use the step sequencer or record live depends on how good you are as a pianist and what style of music you're making. If you can do a pretty good live take and do a bit of overdubbing or editing to clean it up, you might as well do live. If you're doing something like jazz or classical, especially jazz because of swung rhythms, you're better off using a MIDI controller. If you're doing styles like techno and electronic, such as Zircon does, where there's not as many notes to input and things like automation and production are more prominent, it's probably faster to use the piano roll than to constantly move your hands from computer keyboard to MIDI controller.

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If you're doing styles like techno and electronic, such as Zircon does, where there's not as many notes to input and things like automation and production are more prominent, it's probably faster to use the piano roll than to constantly move your hands from computer keyboard to MIDI controller.

Nope!

You need to get a setup like this

http://soundtempest.net/soc/imgswf/STUDIO.JPG

it is SO GOOD. You can probably lose the clutter if you have more than 10 square feet of living space, but that's generally the ideal setup, having both keyboards in front of you.

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Whether you use the step sequencer or record live depends on how good you are as a pianist and what style of music you're making. If you can do a pretty good live take and do a bit of overdubbing or editing to clean it up, you might as well do live. If you're doing something like jazz or classical, especially jazz because of swung rhythms, you're better off using a MIDI controller. If you're doing styles like techno and electronic, such as Zircon does, where there's not as many notes to input and things like automation and production are more prominent, it's probably faster to use the piano roll than to constantly move your hands from computer keyboard to MIDI controller.

What's automation?

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What's automation?

Stuff for the synths to do automatically. In addition to plunking down notes, you can map MIDI commands for other parameters on synths, like pitch, or cutoff and resonance [google it!], and you're able to record these actions in any competent DAW [Cubase, Sonar, FL kind of]. If your MIDI controller has programmable knobs and faders, this is possible to do. Thing is, you gotta program them first. Reason, I think, has a thing that reads your MIDI controller and sees what you have, but that's the only software that does that right now.

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Reason, I think, has a thing that reads your MIDI controller and sees what you have, but that's the only software that does that right now.

My controller (CME UF6) came with a cd that has the definitions for all the major DAWs. Cubase works great with this thing, and I bet for most controllers you could find one on the web.

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