to get a MIDI keyboard or not get a MIDI keyboard that is the question and we're
going to try to help you answer that question in this video
welcome to another simple greentech video where we look at tips tutorials
and reviews to help you create great audio content if that's something you're
interested in please subscribe to the channel
I'm Radio zane and in this video we're gonna try to answer that question is a
midi keyboard necessary to make music well the short answer to that question
is no, no you don't need a midi keyboard to make music however a midi keyboard
can help you with your workflow speed it up and it can also help with your
creativity now let's look at some of the ways that a midi keyboard or midi
controller can help with the creative process first up you get the most
obvious thing you have an actual keyboard to play on so you can make your
music more musical by playing on actual keys as opposed to drawing your chords
or notes in in a piano roll another way a MIDI keyboard can help you is for when
you're searching for that perfect synth patch while you're scrolling through all
the presets you can be playing chords or notes on your keyboard and you can hear
what each one sounds like in context to the song that you plan on creating I
know personally I've discovered some great sounds just by doing this also
some MIDI keyboards have different controls that you can route your DAW
some have transport controls so you can control playback recording and
navigation in your DAW and some also have different sliders and knobs that
you can route to your mixer and control mixer levels or you can route to a synth
and you can control various settings on a VST plugin this can really help with
your workflow help speed things along and it kind of gives you that feeling
that you have hardware to control and it's not just software another reason
that you might want to consider getting a MIDI keyboard is that some have touch
sensitive pads so if you're a beat creator and you want to create some new
rhythmic ideas or add some variety to your sound you can actually play some
beats on the pads and create something totally new and just like real synths
and real keyboards MIDI keyboards come in various sizes you can get nice little
mini ones that are perfect for traveling or they're great for small workspaces
or you can get full-sized 88-key keyboards and they're great for your
home studio no matter what size or what style you're looking for there's sure to
be a MIDI keyboard that will fit your needs
here's a few of the popular MIDI keyboards that you can consider first up
we'll look at the Akai MPK mini mk2 it comes in a variety of colors and its
feature packed for a mini keyboard it has 25 keys eight touch sensitive pads a
four-way thumb stick eight assignable fader knobs and much more and it
typically runs for about $95 u.s. another MIDI keyboard that you might
want to consider is the nektar impact LX 25 it's slightly bigger than the Akai as
it has 25 full-sized piano keys it also has 8 touch sensitive pads 8 assignable
fader knobs and it also features transport controls to control things
like navigation playback and recording in your DAW the nektar impact LX 25
usually goes for around $99 us and now let's look at a very budget-friendly
option if you just want the keys and you don't care about all the fancy knobs or
dials then you might be interested in the 32 key MIDIPLUS AKM 30 you get 32 mini
sized keys so they're not the full sized ones like the nektar but that's pretty
much all you get you get the octave controls and some modulation wheels
which is pretty standard on any MIDI keyboard but this option will run you
about $36 us on Amazon not too bad and those are just three of the more popular
options of course there are many others that you can choose from so now I want
to know do you think a MIDI keyboard is necessary for your music workflow let me
know in the comments below also let me know if you plan on buying a MIDI
keyboard or if you just purchased one you can tell me which one you got or
which one you plan on getting and of course if you want to see more tips
tutorials or reviews like this video please subscribe to the channel thank
you so much for watching this video for simple green tech I'm Radio zane and
we'll talk soon